CFOs became strategic planners, playing a big part in mergers; taking charge of information technology; devising complex financial instruments; and above all, managing relations with investors.
At Xerox, which overstated its profits by $1.4 billion, Barry Romeril's retirement as CFO in December has not spared him an SEC letter asking why he should not be charged with fraud.Why are so many CFOs in trouble?
But the role of the CFO also changed in the 1990s in a way that set the scene for trouble.A decade ago, most CFOs had a professional accountancy qualification.
Unpleasant for CFOs, too: their remuneration, lots of it in options, has moved up briskly in the past decade, in line with that of chief executives.Even where companies do not do naughty things to their earnings, the relationship between chief executive and CFO has grown closer.
Last year, Peter McLean, who leads the CFO practice at Spencer Stuart, a firm of headhunters, looked at the qualifications of CFOs at Fortune 500 companies.
And if CFOs were required to have an accountancy qualification, just as a general counsel must have legal training, they might be more likely to present the numbers honestly.
For CFOs, executive tenure these days is so fragile that recession is almost irrelevant; they should always watch their backs.Emerging challenges"Break Through"By Tim BurkeThe tests facing companies from emerging economies with global growth ambitions are the subject of February's cover story for CFO Europe.
Indeed, Brown credits the straight-shooting Dunn with helping him cut through the day-to-day reporting quagmire that CFOs can get caught in.
CFOs retain "a fair amount of leverage" in negotiations, according to one finance chief especially when haggling over fees.Bill collectors"Cleaner (balance) sheets"By Randy MyersNecessity is the mother of collection.
In common with chief executives, CFOs do not last as long as they used to.
In the past two months they have increased their hedge ratio from 40% to 55% of revenues earned abroad, but this mostly reflects hedging of rich-country currencies, ignoring the fact that exposure may be greater to more volatile emerging-market currencies, says Mr Koester.Few of the CFOs grappling with this turmoil have ever experienced anything like it.
