The article CFO the myth and the reality is written by Dr Safdar A butt who is
working as a professor faculty of management sciences and Director, Fiscal policy
studies center Mohammad Ali Jinnah University , Islamabad. The theme of the article is based on the covering several important areas of finance managers, to make readers understand what is the role of the finance managers, how much they are vital for an organization to make the business profitable through effective decision making and what organizational roles they play for an organization to make it successful. The article is very well written and well-constructed by an author in which he has explained the topic by giving the real life examples with facts and figures to make it easier for the reader to understand. The article first talk about the views held by non-financial managers about finance managers which are broadly classified in to two groups: Awe and contempt. Awe group of NFMS think of finance as some sort of mystery. They usually do not comment on financial matters as they lack capability interpret the information provided by the finance managers so they agree what so ever information is provided to them. While on the other hand, contempt group of NFMS think that finance managers do nothing but just summarize the report what has been attained by the hard work of other managers, such managers does not contribute in achieving the overall objectives of the organization. Furthermore he explained the example of Aala energy limited and Bala power limited that how the finance managers have contributed towards the companys overall objectives of maximizing shareholders wealth based on effective decision making. Further he explained the role of finance managers is based on the understanding of both sides balance sheet. Then on the basis of that he takes financing, investing and risk management decisions those are collectively referred as financial decisions. Moreover than he explained three important factors that influence the financial decisions includes uncertainty, time value of money and the objective of the exercise which to increase the wealth of a company. Furthermore he discussed that the financial managers also perform the identical management functions perform by other managers in an organization. The writer has explained each function in detail that how finance manager performs each function. These functions include decision making, planning, organizing, leading and controlling. Each management function is vital for a finance manager to attain the overall objectives of the company and they face challenges in performing each function. The writer has provided with the different scenarios that in reality how finance managers assist sand helps other managers to achieve there departmental objectives. Conclusion It can be concluded from the article that finance managers play vital role in achieving the overall objectives of the organization. They are managers just all like
others who positively contribute to achieve the objectives of the company. Without them, other managers could not single handedly makes the business profitable.