The Path To Be CFO in 21st Century

Daniel Jasso, Director of Finance, Rhino Machinery

Daniel Jasso, Director of Finance, Rhino Machinery

In a changing world with demanding businesses for satisfactory results, it is difficult to find the right path to be an efficient CFO and provide solutions to the challenges facing today's businesses.

While some think that a good CFO is one who makes correct financial decisions, maximizing the profitability of business, the truth is different in 21st century, because now the CFO requires a more complete role in the company, not only making financial decisions but accompanies the general management in the business strategy.

Speaking about financial decisions, you must consider basic principles to guide your job day by day and those principles are generating profits and generate growth in your company, to do that you can implement a different strategies like cost reduction policies, policy for saving expenses, facilitate credit to your customers, increase sales territory, etc., but now, the companies require. Besides this, it is especially important to note the role of the CFO is changing all the time and now you must become an ally and true support for the general manager.

Regarding to business strategy, it is particularly important to analyze your company and define in which category it is:

• Start up business

• Transformation

• Accelerated growing

• Reestructure

• Consolidated business, sustain success

Once you identify the category of your company, you must prove that the current strategy is correct for the category of your company. To do that you have to analyze the results delivered by the strategy, evaluate the current business plan and the resources of the company, and finally design a new strategic plan.

“I do not think there is a defined path to being CFO; you must create your future to reach that position someday. To achieve this, you must set challenging goals academically and professionally, and you must achieve them”

When you finalize with those analysis you will be able to emit your opinion about the strategy of your company and purpose changes to align the company towards its objectives.

I do not think there is a defined path to being CFO; you must create your future to reach that position someday. To achieve this, you must set challenging goals academically and professionally, and you must achieve them. I have seen professionals reach the CFO position through experience in controlling while others bring experience in marketing, others more in treasury and all have managed to perform the function properly.

Having said that, you can choose your own path to be CFO in 21st century, the most important thing is to visualize your position in your future and make the necessary things to make it real. My personal path to be CFO was created through controlling, I have 360-degree vision due to 3 main factors:

1) Academic. - Beside of my professional career, I have an MBA and various courses and diploma for training courses focused on high managerial performance. You must consider to back to school at least every 5 years. If you do that, you will be able to get the best practices in your job and relearn things that you may have learned wrong in your career.

2) Professional experience. - For me, it was truly relevant having experience in accounting, finance, and Audit because those Jobs gave me a complete vision of the financial business.

After the experience in accounting and audit, I think the next step will be to occupy the positions of local controller and then regional and later you can be manager of administration and finance and then become CFO. Through your experience in auditing, you must try to work in one of the big 4 firms for Audit, this experience will increase your knowledge and also will give you more power in your professional summary.

3) Skills. - No one is born knowing, so there is no limit to the quality and quantity of skills that you can develop.

Accountability, leadership, adaptability, achieve goals are some examples of skills that I have well done in my life, to acquire your skills in your life, it is very important to pay attention to all your mistakes because from them you will get a very valuable knowledge, you must learn from your mistakes all the time. I have a golden rule that I always apply in my life, and it is not to be afraid to make mistakes, but to make them only once, that is, I do not allow myself to make the same mistake twice because whenever I make one, I analyze it and learn from it. 

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