CFO Survival Guide : Plotting the Course to Financial Leadership

by Stenzel, Catherine; Stenzel, Joe

• ISBN13: 9780471269144
• ISBN10: 047126914X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2004-02-04
• Publisher: Wiley

Summary

You're already a technical expert in accounting, and probably finance, or you wouldn't occupy (or be aiming for) the CFO chair. However, accounting experts now acknowledge that technical competency alone isn't enough to be competitive. You need more to stand out in the field.

Author Biography

Catherine Stenzel, MST, MBA, and Joe Stenzel, MD, are full-time ontologists and Editors in Chief of the Journal of Cost Management, a bimonthly RIA Group periodical. They are also codirectors of Genesis Organizational Diagnostics, which provides cost and performance consulting services focused on government, healthcare, and higher education.

Table of Contents

FOREWORD	ix
PREFACE: BEING THE ONE WHO COUNTS	xi
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS	xix
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY	xx
ABOUT THE WEB SITE	xxiii
CHAPTER 1 The Profession and the Reality	1	(32)
An Account of the Profession	3	(3)
Who We Are	6	(10)
Who We Are Becoming	16	(8)
Being the One Who Counts: Underlying Assumptions	24	(1)
Accountability Requires Maturity	24	(2)
Transparency, Learning, and Meaning	26	(1)
Numerical Realities and Other Oxymorons	26	(2)
Cost, Spending, and Other Inequalities	28	(1)
Value Anyone?	29	(1)
Notes	30	(3)
CHAPTER 2 Development: The Science of Becoming	33	(36)
The Science of Becoming	38	(2)
Development Essentials	40	(4)
Moral Development	44	(3)
Psychosocial Development	47	(5)
The Natural Human Maturity Sequence: Learn,
Experience, Develop	52	(2)
Learn Skills	54	(5)
Experiential Knowledge	59	(4)
CFO Technical Skill and Management
Experience Assessment	63	(4)
Notes	67	(2)
CHAPTER 3 In the Company of the CFO: Maturity, Leadership Competency Development, and Workplace Applications	69	(54)
CFO Maturity-Essence and Function	70	(5)
Developing Professional Maturity and Leadership Competencies	75	(14)
Applying Awareness: Self-Management and Relationship Management	89	(20)
Leadership Competencies-Finding Them and Keeping Them	109	(1)
People, Their Organizations, and Their Work Environments	110	(9)
In the Heart of the Helix	119	(1)
Notes	120	(3)
CHAPTER 4 Working with the Accounting/Finance Function	123	(78)
Forging Functional Identity	126	(1)
Replace Yourself	127	(2)
Assessing Current Conditions	129	(6)
A Guide to the AFF Readiness Diagnostic	135	(8)
Using the Diagnostic	143	(4)
General Business: Process Improvement	147	(10)
General Business: Performance Measurement and Management	157	(4)
Cost Management: Cost Accounting System	161	(13)
Financial Accounting: Month-End Close and
Income Statement	174	(1)
Triple Helix and Psychosocial Development at Work in the AFF	174	(24)
Running the AFF	198	(2)
Notes	200	(1)
CHAPTER 5 Working Governance: Leadership Maturity in Action	201	(64)
Corporate History Cliff Notes	202	(3)
Olympian Executives	205	(5)
Governance	210	(6)
The Five Interdependent Governance Alliances	216	(2)
Assessing Organizational Governance Maturity	218	(3)
First Governance Alliance: The CEO-CFO	221	(14)
The Second Governance Alliance: The CFO and Executive Counsel	235	(13)
Degrees of Separation: The Third, Fourth, and Fifth Governance Alliances	248	(14)
Notes	262	(3)
CHAPTER 6 Working	265	(44)
The CFO at Large	267	(1)
Sustainability in Natural Systems	268	(11)
Enter the CFO: Step One to a Democratic Workplace	279	(4)
Work In Process-Steps Two and Three Toward a Democratic Workplace	283	(6)
Workforce Readiness	289	(1)
CFO, Gatekeeper of the Public Good: The Fourth Step to a Democratic Workplace	290	(4)
The Representative CFO In the Democratic Workplace-Step Five	294	(5)
Wealth Distribution: Steps Six and Seven In the Democratic Workplace	299	(4)
Survival Patterns	303	(2)
Notes	305	(4)
INDEX	309