Experts discuss challenges CFOs face

The annual CFO Conference by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP) was held at a local hotel, in Lahore, on Thursday. The conference themed as ‘CFO-Meeting Future Challenges’ was attended by more than 500 professionals from the fraternity of finance and business including dignitaries and de la crème of the industry.
In his welcome address, President ICAP Ahmad Saeed stated that the CFO Conference over the years had emerged as a strong platform where professionals in business and industry meet to explore, confront and thrash out solutions to meet the challenges and issues. He further spoke of the multifaceted dimensions of the emerging CFO and its four faces’- steward, operator, strategist and catalyst, citing the challenge to balance and achieve excellence in all the roles.
Asad Umar – Former President Engro Corp took the stage speaking on ‘Financial Leaders – Meeting Future Challenges’. In the present world the role of the CFO’s are not just limited to figures & calculations they have to think beyond in terms of product understanding, people skills, designing future strategies, competitor knowledge & political environment awareness. According to Asad, the CFO’s role is crucial in arranging funds for future growth projects of a company. “CFO should spend 40% of his time inside his office and 60% interacting with the employees to understand the functional processes of the company which will strengthen him in making decisions for the betterment of the organization,” he added.
Saquib H. Shirazi – Chief Executive Officer, Atlas Honda Limited expressed himself on ‘The Critical Analysis on Economy and how it Affects the Performance of Business’. He started his key note with a noble statement of commitment which, according to him, is the first step towards performance. He explained that challenges we face are parallel in nature nowadays, the ones which we are paid for as professionals and the others which are beyond our control. The latter includes general lawlessness, security threats, lack of electricity & gas etc. Despite of all the challenges we are still able to achieve the goals which we aim to and the only thing which leads us to our destinations is our faith in what we believe. The present economic situation is not supportive, but a mature corporate business leadership is able to deal with the shortcomings of the political leadership. Mr. Shirazi asked CFOs to play their role in support of economic reforms.
Chairman Professional Accountants in Business [PAIB] Committee Mr. Yacoob Suttar thanked the ICAP team and Terrabiz for managing the conference. He also introduced the winners of the Professional Excellence awards in his speech.
IFAC Senior Technical Manager -Mr. Vincent TopHoff spoke on ‘Strategic Risk Management in the Face of Uncertainty and Unexpected Risks’, in his highly interactive presentation, Vincent listed out the crucial factors for strategic management. He spoke about achieving the objectives taking into account risk management, internal control and SWOT analysis. CFOs need to champion the importance of integrating good risk management into regular line management. He emphasized the need to set the tone at the top.
The Chairman of Karachi Stock Exchange Munir Kamal apprised the participants of the scope and the status of the public private partnership on ‘How are Public Private Partnerships Faring in Today’s Tough Environment’. Kimihide Ando – MD, Mitsubishi Pakistan & President, OICCI described Pakistan as a Land of Opportunity.
Mr. Nauman Asif Mian CFO, Bayt.com in his session ‘Regional Challenges & Opportunities for Finance Professionals in the Middle East ‘outlined the picture of the region. In addition to the sessions the conference also had two highly interactive panel discussions on ‘CFO as Controller or Business Partner’ and ‘Is there any Expectation Gap between Auditors and CFOs’ .The Moderators Mr. Rafi Basheer – and Mr, Mujahid Eshai of both sessions respectively held the flow of the discussions and spoke about the CFO’s evolving role in shaping the business strategy and handling multiple responsibilities and changing dynamics of the business. The first panel discussion included Mr. Abdul Aziz, Mr Shahzad Hussain Mr. Vincent Tophoff, Mr. Shabbir Khandwala, and Mr. Zia Ijaz. The second discussion was participated by Mr. Amer Tufail, Mr. Mohsin Naqvi, Mr. Farid Uddin Ahmed, and Mr. Mohammad Almas. The conference concluded on an appreciative note with the participants looking forward to the next CFO conference to enrich their experience. The conference was organized in collaboration with Terrabiz.