The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP), in collaboration with Terrabiz organised a full day conference; the CFO Conference 2010; on 'Rising CFO' held recently at a local hotel.
The day's proceedings started with a welcome speech from Abdul Rahim Suriya, President ICAP. He informed the attendees that the CFO Conference is an important agenda item of ICAP's committee for 'Professional Accountants in Business' led by Yacoob Suttar, ICAP council member and Executive Director Finance and IT - Pakistan State Oil.
The committee has been formulated to address the needs of the professional accountants working in the industry. He further added that the CFO conference was held to provide a platform and opportunity to all the industry top executives to exchange ideas and to network. He said that ICAP produces Chartered Accountants par excellence and that contrary to popular belief, it was interesting to note that around 80 percent of the members are employed in industry and trade, and not just involved in the professional practice.
Quoting Sten Fornell, CFO of Ericsson, he said that by the year 2010, the use of the title CFO may no longer be appropriate and may be replaced by something like CPO (Chief Planning Officer).
Dr Ishrat Hussain, Dean and Director - The Institute of Business Administration and former Governor of the State Bank of Pakistan - as the key note speaker expressed his views on doing business in the new environment said that the business of intellectual services is the next big thing. In the global economy of today, boundaries have no meaning.
He emphasised the role of the CFO in this information driven era and highlighted the following five ways that a CFO's role is to change in the future to come: CFOs need to break out of the short-term (quarterly, semi annual reporting) mind set and look at the broader, bigger picture - future is what needs the focus; CFOs need to focus not on maximising shareholders' value but on maximising stakeholders' value; shifting focus from a single bottom line to a triple bottom line; finance as being a tool for the organisation and not as the driver of organisational success and sustainability; and most importantly, CFOs as financial leaders need to walk the talk rather than just talk the talk - with strong ethical values and impeccable corporate governance.
A N Raman; Vice President SAFA and member PAIB and IFAC quoted "Unless the accountancy profession embraces sustainability, we will become less and less relevant to society", as he enlightened the audience on the importance of sustainability; both in business and in the profession of accountancy. He also highlighted various important developments in the accounting profession and the impact of the challenges set forth by the new era. He highlighted on five key areas of sustainability integration: Strategic Formulation, Strategic Implementation, incorporating into competitive positioning, Strategy evaluation and control and supporting management systems and how this maps with the expected competencies of the emerging CFO.
Yacoob Suttar- presented the first, in a series of many, technical papers on "The CFO's dynamic role in sustaining a corporation's financial performance". He focused on the leadership role of CFO and explained that being just a custodian is not enough in the rapidly changing dynamics of the business world. CFOs need to be strategic partners of their organisations. It is up to the CFO to ensure impeccable governance at all levels and in all processes of the organisation.
Sajjad Syed, Managing Director-SAP presented a paper on "How CFOs can drive Enterprise Performance Management".
Ruhail Mohammad, Vice President and CFO, Engro Corporation Limited shared his views on "Value Management in a Growing Organisation" He enunciated on the importance of a CFO in an organisation and how they add value to the organisation's score card. He supplemented his discussion with business decisions taken by his company to combat the changing trends.
Farrukh H. Khan, CEO, and BMA Capital presented a paper on 'Invest to grow: M&A in Pakistan'. Ayaz Ahmed, CFO, Habib Bank Limited shared his vision on "Linking Risk Management with Business Strategy".-PR