Abstract
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) plays an increasingly important role in corporations. While apparently omnipresent in today’s business practice, research has yielded remarkably limited insight into the role, prerequisites, and key success factors of CFOs. Similarly, practitioner publications frequently provide guidance for CFOs, but generally focus on anecdotal evidence. The present chapter contributes to filling the gap in our understanding of the CFO. On the one hand, it traces the development of the CFO function from its inception to present, linking key changes how the function is perceived and filled to market imperatives. On the other hand, it addresses the current state of the function, in particular the responsibilities the function has grown to comprise and its increasing strategic involvement.
All views expressed in this chapter are those of the chapter and do not necessarily represent the views of The Boston Consulting Group.
The authors would like to thank and acknowledge reseach support provided by Vera-Maria Pitot, Kerstin Hobelsberger, Martin Link, and Dr. Dirk Schilder.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
Notes
- 1.
It is noteworthy that Zander et al. (2009) do not find a stand-alone impact of tenure on CFO turnover.
- 2.
The Total Shareholder Return (TSR) reflects the return of a stock to an investor including capital gains and dividends.
References
Ammann, C. E., Heinz, I., & Niebuhr, J. (2009). Die tragende Rolle des CFO. HandelsZeitung (pp. 45–51), 21 Jan 2009,
Anonymous (2007). The truth about CFO turnover. Chief Executive (pp. 6–10), Sept 2007.
Anonymous (2008). In the eye of the storm – Have chief financial officers ever mattered more—or been less prepared? The Economist, 30 Oct 2008.
Aier, J. K., Comprix, J., Gunlock, M. T., & Lee, D. (2005 Sept). The financial expertise of CFOs and accounting restatements. Accounting Horizons, 19(3), 123–135.
Barua, A., Davidson, L. F., Rama, D. V., & Thiruvadi, S. (2010). CFO gender and accruals quality. Accounting Horizons, 1, 25–35.
Butler, T. C., & Quint, K. D. (2009). Boards and the expanding role of the CFO. Business Week, 22 Sept 2009.
Cangemi, M. P. (2008). The financial executive’s evolving role. Financial Executive, 1 July 2008.
Daum, J. H. (2005). Die Evolution der Finanzfunktion in Europäischen Unternehmen und die Perspektiven für die Zukunft. ControllerNews (pp. 207–209), July 2005.
Dowdell, T. D., & Krishnan, J. (2004). Former audit firm personnel as CFOs –Effect on earnings management. Canadian Accounting Perspectives, 3(1), 117–142.
Ge, W., Matsumoto, D. A., & Zhang, J. L. (2008). Do CFOs have styles of their own? An empirical investigation of the effect of individual CFOs on financial reporting practices. AAA 2009 Financial Accounting and Reporting Section (FARS) Paper, 28 Sept 2008.
Geiger, M. A., & North, D. S. (2006 July). Does hiring a new CFO change things? An investigation of changes in discretionary accruals. The Accounting Review, 81(4), 781–798.
Hennes, K., Leone, A., & Miller, B. (2008 Nov). The importance of distinguishing errors from irregularities in restatement research – The case of restatements and CEO/CFO turnover. The Accounting Review, 83(6), 519–548.
Hornung, K. (2008). CFO – Vom obersten Buchhalter zum Finanzstrategen, Börsen-Zeitung, Nr. 47, 7 Mar 2008, 8.
IBM Corporation (2010). The new value integrator – Insights from the global chief financial officer study, Somers, NY, March 2010.
Jungbluth, R. (2009). Der Unberechenbare. DIE ZEIT, 18 July 2009, Nr. 26
Kellaway, L. (2008). The year of the CFO – Corporate life won’t be funny. Economist.com, 19 Nov 2008.
Leibs, S. (2010). 25 years of finance – On our silver anniversary, a look at the past, present, and future of the CFO. CFO Magazine, 1 Feb 2010.
Li, C., Sun, L., & Ettredge, M. (2010). Financial executive qualifications, financial executive turnover, and adverse SOX 404 opinions. Journal of Accounting and Economics, 50(1), 93–110.
Linner, C., & Moerler, C. H. (2007). Die Entwicklung des CFO –vom akkuraten Rechner zum wertorientierten Co-Strategen. Zeitschrift für das gesamte Kreditwesen, Nr. Feb 2007, 13–18.
Metzner, A., Reifenberger, S., & Hedtstück, M. (2010). Verschwendete Talente. Finance, Feb 2010, 10–14.
Mian, S. (2001 Apr). On the choice and replacement of chief financial officers. Journal of Financial Economics, 60(1), 143–175.
Olsen, E., Plaschke, F., & Stelter, D. (2010). Threading the needle – Value creation in a low-growth economy. The 2010 Value Creators Report, The Boston Consulting Group, Boston, Sept 2010.
Roll, R. (1994). What every CFO should know about scientific progress in financial economics – What is known and what remains to be resolved. Financial Management, 23(2), 69–75. Summer 1994.
Schirwitz, B. (2007). Eine Chronik klassischer Konjunkturzyklen für Deutschland. ifo Dresden berichtet, May 2007.
Zander, K., Büttner, V., Hadem, M., Richter, A., & Schäffer, U. (2009 Dec). Unternehmenserfolg, Wechsel im Vorstandsvorsitz und Disziplinierung von Finanzvorständen. Zeitschrift für Betriebswirtschaft (ZfB), 79(12), 1343–1386.
Zorn, D. M. (2004 June). Here a chief, there a chief – The rise of the CFO in the American firm. American Sociological Review, 69, 345–364.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2011 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Farag, H., Plaschke, F., Rodt, M. (2011). Evolving Capital Markets and the Changing Role of the CFO. In: Hommel, U., Fabich, M., Schellenberg, E., Firnkorn, L. (eds) The Strategic CFO. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04349-9_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-04349-9_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-04348-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-04349-9
eBook Packages: Business and EconomicsEconomics and Finance (R0)