The President of the Institute of Certified Accountants and Auditors of Thailand (ICAAT), Prof. Kesree Narongdej, disclosed that a modern Chief Financial Officer (CFO) will have to expand his/her role from one of only overseeing the creation of their company's financial statements and accounts to one of supporting and advising the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on the company's financial strategic planning.
"The financial crisis has made the role of the CFO vital to each corporation's success. If a CFO is capable of providing good strategic advice to the CEO on how to apply available financial tools to efficiently support the company's growth, the company can become even more successful and can even prepare itself to better survive any crisis period. It is thus essential for a CFO to learn to apply the appropriate financial tool or tools suited to each specific situation e.g. merger and acquisition, buying treasury stocks, issuing financial instruments such as the debentures or derivative instruments," Prof. Kesree said.
Prof. Kesree also added that: "There will also be a Certified Accountants Council set up to oversee the accounting professionals and enlarge the roles of accountants to include being field specialists in a number of areas, e.g. tax, the tax system, managerial accounting, accounting education and technology, so as to raise their professional standards making the accountants more acceptable and able to further advance to a CFO position."
In order to enable the CFO to be better equipped, the ICAAT in conjunction with The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) and The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will organize a CFO Certification Program and a seminar entitled "Modern Management: Success VS Transparency". The program will include the seminar "The New Dimension of Professional CFOs" to introduce the Program, on 17 March 2004 between 12:30 - 17:00 hrs. at the Ballroom, Queen Sirikit National Convention Center (QSNCC) on Rachadapisek Road.
Distinguished speakers for "The New Dimension of Professional CFOs" session will include Mr. Thirachai Phuvanat naranubala, the Secretary-General of the SEC, Mr. Songdej Praditsmanont, Chairman of the SET's Audit Committee, Mr. Pichai Chunhavajira, Acting President of Bangchak Petroleum Pcl. and Vice President- Corporate Finance and Accounting of PTT Pcl. Prof. Thavach Phusitphoykai, honorary advisor to the ICAAT, will be the session's moderator.
