【正文】 tional accountant.”Schmoll’s view of where the CFO role is moving stems from the demands of the retail world. “Within a retail anization,” he said, “there is a focus on the customer as well as the shareholder and you have to try and meet the tests and requirements of both.” This is trickier than might be thought. “If you overdo the servicing of the customers’ needs, you end up running a charity,” he said, “and if you overdo the shareholder side, you upset your customers.” It is not just theory that Schmoll is putting forward. Coles Myer has had problems in recent years. “We overdid our cost reductions in the stores and customers got fed up,” is his analysis. The message CFO2022 Managing the Information FlowAn interview with John Schmollis clear. The CFO of the future has to be sensitive to many factors other than the old straightforward financials.Greater focusHe sees a need for a greater focus on capital allocation. “Where do we invest our capital and get the best returns,” he said, “and earnings growth. This is where we need to work closely with the CEO on strategic thinking. It is a question of trying to run the pany at the lowest possible cost of capital but at an acceptable level of risk, trying to get an appropriate risk profile and keep the cost of debt and equity as low as possible.” The CFO of the future will have to follow the Schmoll line: “It is very important to work very hard at capital management.”Schmoll sees the change as much as one of philosophy as of practical duties. “Traditionally, we have been controllers and recordkeepers,” he said. “We need to ensure that we still do that well. But we have to extend it to emphasize adding value, rather than loss prevention.”This makes the difference between the role of CFO and CEO less wide. “The two roles need to be delineated,” he said. “Someone has to take the final responsibility. The CFO is the financial bloke with the training and experience to provide the background for those decisions.” But Schmoll doesn’t see it as a big issue. “We are all about teams now rather than lines of hierarchy,” he said. “Bureaucratic structures are out. The emphasis is now on teambased structures and support.” Handled carefullySchmoll feels that areas like internal control responsibilities and corporate governance will grow, but need to be handled carefully. “Corporate governance is an expanded part of the role,” he said, “and it will create greater demands as it deals with broader markets. Internal controls will always be an essential part of the CFO’s role, and the CFO will always have to ensure that the controls are effective. But as our role expands, it is important to ensure that this doesn’t dilute out old areas of responsibilities.”The other area where he sees change ing is in investor relations. But again, he sees the clarification of the boundaries of the role as important. “Investor relations is now part of our patch,” he said, “keeping markets pletely informed and making sure that you are fulfilling legal requirements and being a good municator.”But he sees the issue of shareprice management as something which the CFO will have to be wary about in the future. “It’s not our job to manage the share price,” he said, “that’s for the market. We must municate with the market to allow them to make the best evaluation. That is what drives our investor relations. You cannot be biased in only allowing the market the good news and not the bad news. Bad news has to be passed on. It may be difficult,” he said, “but it has to be done.” It is a very good example of the way in which future CFOs are going to have to put a priority on dealing sensitively with the issues raised by their role.9 / 50HarmonizedAnother change will make life easier. “We look forward to harmonized financial reporting,” he said. “We are listed in Australia, and the USA and so produce two sets of accounts. We look forward to the idea of producing one. It is not going to change the role of the CFO. But it will make it more effective and will enable us to respond better to the needs of a global market.”He sees these changes as being evolutionary towards the year 2022 rather than being radical and difficult. “It will be evolutionary change,” he said. “But it is going towards a sensitive shareholdervalue direction to maximize your worth to the shareholder.” It will be a very different world. “In the old days,” he said, “you just gave them good accounts. Now you have to maximize the growth of their investment.”There are also some other areas where he sees change. “Technology will make life easier,” he said. “It will do a lot of the donkey work.” But it will expand the role of the CFO. “They will have to be the experts at interpreting the information and municating it to the anization.” This access to information, and the role of gatekeeper to that information, will change things fundamentally. “Technology,” he said, “will allow us to focus on other areas.”RemunerationHe also feels that another area where CFOs are going to have to grow in sensitivity is in remuneration policy. “The CFO has to be involved in how we pay our senior people,” he said. “The CFO has quite a role there which used to be only that of human resources. It is all going to bee an issue of how well you municate it. The key drivers of performance which in turn drives financial incentives.”Schmoll’s experience of the retail world has led him to believe that the rest of the business sector is learning from the disciplines of the retail business. “The concept of having to look after your customers will bee something which drives all panies,” he said, “making sure you are constantly encouraging the pany to use those tests in all that they do.” He gave an example. “Buyers should be thinking of customers at the same time as shareholders,” he said. “They should be getting sto