Game-changing tips from seven top CFOs

MANILA, Philippines - To become a chief financial officer (CFO), you need more than a CPA credential and experience as a controller. With financial market volatility, the tougher business environment, and the stiffening competition, there is more pressure for CFOs to perform than ever before.

 “Companies are demanding a lot from their top finance executives now, and we don’t see this getting any easier, particularly with the current level of volatility and business uncertainty. To be a good CFO now means you have to be a game-changer,” said Consuelo Garcia, country manager of ING Bank.

This is why the ING FINEX CFO of the Year 2014 Award has become a tougher job for ING Bank and the Financial Executives Institute of the Philippines (FINEX), which have been jointly mounting the search since 2007. CFOs from Philippine companies — both in the public and private sectors — have until September 26, 2014 be nominated to the only search of its kind that pays tribute to the country’s topnotch financial executives.

The search has awarded seven CFOs known for their game-changing roles in their company’s success. Here are some of their tips in being today’s game-changing CFO:

• Always think ahead and think farther. SM Investments Corp. (SMIC) CFO Jose T. Sio, named “ING FINEX CFO of the Year 2009,” says: “Volatility is now the new normal. CFOs have two options: find a solution to short-term liquidity problems or look farther down the horizon.” In this kind of market situation, Sio says CFOs should serve as “the conscience of the company CEO, not just concerned with the funding needs but leading the way” to navigate the volatility.

• Be the “good cop.” As the company’s risk manager, the CFO serves as the “bad cop,” warning the CEO of the potential risks from every company decision. However, the CFO must also play a “good cop” who enables his CEO and the firm to go in new directions and give greater value to shareholders. “A good CFO is a transformational CFO,” says Jaime Ysmael, CFO of Ayala Land and ING FINEX CFO of the Year 2011.

• Don’t be afraid to make tough decisions. As Jollibee Foods Corp. CFO Ysmael Baysa says: “If you are not making hard choices, you are actually not making a strategic choice. It’s always very, very difficult to decide what you are going to do, and what you are not going to do.” The ING-FINEX CFO of the Year 2011 believes in the “80/20 principle”: you get 80 percent of the results from only 20 percent of the causes or you get 80 percent of the revenues from only 20 percent of your products. Adhering to this notion will help you manage complex decisions and arrive at better decisions faster.

• Be nimble and flexible. As the former CFO of Globe Telecom, Delfin Gonzalez knows how it feels to face the toughest odds. “One of my biggest challenges as a CFO then was raising money in so short a time and especially when the markets were closing in on you. But if we didn’t do it then, Globe would not have been able to expand as fast,” says the first awardee of the ING FINEX CFO of the Year. Now the CFO of the Ayala Corp., Gonzalez said being CFO, especially of a diversified company, entails being flexible and nimble at all times. “You have to raise the equity ahead when the market is still good,” he added.

• Don’t be the bean-counting CFO who always cuts costs. Being a member of the strategic team who looks at the bigger picture and takes a long-term view of investments, ING FINEX CFO of the Year 2012 Jeffrey Lim says he has learned not to always say “no” to an investment proposal that has profitability issues. “If we can save a peso, we will save that one peso. But if we need to spend P100 million, we will spend that P100 million,” says the CFO and the newly installed president of SM Prime Holdings Inc. He says some SM projects may have fewer margins at the onset, but “if they could entice more people to visit our malls,” then they could also become good investment.

• Have a sound ethical compass. ING FINEX CFO of the Year 2013 Felipe Yalong says it is easy to have allies that you can lean on for support if they know you are a trusted member of the organization. “Honesty is my core value. I make sure that I’m very honest with the way I deal with people, from my staff to the suppliers. Honesty took me a long way—from where I started all the way up,” says the CFO and executive vice president of GMA Network Inc.

• Make your role count, not just for your company, but also for your country. Sherisa Nuesa, named “ING FINEX CFO of the Year 2008,” says: “In these times, when good governance and a thriving economy make us more hopeful as a nation, it is incumbent upon the Filipino CFO to constantly find ways to contribute meaningfully to national progress, to get engaged in worthwhile advocacies.”