Chief financial officer

A chief financial officer (CFO), also known as, is an officer of a company or organization who is assigned the primary responsibility for making decisions for the company for projects and its finances (financial planning, management of financial risks, record-keeping, and financial reporting, and often the analysis of data). The CFO thus has ultimate authority over the finance unit and is the chief financial spokesperson for the organization.

The CFO typically reports to the chief executive officer (CEO) and the board of directors and may additionally have a seat on the board. The CFO directly assists the chief operating officer (COO) on all business matters relating to budget management, cost–benefit analysis, forecasting needs, and securing of new funding. Some CFOs have the title CFOO for chief financial and operating officer.^[1] In the majority of countries, finance directors (FD) typically report into the CFO, and FD is the level before reaching CFO.