Nature CFO\'s Do You Think Finance Departments

¶ … Nature

CFO's

Do you think finance departments are the best place to train future CEOs? Provide two actual examples of CFOs of publicly-traded companies who became CEOs of publicly-traded companies within the past 5 years. Do these individuals have the CPA and/or CFA designations?

The reason why the finance departments are such a good place to train CEOs is they are teaching them about: how effectively controlling costs are a major part of an organization's success. When they are running a major corporation this will help them to create strategies that will support the long-term viability of the business. This is the key in being able to increase the earnings and the stock price.

Two examples of CFOs who were promoted to run publically traded companies over the last five years include: Indra Nooyi and Carl Carlisle. In the case Indra Nooyi, she was promoted to the CEO position of Pepsi Co in 2006. She does not have a CFA or CPA designation. Instead, her career path began with her conducting graduate studies at Yale University in 1980. She joined the company in 1994 and was promoted to the position of CFO in 2001. At the same time, she has also served a dual role by: working as a director and president since 2001. These different elements are important, because they are showing how Nooyi has formal training in the areas of finance. While, she has expertise in actual operations of the company through: her time as president. This allows her to bring know how from two different areas to the position. (Howard, 2006)

Carl Carlisle was selected to become the CEO of CHS in 2010. They are a large food provider that sells a wide variety of agricultural products in the global markets. He was chosen based upon the prior experience as the CFO of Monsanto and the fact that he operates a family owned blueberry farm in Oregon. These two elements made him an attractive candidate because, he has operational experience and long standing relations working with finance departments. He currently holds his CPA designation and has also worked as executive vice president at Monsanto. When you put these different elements together, they are showing how CHS wanted a CEO that would share a similar vision as their company. At same time, he had the financial and operational experience to understand the business. (Kaskey, 2010)

Advantages and Disadvantages

As a result, the two CEOs are illustrating the benefits and drawbacks of hiring CFOs. As a far as benefits are concerned a few of the most notable include: they understand the balance sheet and various factors that could be affecting the company. These different elements are important because, they will help a corporation overcome various financial challenges. While, they are able to maximize their profit margins and adjust quickly to changes that are occurring inside the industry.