CFO – The Role

The CFO is a key figure within a corporate context, perfectly capable of managing SEC reports, local and international regulatory compliance, corporate governance, risk management, and ESG (environmental, social, and governance) reporting.

In a multinational contest, they develop and control insights on a company’s financial situation, including customer accounting, supplier accounting, warehouse, and payroll cycle.

The most important task is to use both current and historical financial data to create financial forecasts that accurately predict future revenues, expenses, profits, and cash flows. It is important to focus on aspects such as market expansion, new business models, M&A, divestitures, capital budgeting, and other areas.

 The evolution of CFO in our framework

The role of the CFO has evolved enormously in recent decades, going beyond reporting and compliance to include business strategy and digital transformation. In the past, the main responsibilities were cost reduction, optimization of financial processes, and “keeping the point of the situation” through data collection, report execution, and data summary. Today’s CFOs have broad and strategic responsibilities. They report directly to the CEO and have a fiduciary responsibility to the Board of Directors and shareholders. CFOs are expected not only to be responsible for the finance department but also to be strategic catalysts for the company’s growth.

If we consider the CFO as a corporate intermediary figure as a result of market expansion in Italy in the SME (SME) EU / extra EU sector, Meconomy Group® was one of the first realities of the previous decade to implement this modality. From 2011, it was studied and then realized, through a network of the complete structure, effective control, and careful management of the financial resources of the represented companies with study and design of the coming years based on 2 fundamental principles:

Delegation and Representation: The CFO acts as a delegate on behalf of the represented corporate reality. It follows the same objectives and forecasts of the foreign company that requires its support; has the power and duty to operate in any sector related to international trade and/or corporate representation.

Monistic Control and Cost Reduction: On the decision-making front, monistic control is envisaged. This approach avoids overly elaborate steps or the opening of new offices, but can allow the request for additional personnel even at the expense of the represented; this favours cost reduction while maintaining the logistics system at the parent company.

The CFO plays a strategic role in contributing to the growth and efficiency of the company contributing to an accessory solidity never out of line with the fair value of the represented.

ADVANTAGES

MECONOMY GROUP boasts a 97% rating within a perfectly balanced economic system. This result is the result of optimized management evolution over the years and based on a time window relative to the period 2004->2024.

In addition to simple “finance base” management in extension*, it is also possible to request expense management, risk management, compliance, direct and indirect procurement, with or without corporate banking, and finally project portfolio management (PPM).

*details such as:

-Acquire a single source of reliable financial data

-Use of embedded analytics to assess the overall financial status, such as the cash-coverage ratio, the current ratio, the quick ratio, and the debt-to-equity ratio

-Creation and management of dynamic / forecasting financial models, allowing the planning of what-if scenarios

-Accelerate financial closure by automating daily activities

-Determine which product lines and which are the most profitable products

-Ensure compliance with local and international regulations by preventing unauthorized access to users and applying the separation of duties (SoD) (where an extra EU international context is presented)

-Compare previous results with budgets and forecasts and perform ev. variance analysis

Finally, we also deals with TDK value and copyright, optimizing licenses to increase the overall value of the company.

NOTE: our management concerns structures that need complete support without the aid of a warehouse, where ITEMS & ARTICLES must be sent from the main office deposit or in the case of extra EU, deposits already located in the CEE territories.