Reshaping the CFO and finance function

GETTING chief financial officers (CFOs) ready to be more effective business partners will be a key priority if they are to better support the growth of their organisations with greater economic integration in Southeast Asia, say practising CFOs.

Upskilling their finance function in tandem may also be a strategy to retain good staff as the Asean Economic Community (AEC) opens the doors to more talent mobility in the region.

"The demands on CFOs and the finance function will become greater in the coming years due to shorter business, economic and product cycles, and sweeping changes from adopting and implementing technologies and IT knowledge," said Tan Wee Ko, CFO at Challenger Technologies.

The AEC vision sees greater integration through lower trade barriers, easier capital flows, free trade in services and more cross-border services among regional countri…