Small Company CFOs: Strategic Partners or Scorekeepers?

摘要

In this time of economic and market challenges for small businesses, what's the CFO's role in small, privately held companies? How has the role evolved? To find out, we interviewed 24 CFOs and their CEO/owner counterparts in the Chicago, Ill., area. Their responses show the role of the CFO to be dynamic and evolving. The CEOs we spoke with generally described their CFOs as highly valued partners in the strategic process, trusted collaborators in all business function problem solving, and even organizational change agents. Nearly half of the CEOs described their CFO as operating in a COO role without the title and as leaders of the strategic management process.