Recent TRG blog posts

Chief Financial Officers, or CFOs, have been commonly known as a corporate officer who’s responsible for managing the organisation’s financial risk, financial planning and reporting to higher management board. However, in this new era, the role of CFO is no longer limited to the tasks above. As stated in a recent study by Accenture, 70% of correlation is found between high-performing financial departments and high-performing companies. This means the CFOs’ responsibility has evolved. Additional research also indicated that CFOs’ responsibilities have been changed from being a rear-view mirror perspective provider to a strategic advisor who navigates the business through hard times and shapes the company’s direction.

“The only predictable thing about life is its unpredictability” – Unknown

In the last decade, so many events had happened that brought unbridled change and volatility to the world’s economy. Business have been facing wildly fluctuating rates of decline and recovery across the globe. A “Growth markets forecast” done by Ernst & Young in 2013 has pointed out that insolvencies rose by 178% during 2008-9 recession in the US versus a 57% rose in the UK. Fortunately, during the past years, insolvencies has dropped fast and the rate in the US is falling 20% faster than that of in the UK. In addition to these changes and volatility, over-regulation, constant imposition from regulators and global standard-setters have brought complication and complexity to the systems and information that organisations need. This leads to the need to absorb and synthesise information so to manage risk more effectively. So, how companies should respond to volatility and what they need to do to enhance their competitiveness, financial performance, productivity in a volatile business climate?

Cash flow management is one of the most important tasks to any CFOs. Cash is the blood of any entity. Having good cash flow management not only guarantees the health of your business but also forms a strong foundation to launch your business to a new height.

Changes in industry and global market provide an opportunity for CFOs to re-evaluate the capabilities and responsibilities of the finance function, align new models and processes to the business, set stages and SMART objectives for more accurate planning, budgeting and forecasting, as well as improve strategic decision making for growth. In the last post, we discussed about four evolving roles of the modern CFOs, which are changed from traditional tasks of financial governance and control to a more strategic and entrepreneurship role in the organisation. But no matter what the roles are, the ultimate goal of CFOs is delivering the most effective decision that will lead the organisation into the future.

Hanoi – August 19^th, 2013 – Following the success of previous seminar in Ho Chi Minh City, the “Office of the CFO for Hospitality: new ways of working to maximize profits”, TRG once again bring this concept to the audiences in Hanoi. The seminar - which is on Tuesday, September 10, 2013 at Hilton Opera Hanoi - is going to expect more than 120 representatives who are CEOs, CFOs, and Chief Accountants, Hotel owners, directors and managers from 3 and above star rating hotels, resorts and other companies in the hospitality industry countrywide.