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December 15, 2017by Kaushik Mitra in Work

CEO CFO Partnership

The ultimate goal of most organisations is the creation of sustained longterm shareholder value. For global corporations, this is about stakeholder value: the combined interests of shareholders, consumers, customers and the environment, in markets where the company does business. When it comes to creating shareholder value, most corporations depend heavily on the CEO and the CFO. If the value creation journey were an airline flight, these two roles would be the pilot and co-pilot. While there is no guarantee of success, a strong CEO-CFO partnership most often provides a catalyst for business success.

December 15, 2017by Kaushik Mitra in Life

Case for Balance Living

The word balance means many things to us. For instance, corporations are working to balance short term results with creating longer term sustainable value for their shareholders. Corporate executives are challenged with maintaining a work-life balance. Investors are balancing risk and return. A musician is creating harmony by balancing scales and notes, while the accountant balances his books. In a more literal sense, balance and timing are ‘life skills’ for a trapeze artist. Couples strive to strike the right balance in their own relationships and parents seek balanced development of their children.

December 15, 2017by Kaushik Mitra in Finance

Balanced Scorecard for Finance.

After 22 years in the finance function across disciplines, industries and countries, I am still daunted by the question of effectiveness of the function. What determines effectiveness of the finance function in contemporary organisations? How can we create a KPI dashboard to measure this effectiveness? Like me, most CFO’s grapple with this question and understandably so. It’s not easy to quantify and metricise the value the finance team in any organisation brings on the table. Paradoxical isn’t it? Aren’t we the function that talks numbers and metrics to help business take optimal decisions? Why can’t we measure our own function’s effectiveness? In the following sections, we will look at a framework for finance function to measure its effectiveness and create a balanced scorecard for itself. Let’s start with the role of finance in a typical organisation, which has a value chain characterised by brands, innovation, manufacturing, selling and delivery.

December 15, 2017by Kaushik Mitra in Travel

Captivating Cambodia

I have been in Vietnam for the past 14 months and a visit to neighbouring Cambodia was always high on the To Do list. The opportunity came in an unique way. A couple of our childhood friends based in the US were making their summer trip to India and decided to visit Cambodia on their way back home. August is rainy season and not the best time to visit Cambodia but the prospect of getting together after many years with old friends was too tempting to let go. Our destination was Siem Reap, home to the famous Angkor Wat temple.

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