General Motors Co’s new chief financial officer told analysts the automaker remains committed to the low-debt strategy and discipline on vehicle pricing emphasized by his predecessor. In a dinner meeting with analysts on Thursday, Dan Ammann said GM faced limited impact from the Japan crisis, was increasing its auto credit capabilities, and was reducing its exposure to incentives in the U.S. market, according to research notes from Barclays Capital and J.P. Morgan. “Dan emphasized fundamental continuity around GM’s financial strategy and philosophy with his predecessor,” Barclays analyst Brian Johnson said. “Dan plans to continue the low-debt strategy of his predecessor.” [Reuters]
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Mermaid Greeters, Awesome Party Favors Potentially at Risk as Tyco Names Outsider as New CFO
This past summer we learned that Tyco was still throwing epic parties, despite the best efforts of rank and file accountant Jeff Weist, who couldn’t fathom how scantily-clad mermaids, pirates, wenches, a tattoo artist, fire breather, among other things were legitimate business expenses.
Jeff claimed in a lawsuit that he was fired, more or less, for his integrity and trying to keep Tyco out of trouble, again.
Fast-forward to present day and Christopher Coughlin is retiring as Tyco’s CFO. Rather than promote someone from the inside, presumably letting the good times continue (tone at the top is everything, yo know), the company has appointed Eastman Kodak CFO Frank Sklarsky to take over effective December 1.
Now, if you’re a Tyco employee that happens to be on a regular on these legendary ragers, you’ve got to be concerned. Years of debauchery in exotic locales could be coming to an abrupt halt (right before the holidays!) if the transition doesn’t go right.
However, there is a ray of hope, “Coughlin, 58, who has been Tyco chief financial officer since 2005, will advise the company on some projects until his retirement in 2011.”
So it appears that Chris will have to explain “how we do things at Tyco” to Frank before he hangs it up. Judging by how things have gone at Kodak for the last few years, Sklarsky is probably thrilled to be out of there and maybe willing to play ball the Tyco way. Think of the mermaids, Frank.
Tyco Int’l hires CFO away from Kodak [Reuters]
Survey: CFOs Don’t Think You Should Start Your Career at a Big 4 Firm
Accountemps released the results of a survey today that shows many Chief Financial Officers think that the best place for accounting graduates to start their careers is in a “small to midsize company.” The surprising thing about this particular survey is that the numbers aren’t even close.
When CFOs were asked, “In which one of the following employment environments would you recommend today’s accounting graduates begin their careers?” Their responses were:
| Small to midsize company | 56% |
| Small to midsize public accounting firm | 16% |
| Large corporation | 14% |
| Large public accounting firm | 8% |
| Other/don’t know | 6% |
“Small to midsize public accounting firm” dropped 14% from 2005.
Oh right. And “large public accounting firm” came in dead last. So, for the CFOs surveyed, they’re not really hot on public accounting like they were five years ago and they’re really not crazy about the Big 4 and next tier firms.
Accountemps Chairman Max Messmer says, “At smaller companies, employees often must wear many hats because workloads are spread between fewer workers. Having a wider range of duties enables new hires to quickly build skills, gain exposure to diverse areas of the business and assume strategic roles earlier in their careers.”
From a personal standpoint, we’ve seen both the small and the freakishly large so we’ll try to provide some perspective here.
Maximilian’s thoughts are accurate as it relates to smaller companies. They do have more of a sink or you’re out on your ass approach that will help you grow up quick in that company. Additionally, small businesses have the tendency to be a little more flexible when it comes to your work/life balance. There aren’t any fancy initiatives or bombardments of emails; it’s more of the behavior of those around you. In small companies, you see people taking vacation for days and weeks at at time. That should encourage you to do the same.
At large companies, you hear about people that are losing their accrued vacation, mostly because they are lunatics, but also because it’s likely a widespread occurrence at the company. People in large firms have the asinine notion that somehow the wheels would fall off if they were to disappear for two days, forget about a week. This sounds ridiculous but it’s true.
However, large firms and companies do have resources and opportunities that smaller shops simply cannot provide. Want to move to San Francisco? Your large firm has an office there. Think you might want to spend two years in Australia? Your large company can make that happen. Small shops? Not so much.
What the press release doesn’t say is why the CFOs think you should start at a small/midsize company. Max’s opinion is fine but did he conduct all 1,400 of those phone interviews himself? Of course not. The survey was “a random sample of [CFOs at] U.S. companies with 20 or more employees.” Chances are, most of those CFOs have never worked at a big company so their perspective is likely skewed.
The other thing is – trying not to overstate this – you’ve got to make up your own damn mind about what you want to do with yourself. Do you want Big 4 experience? Then go for it. Do you want a flexible schedule that doesn’t involve a multi-level bureaucracy? Then a small company is probably more your speed.
No survey can answer those questions for you.
THINK SMALL: CFOs Recommend Accounting Grads Start Their Careers at Smaller Companies [Accountemps PR]
Even After Obtaining That Sweet CFO Gig, You’ll Probably Still Bitch About Your Salary
Especially if you’re the jealous type.
According to accounting firm BDO, middle market CFOs typically earn 55% to 60% of their CEO’s pay, but in 2010 they earned just 40%, on average.
In a study of 600 public companies with annual revenues ranging from $25 million to $1 billion, BDO found that CFOs earned an average of $927,743 in 2010, a 19% increase from 2010, while CEOs earned an average of $2.34 million, representing a 25% increase from the previous year.
[via CFOJ]