I enjoyed your explanation of differences between CFO and Controller positions and know it's useful to many young companies. Another significant problem for young companies is that they are not sure if they need a CFO, COO, or CEO advisor in order to grow their business, and most need help in two or all three of these executive areas. I call them the "Three Pillars of Success" - 1. Vision/Strategic Planning; 2. Financial Strength/Accounting Systems; and, 3. Operations Efficiency. I offer a 3-In-1 fractional CFO, COO & CEO advisory service to Charlotte-based businesses, but my goal is to assist all entrepreneurs to understand the importance of these three executive functions, evaluate their business across the three pillars, and strengthen all three. I'll be adding detailed and instructional videos on this topic and hope to build a useful platform for entrepreneurs in the RU-vid community. If you would watch my 2 minute video, I would love to get your feedback regarding the message and its usefulness to entrepreneurs. Keep up the good work!
Thank you for the video. I'm working on my Masters to one day be a CFO, hopefully. I love the Controller side but it has its limits. So basically controller is practice, cfo is theory. Lol
This may be a dumb question. I am mid career as a Cost Accounting Manager but lately have been getting interviews for controller roles in manufacturing companies . Seems many controllers don’t have my costing background. Am I too old at 50 to get my CPA? I have a BS in business with a concentration in accounting but now have 20 plus years experience. At this point its my experience not my schooling thats opening the doors. Is it worth it at my age?
You are a treasure trove of information for a first generation college student like myself. I'm graduating in a three weeks and I realized I don't know how to best reach my future goals beyond college. Needless to say, your videos have cleared up so many questions. You are truly doing a great service with your content.
Hi Bill. As a controller what is your work like balance like (hours and pto)? And what is the size of the company you work at? Thanks for all your videos!
Thanks a lot for your videos. I just got hired as a new controller in my new company. This is actually my first time as controller and also to manage people/Acctg Dept.. Hope you can also make videos for first time controllers 🙏🏼 thank you very much
Love your channel. A couple things I think you missed about the CFO responsibilities are: the Treasury function/cash management, and internal audit (when applicable)
Shouldn't that Controller function which controlling the books i.e. AP (Accounts Payable) & Cashflow basically the Cash Management, AR (Accounts Receivable) - collection basically Treasury and Invesment as well? For the audit function is to ensure the accounts are in compliance with the GAAP, statutory requirements and able to complete the annual audit on timely manner.
I'm not in this industry, but I'm passionate about understanding how it works and the different acronyms and roles. You are doing an incredible job simplifying this for all of us. Thank you very much, and never stop sharing. Do you also have knowledge of venture capital and private equity?
As a relatively new controller, i'd say my position in the company is as the CFO's right hand. So far, the majority of the job has been about being able to obtain knowledge, being able to process it and present it to the CFO, CEO etc. There's also been a fair bit of budget management, and making sure the rest of the company follows the financial "rules" of the company. I'm not sure if i should continue down this path as a controller, or go in the direction as a financial analyst - i don't know if you've got any recommendations on that?
In India however, chartered accountants (similar to cpa in US) often become CFOs. Is it necessary to have backgrounds in financial modelling, forecasting, business management, etc for CFO job roles? Furthermore, here CFOs also have job roles such as tax compliance, financial reporting, etc.
It's different for almost every country. In the US they seem to value MBA a lot when it comes to finance managament positions. In my country you can get the MBA aswell, but for positions like CFO they really ask for at least a masters degree in Finance or Accountancy & Controlling. And usually they ask for a post-master education in Finance or Accountanting.
i really need your help. i am starting a business and i dont have time to go to school to learn all this things about accounting , i need someone to help me , i know my business will be big since i have found a gap in my country (Kenya) i really do need an advisor, to show me basic knowledge about the financial side of the business.
That was helpful. I think I could be a controller if I wanted to stay in corporate America but I’ve also found so many issues with companies that care more about the bottom line than their people. And controllers who think the job means “to control” and change their processes and procedures so much it’s confusing.
I think it depends on business and who is hiring. Personally I think every Controller and every CFO should know about taxes but very few I've come across do. Yet they still get hired. The CFO should truly be entrepreneurial because they need a broad viewpoint of the business and how it could be affected by external factors. Yet I've seen many many CFOs with little to no entrepreneurial skills. Go figure!
Hey, Bill! Great video! I always wondered the difference and this pretty much cleared it up as detailed as possible! Also, I appreciate you providing the funding stage of a company!
With CEOs of private companies, there is a tremendous amount of role confusion between CFOs, controllers, and tax preparers. We developed/employee Growth CFOs. Your video is on point. Thank you.
CFO is not for me since I took this direction of content creation which I enjoy. The statistic is a combination of my reading plus my personal experience of my CFO friends/colleagues.
I'm trying to understand how anyone can find accounting interesting? I personally find it so soul crushingly boring but have to do it... Do you one day suddenly develope an interest in it?
Watching your videos often makes me a bit jealous to the younglings nowadays who have access to such useful insights at the beginning of their careers. I didn't have such luxury back then, and if I did I might take several different routes in my career path. However, I'm still grateful for where I am right now. Your channel is extremely helpful and I think Maria and yourself do a noble cause here. Thank you very much for making this channel🙏 Back to this particular video, I have a question: 7:38 The list of a Controller jobs seems awfully similar with the one of an Accounting Manager. What do you think is the different between a Controller and an Accounting Manager?
Hi, Bill! You say the best CFO certification is MBA + CFA. Isn't CFA too narrow and technical for this role, which deals lots with strategic topics and is responsible for a broad range of finance and accounting activities, far beyond investment management? In my opinion, CMA makes more sense, no?
Nice discussion, but it just very speed you to discuss but I'm have a understanding. Our course for today is financial controlership. That's why I'm willing to watch your chanel.
You nailed it Bill....good simple explanations and good contents in this video.............. another simple way to put the difference is CFO is 'forward looking', where as Controller is typically 'Rear-view mirror view'......... thanks
I'm taking a job as senior controller coming from accounting manager and it is essentially CFO within a more complicated corporate structure. I have an econ degree and no CPA.
Very nice video explaining both Controllers and CFO position in a good corporate. Whether CMA suitable for both position, since I’m pursuing CMA program and already holding Bachelor degree in Commerce and MBA in Finance.
Your videos are super informative and helpful. Also helps me think of my talents I need to push when looking for jobs! BTW, I love knowing what an oddball I am! Always at the top of my class, always promoted within first year at any company, but... - BA Spanish - MBA - Accounting finance jobs - entrepreneur during twenty year gap raising children and holding part time teaching jobs - SEC but not big 6 - now am Controller of boutique law firm -I LOVE audit, tax, financial strategy. -Want to be financial business strategist!! But very few people see my talent in my oddball resume. So I'll get my EA next.
Um, this is very interesting as in the United States. In Serbia, for example , the Financial Director or CFO, as you call him in America, has the main task of providing SOURCES OF FINANCING for his company . 99 percent of his work is related to that. Until recently, the controller did not even exist as a separate business or body in companies. It's usually a job, financial controls performed Chief of Accounting of the firm and only some important parts were performed by the Chief Financial Officer , mostly more complicated cases for which the Chief of Accounting did not have the authority to solve them. It is interesting here that most often CFOs do not come from the accounting sector, so Chiefies of Accounting are much more expert on the issue of controlling and their solutions are ultimately implemented by CFOs when the case comes to their table because they have higher authority than the Chief of Accounting From this interesting video, I get the impression that CFOs in the United States know accounting well enough much more often than in Serbia.
Thank you very much for posting this enlightening video. My professional aspiration is to be a CFO, but I am not certain on which path to take. Could I obtain a Master's in Finance, then complete the CFA, then obtain an Executive MBA instead of obtaining an MBA first? I would appreciate if you could provide any further or useful advice you may have.
Usually not. In my company the accounting department is handling the invoice paperwork and bookings while controllers belong to a seperate department. Controllers analyze the P&L each month and sometimes more often (look for odd postings, deviations etc.) and try to fix it in case there are problems.
what would be the best way for some schmuck like me, who doesn't know anything about finance or money management, to learn something? I'm currently a student of compsci, i'm not sure about careers necessarily in the finance field, but I wouldn't mind getting some business repetoire, communication, professionalism, and money management skills. I am set to go to grad school right after undergrad and I'm seriously considering this field as an ms as it seems pretty interesting. Is this a good move?
Hi, I have a high school diploma in accounting, a bachelor's in management engineering and I will soon get the master's degree in management engineering in italy. I am a controller here in italy. Here the controller is a bit different, he controls budgets, does forecast and analyses variances between forecasts and actual numbers, analyses financial KPIs and, in industrial companies, he also does product costification. He actually is a mini CFO, but he is not an executive. Now, is it possibile in your opinion for me to have a career in the US as a business controller or CFO? Thank you.
As an international student I want to come to US for Ms in finance. But want to know is it good to go without professional certifications like CFA in long run. With this Ms in finance can I reach CFO level?
Greetings from Morocco! If someone wants to habe a career in controlling and Finance after the Bachelor of Business administration, is it better to study Bachelor At the Uni or at a University of applied science? Is a Master in FACT Finance Accounting Controlling and Taxes a good move to increase chances to become a CFO? Do you think nowadays the professional certifications like CMA and CFA are very important, or a Master degree is enough?? Thank you so much.
