How to plan the career of a financial director

Speaking of the financial director, I believe many people’s first reaction is to do accounting.

The status has risen, the wallet has become bigger, and the responsibilities have increased. Anyone who knows a little bit about the financial director knows that this career means more dedication. However, if you want to upgrade from an ordinary accountant to a corporate consultant, you still have to go through various tests and the growth process is difficult. The following three heroes truly depict three different growth stories for us. The plots and experiences are different, but the similarities are the same. The surprisingly similar basic work is so important to become a good financial director. We must not despise the most junior cashier or accounting work. After I graduated from college, I worked for a foreign trade company. I was first asked to work as a cashier for two years. At that time, I was very depressed. How could I be allowed to do this kind of job? I am not familiar with the Accounting Director and have no other experience. It is impossible to change jobs, but these basic tasks have indeed laid the foundation for me to grasp the overall situation in the future.

I wanted to change and improve, so I started to accumulate. This accumulation was very painful, but when this accumulation breaks out one day, I will benefit a lot. My explosion occurred at China Schindler Company, an elevator manufacturer. I was working as a financial manager at the time. On my first day at work, I went to the workshop to count work tickets. At that time, there was a cost apportionment issue. It was necessary to count the working hours of workers on the product line and count the work tickets filled out by workers every day. At the end of the month, How much labor cost should be shared in this elevator product line?

During this process, I also learned the statistics of two sets of domestic and foreign reports. Swiss Schindler follows international standards, and China Schindler requires Chinese standards. How to deal with the different recognitions of accounting between China and foreign countries, and how to solve it, for me, is not only an exercise in the accounting profession, but also a test of my interpersonal skills. China Schindler taught me several things: First, I became familiar with the entire enterprise. As a financial director, you must know how a business is run. By reading reports and chatting with workers, including looking at various internal information of the company, we can understand how elevators are produced, how they are sold and transported to the end, and how these links in between are handled. Second, the application of Chinese and foreign accounting standards. Third, the skills of using EXCEL. How well you use EXCEL determines whether the establishment of the data model is logical. The financial director is very demanding of logic, and EXCEL is the best way to express this kind of logical thinking clearly.

Fight with learning!

I am currently the financial director of CA Computer China Co., Ltd. I graduated from Beijing Economic and Trade Co., Ltd. 18 years ago. I became a CFO from a young employee, and the trick I used was to study hard.

I have been working in finance since graduation. Starting from a small company, then to an international accounting firm, and finally to CA. As a financial director, I think the most important thing is to have a good, solid, and high-quality education.

Since I started working, I have felt that my knowledge is not enough, so I have been collecting all kinds of knowledge. In 1999, I participated in the first MPA class organized by Beijing Capital Business and Deakin University in Australia and spent all my spare time studying. After graduation, I not only obtained the MPA from Deakin University, but also obtained the Australian CPA qualification through the global examination.

As a financial professional, you should have at least one professional qualification, such as Chinese Certified Public Accountant, ACCA, Australian CPA and Canadian CGA. Obtaining these professional qualifications can broaden your horizons. I was among the first batch of people to pass the CPA exam when the national CPA exam was reinstated in 1992. At that time, there were only four subjects and I passed it in one go. I felt relatively lucky.

I have worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers for nearly nine years. My background in an accounting firm and the work experience I accumulated there provide a good background platform for my current role as a financial director. In short, if you want to achieve the true results and obtain the true scriptures, you must be prepared to endure hardships. Learning is really hard, but after the hardships are over and the joy comes, the taste is difficult to describe.

The financial director is usually very busy at work. In order to obtain the MPA and CPA qualifications, it can be said that I have not had a weekend off in nearly three years. I worked during the day and basically studied at night. Study, study, and study again. Now when I recall that period of study, it is very scary. The key to being able to persevere until the end is to have a development direction in my heart. There is something that inspires me. Therefore, even after working, if you have a certain direction, it is not too late to study, no matter how old you are.

I realized the true meaning of becoming a CFO in two hours in a traffic jam. In terms of life, it is indeed a long-term accumulation process. Before going abroad, my undergraduate major was not finance. While working, I studied an EMBA at Tsinghua University. After going abroad, I became a Canadian CPA and an American CPA abroad.

As a CFO, I believe that we must first have a sufficient and reasonable knowledge structure. To run a large enterprise and operate huge assets, without sufficient knowledge, you will not be able to support you in viewing and operating the enterprise from a high perspective. In particular, more attention should be paid to the knowledge of information systems. In foreign countries, any company attaches great importance to the application of information systems. A large amount of data is processed by computers, and the control of information and the entire operation process of information must be controlled by the information system. If you lack knowledge in this area, you will encounter problems in future competition in the market. After personal comparison, I found that compared with foreign countries, domestic finance is inferior to information processing, and it is far behind. A true professional must understand the operating status of the company from financial information.

Secondly, you must have extensive and rich professional experience. People in China often say that an accountant is a bookkeeper. In fact, this is far from the case abroad. Accountants have a very high status in society because accountants have credibility. Others believe what he says. Legally, accountants have the right to sign, not only for financial statements, but also as proof for other things. For example, when some people do legal notarization, accountants can sign.

In addition, as a financial director, you must have good interpersonal relationships and efficient management skills, and be able to express your suggestions convincingly to management personnel. At the same time, you must have the corresponding pressure-bearing ability and a positive attitude.

Statistics show that while the social status of financial directors continues to rise, their salaries have also soared, especially those in the production and logistics fields. If you work as the financial director of the China headquarters in a smaller company, the annual salary can reach more than 500,000 yuan; the annual salary offered by large companies is generally 700,000 to 800,000 yuan; and the financial director in the Asia-Pacific region can get an annual salary of more than 1 million yuan . For senior financial talents, the CPA certificate is still highly recognized by the market. However, the certificate is only a supplement and professional experience is king. Why are financial directors so in demand? You will find the answer from the following recruitment revelation, which is an advertisement for a website recruiting financial directors. ?

Recruitment position description: ??Responsibilities: ?

1. Formulate the company's financial goals, policies and operating procedures, and report to the general manager and board of directors as authorized; 2. Establish and improve the organizational structure of the company's financial system, set up positions, clarify responsibilities, ensure the quality of financial accounting information, reduce operating and management costs, ensure smooth information, and improve work efficiency; 3. Provide a financial description of the company's business objectives to provide a basis for business management decisions, regularly review and measure the company's business risks, and adopt effective measures to prevent them; 4. Establish and improve the company's internal financial management and auditing systems and organize their implementation, and preside over the formulation of the company's financial strategy, financial management and internal control work; 5. Coordinate the company's relationship with banks, industry and commerce, taxation, statistics, auditing and other government departments to safeguard the company's interests; 6. Review financial statements, submit financial analysis and management work reports; participate in the analysis, demonstration and decision-making of investment projects; track and analyze various financial indicators, reveal potential operating problems and provide decision-making reference for management authorities; 7. Ensure the efficient operation of the company's financial system; organize and specifically promote the company's annual operating/budget planning process, including capital demand planning and normal operations; 8. Based on the company's actual operating conditions, formulate effective financing strategies and plans, and use various financial means to ensure the company's optimal capital structure; 9. Complete other temporary tasks assigned by the board of directors and general manager. Requirements:

1. Bachelor degree or above in finance, accounting, finance, investment, etc., with intermediate or above accountant title, and those with CPA qualification certificate will be given priority; 2. Be familiar with regulations and policies such as contract law and economic law, and be proficient in operating financial software such as UFIDA or Kingdee; 3. Have good financial management awareness and be familiar with advanced financial management methods.

Have more than three years of working experience in financial management of high-tech production enterprises (electronics, automation, communications, computers, software), and more than three years of working experience as a financial department manager; 4. Have strong financial analysis and forecasting, investment and financing and risk prevention capabilities, a deep understanding of corporate capital operations, excellent management capabilities and good communication skills; 5. Be familiar with relevant policies and regulations and have excellent financial management experience, keen insight and sense of data, and be familiar with advanced financial management processes such as financial planning, cost analysis, budgeting, and cost accounting; 6. Have practical work experience and skills in modern enterprise financial cost control and improving capital turnover rate; 7. Have good team spirit; have strong management experience; 8. Have good professional ethics, rigorous work style, and a high sense of professionalism and responsibility. (Published: 2012-06-11)