Continuing Thursday’s post, today we list some more critical CFO functions. For the 3 key functions listed today, the CFO organization in most countries is legally liable for compliances, like by SOX, SEC in the US and similar legislations in other countries. Most of the large corporations have the general public subscribing to their shares, and there have been corporate frauds, which have destroyed / damaged the investor’s confidence, so to protect the people, rigid legal procedures have been adhered to for ensuring protection to all stake holders and more so to the economy. This is what makes these functions really critical and difficult to outsource or be moved to a shared service center.

  • Risk and Compliance Management
    • Risk identification
    • Risk assessment
    • Design of risk management framework
    • Design of controls
    • Compliance monitoring
    • Risk control and management reporting

 

  • Statutory Accounting

This does not need elaboration, as this will be as per the laws of the country.

  • Audits
    • Audit support – Internal & External
    • Audit planning
    • Audit execution
    • Report compliance tracking

You may argue that auditing may not be possible from a back office / outsourcing unit, but I have seen organizations outsource that too, even seen the Big 4 outsource the typical “audit – audit” functions to a back office / outsourcer.

Related processes :

  • Form entry
  • Function re-engineering and transformation
  • Project transitioning
  • Setting up of a Shared Service / back office unit
  • Application consulting
  • Process improvements

Today is the last post on the list of processes that can be outsourced. I have tried to be as exhaustive as I could be, but still there could be lots more. The limit is defined by your and your client’s / organization’s imagination.