Management Accountants: Doing Both … and More

Jeffrey C. Thomson, CMA

Management accountants, CFO aspirants, and CFOs actually have an accountability to “do both”—as vividly described above by Cisco Senior Vice President of Strategy and Planning for Worldwide Operations Inder Sidhu—defined at its highest level as driving value preservation and value creation inside businesses of any size and any structure, anywhere in the world. Value preservation is about protecting shareholders and other stakeholders through sound internal controls and risk management practices, built on a foundation of ethics and core values. Value creation is about envisioning and delivering future value to stakeholders through financial planning and analysis (FP&A), management's discussion and analysis (MD&A), enterprise risk management (ERM), and more. With this accountability—and obligation—comes a great opportunity for management accountants to help enrich organizations and society at large. Value preservation and value creation are mutually dependent critical success factors.