I have noticed that it is not uncommon to hear the terms, Financial Manager, Vice President of Finance, Controller, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer used interchangeably, as though each term means the same thing.
   In reality, Financial Manager, VP-Finance and CFO encompass the same activities, and these activities tend to be broader in scope than the activities of the Treasurer and Controller.
    Therefore, I thought it would be helpful to give you a brief description of the duties of the Financial Management function and how such duties are divided.  For simplicity, the term “CFO” will also mean Financial Manager and VP-Finance.
    Overall financial management is the responsibility of the CFO, and has six basic functions:
- Accounting — Policies and procedures, auditing, and preparation of accounting and financial data for management, investors and the government.
- Capital — Determining capital and financing requirements, and negotiating debt and equity agreements.
- Taxes — Ensuring compliance with tax laws, preparation of tax reports, tax planning, evaluating tax implications of management decisions.
- Management — Managing cash, bank relationships, investments, and credit policies.
- Protection — Protecting company assets by establishing good internal controls and arranging for appropriate, sufficient and cost-effective insurance coverage.
- Planning — Budgets, sales forecasts, economic analysis, evaluation of pricing policies, review of planned acquisitions and divestitures.
   The daily administration of these functions is managed by the Controller and Treasurer, and each one has very specific duties.
   The Controller is primarily responsible for ensuring financial data is correct, so he typically has oversight for accounting, taxes, auditing, budgeting, payroll and internal controls.  It is the Controller who typically prepares all financial reports, including SEC filings, financial statements, and tax returns.
   It is the Treasurer’s job to ensure that the company has sufficient cash on hand to support current and future activities, and to manage financial risk.  Therefore, the Treasurer will spend most of his time communicating with bankers and investors, reviewing insurance policies, managing the investment of the company’s excess funds and setting credit and collection policy.
Something that is also important is knowing what role you need to fill at various stages of the game. I commented on a blog by Dr. Jeff Cornwall some time ago that might be of use in thinking through that decision.
[...] Financial Manager Controller amp Treasurer Kaufmann Capital Posted by root 37 minutes ago (http://bkaufmann.com) May 6 2008 overall financial management is the responsibility of the cfo and has six basic functions the investment of the company excess funds and setting credit and collection policy 1 comment to financial manager controller amp treasurer powered by wor Discuss | Bury | News | Financial Manager Controller amp Treasurer Kaufmann Capital [...]