CFO Annual Conference Dialogue: How Gold Medal CFOs are Made
? China CFO Person of the Year Award Ceremony? was held in Beijing. Below is a summary of the ? How is a gold medal CFO made? Dialogue transcript.
Li Zheng/Moderator: We are going to have the last summit dialog of this annual conference - "How Gold CFOs are made". Please welcome the guests who will participate in this conversation, also four very outstanding "Gold Medal CFOs":
Pfizer China CFO; Miao Tianxiang
Wisdom Link Recruitment CFO: Guo Jianmin
AutoNavi CFO: Zhong Yiji
Rui Zhi Petroleum Well Construction Service Co. Mr. Ma Jinghao will be the guest moderator of this dialogue. Please join us.
Ma Jinghao: It's the last session now, and we're all a little bit tired, aren't we? Today we have this session is the gold medal CFO is how to refine, our topic should be the old normal, but did not refine the CFO, how do we talk about the gold medal CFO, how to talk about the new normal, we CFO has a growth process in which the experience is very valuable, we hope that these four gold medal CFO, can share their valuable experience in the workplace road. We CFO can be from this topic, gold medal CFO is how to refine, a ? The word "refining" can come up, from the ordinary CFO. The word can come up from the ordinary accounting staff to grow into a CFO, is a very difficult process, can also be said to be a torturous process, can be said to be the phoenix nirvana want to be reborn, that is to say, we in the process of cultivation can be realized, for the enterprise to find the value of creating value for ourselves.
I will briefly introduce our four gold medal CFOs, first of all, Mr. Tianxiang Miao, CFO of Pfizer Investment. His biggest impression on me is that he used to teach at the Northeast University of Finance and Economics for more than ten years, and is investing from theory to practice. The second is Mr. Guo Jianmin, CFO of Wisdomlink Recruitment, who has worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers and Deloitte for more than ten years, and successfully led Wisdomlink Recruitment to be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in the United States in 2014. The third one is Mr. Yi-Mei Zhong, CFO of AutoNavi. Mr. Zhong used to work in P&G and Dell [microblogging] Group, and is responsible for a very wide range of areas, not only in charge of finance, but also in charge of the company's forensic material, internal audit, investment relations, and administrative departments. The fourth is Mr. Ye Jun, CFO of Ruizhi Petroleum, who graduated from the Diplomatic Academy and should have become a diplomat, but he became our finance person and joined Shell in 2001.
Ye Jun: My name is Ye Jun, thank you Ma honestly I graduated from the Diplomatic Academy, indeed I did five years as a diplomat, after leaving the Foreign Ministry to go to the investment bank, and then go abroad to study, after studying abroad to join Shell, and then to go to the United States to study. I've been a diplomat for five years. So most of the CFOs in this room are not the same, I am not a CFO from a science class, but I believe that this will not prevent you from becoming a successful CFO in the future, and I would like to share with you today that the only reason why I have come so far is that I am persistent and full of curiosity about my career, so I have kept on transforming my career, and I have been working for Shell for eight jobs, and as long as you keep on learning, you will always be able to achieve success. Success. Although I seem to be more successful, I am almost 50 years old this year, I reached the age of 40, all of a sudden I thought of specializing in a CFO, because I did not come from a finance background, I need to take a certificate, I did not know Mr. Ma at that time, I enrolled in CIMA, it is very hard, even if you want to learn a British accounting certificate at the age of 40 is also possible, as long as people are full of curiosity, full of I believe all of you can succeed if you are full of curiosity and full of perseverance. I believe we can all succeed. Thank you.
Ma Jinghao: It is to bite the green mountain and not let go, and to take the financial road. Mr. Miao, please.
Miao Tianxiang: I now join this company is also a bit of opportunity and coincidence, the original of my predecessor left Pfizer, when the company did very well, left the time to feel guilty about the company, and then promised to find at least one at least as good as me, and then we are alumni, asked me, I was in the university has been teaching for 12 years, and there were a lot of before that. After seeing this opportunity, I first felt that I should go, went to talk to the CEO and CFO at that time, there is no rusty feeling, went to talk for less than half an hour and asked me when I could come over, just when the school is on summer vacation, the process of summer vacation, I'll go to work in the next semester, and then open the school did not see me, that's how it is, and now I've stayed in Pfizer for more than 20 years. I've been with Pfizer for over 20 years, and I've been able to stick around for so long, step by step, to get to the position I'm in now. One of my experiences, in the company must not always think of themselves as CFO, in the opening of the business meeting when you have to question all the issues, all departments of the business, strategic development, personnel department, all places must try to think, because all things will eventually affect your financial statements, must not confine themselves to a small framework, which is my feeling.
Ma Jinghao: Very good. Mr. Miao gave me the biggest experience, I'm not just doing accounts, we have to integrate into the business of the enterprise, our statements are made by the business sector, not the financial made. Please welcome Mr. Guo.
Guo Jianmin: Just now, Ma honestly said, I have experienced the A side and the B side, the beginning has been in the A side of the work, the beginning of the PricewaterhouseCoopers, dry almost 9 years, at that time, the main task is to help the domestic state-owned enterprises in the overseas listings, including listing in Hong Kong, the United States, and the then popular B shares, that era basically in the overseas listing of the large state-owned enterprises. After a period of time, I went to Canada to study, graduated locally and joined Deloitte, originally doing management consulting, working on the A-side constantly learning a lot of things, different industries, contact with outstanding people, contact with some senior managers, learning a lot of things, but one thing can never feel that you are always natural is always the advice. In 2007 my friend called me and said come back to help me, I am in the company is ready to go public in the United States, said you come back, you will affect this company, or you will regret, I listened to his advice, I came back, I will not regret, I joined the real estate company, to help it go public in 07, I did not expect that this road a go on 7 years. I joined Wisdom Recruitment in 2010, when I joined the company, it was in the state of loss, at that time, I was given three tasks must be accomplished, the first to assist the management to turn the company from loss to profit. The second was to help the company go public overseas. Third, you have to cultivate the team, the day you leave the company, the team can continue to help the enterprise continue to grow forward progress, so guide today these three tasks are basically completed, I also continue to reflect on their own life, I'm very grateful to my friend, his words let me start a new course of life. In the past these seven or eight years I basically work in the private sector, which is very different from working in the state-owned enterprises, but I learned a few actions, the first always keep curiosity, always keep learning to learn, to actively embrace change, and this is my experience.
Ma Jinghao: very good, Mr. Guo do you know why your asked you to come back, because you worked at PwC and Deloitte for 13 years. Please welcome Mr. Yi-Mei Zhong from AutoNavi.
Miguel Miguelita Zhong: Good afternoon, everyone. Maybe when I was very young, elementary school read the newspaper often read the business section to see, my father and grandparents are engaged in business, my Zhong Miguel Miguel is also the meaning of the House of Happiness, is also related to finance. So when I didn't graduate from university I had a couple of jobs, and at that time I chose to start the first step of my career at P&G. To me finance staff to do a good job, on the one hand, our financial expertise, which is the responsibility of the highest level of work on behalf of the work, is to continue to learn, whether it is the system, the process. But to do a good job in finance, you need to understand how the business works. I'm not talking about doing finance purely. At the beginning of the need to deal with different departments often, whether it is the marketing department, sales team, production team, HR, IT, etc., this process has benefited a lot. Another thing I would like to share is that there were 24 modules in finance at that time, and I had a very good opportunity to work in a Hong Kong listed company. I also participated in the listing of the motor home, there have been a lot of things to learn, and accumulated all kinds of methods.
Ma Jinghao: It can be summarized by three key words, persistence, curiosity, and integration. Insist on not biting the green mountain and not letting go, keep curiosity about the financial work, and to integrate into the business, which makes us grow into the core of the gold medal CFO.
Here we go to the second session, which is to share the keywords, please look at the big screen there are opportunities, challenges, frustrations, bumps, credibility, hardship, complacency, happiness, excitement, regrets, we ask the four guests to choose a keyword that touches your heart the most, to tell the story behind you, be sure to trigger the pain points, preferably cause a scream.
Ye Jun: Can I pick two? I picked challenge and opportunity. I think these are the two sides of the coin, I was sent by Shell to Shell and PetroChina joint venture in 2011, I am still one of the negotiators of the entire project, why set up this company, when the company was set up, the price of oil was 120 yuan, we spent a lot of time negotiating, after I officially took office, the company is almost set up, the price of oil today is more than 50 yuan, do not need to I fine! I don't need to go into details, we are all CFOs here, what is the impact on your confidence when your financial forecast revenue goes from 120 dollars to more than 50 dollars. The first challenge for me this year is that the challenge is very serious, not just financial. Just now Mr. Guo has shared that they have made money, you are also making money, we are still in the red, the company is in the red, cash flow is not good, and then a lot of problems out, this year is a challenge for me. But at the same time this is an opportunity, just now we have shared a lot, which said that there is enough curiosity, there is also integration, this year is very good for us to do CFO, spend more time to understand the business, I personally also from the end of last year to spend a lot of time to really run the following units, and then know why in the end it will make money, in addition to revenue, that leg of the how to do, this year is a very good for the CFO's This year is a good opportunity for CFOs to demonstrate our ability to understand communication, and then to demonstrate our ability to understand communication, as Mr. Chen of Xinhua said earlier, I believe we all have no problem with the skills, and the real challenge is our communication, as well as our ability to organize, and this year is a great opportunity to practice this aspect of our ability to cultivate this aspect of our ability. Thank you.
Ma Jinghao: very good, facing a huge challenge, we can not turn the financial loss into profit, not to let everyone do false, but we do not have to open source and cut costs, if we do a good job is to turn the loss into profit. Please invite Mr. Miao.
Mr. Miao Tianxiang: Pfizer is making money today, we said at the beginning of the morning, now China's economic growth is slowing down, which talked about the aging population, the decline in the workforce, the economy is a slowing factor. In fact the aging population is really very good news for us in the pharmaceutical industry, the older the population, the higher the demand for health.
We have a lot of challenging things to do every day, things that make people angry, and I want to pick a happy thing. 2012 when Pfizer and Zhejiang (Haisheng) Pharmaceuticals set up a joint venture, and after that we had a celebration, and the leaders of the province and the city came, and it was a very lively event, and it was very memorable for all of us. I feel happy not because of the scene, but because I think about the negotiation for more than a year, the hardship, the hard work, and I feel that the hard work has not been in vain. At the time of the establishment of the joint venture, from the leadership of both sides, they were all very high level, we have to do, for the health of the Chinese people, for the health of the people in remote areas, for the success of China's medical industry, are very macro. But when it comes to the specific terms, it's very scrutinized, very cumbersome, all sorts of terms and conditions, talking about prices, tax arrangements, how the products are going to fit in, intangibles, and so on, it's very cumbersome. The conference room we see now is very beautiful, in reality there are a lot of things that can't be seen, buried in the walls of the wires, pipes, rebar we can't see the things we spent so long, finally made it. Now this joint venture has been developed for nearly three years, and ranks about 40th in the pharmaceutical industry. For a company that has just been established for two or three years to do this, we feel very gratified, and think that all the hard work we did at the beginning was very worthwhile. At the same time also exercise the team, exercise their own negotiation skills with each other, now the company was established, we both although sometimes very nervous, but now also very good friends I hope that the company goes further and further.
Ma Jinghao: very good, Mr. Miao gave me the biggest experience, we are not only financial personnel to do a good job of the accounts, the table to compile a good, and we need to have their own negotiation ability and level of external, so we need to have a good communication *** with the same ability, and even our leadership, these are all the need to have, please Mr. Guo.
Guo Jianmin: I pick frustration and excitement. 2010, in Wisdom Recruitment is an inflection point, but also a turning point, because a lot of things happened that year, when I joined the company, but I chose to do the right thing, offended a part of the people, our business at that time by the impact of the impact of the great, once a colleague to find the management team to lead the team left the company. The outside world also said a large number of things unfavorable to the company, there are a lot of competitors to take advantage of this opportunity to hit us this business, at that time, the management team was facing very great pressure, in the face of such a personnel changes, executives have a very great pressure, I was also very confused, so I looked for a friend to talk to me, and now face such a situation, a very grim situation, I don't know at that time, I did not make the right choice, my friend said I said yes, and he said that's right, because you're going uphill. I listened to the very inspiring, a person's potential is certainly in the adversity of the release, I was determined to insist on staying in this company, to help then stay in the company's several executives, together with the company to do a good job, so so many years to survive, the company's performance in all aspects of the performance are now better, but also afford to our major shareholders and employees.
The second point is excitement. We were listed in June last year, we are also listed on the New York Stock Exchange, there was a bell ringing ceremony, when the bell ringing was very moved, a look at the screen to play out our share price, very moved, this road Wisdom walked 20 years, looking back on the past 7 years in the road, how hard how difficult are very worthwhile.
Ma Jinghao: Because Wisdom Recruitment this enterprise is a very story, look at its history of growth, can also be said to be the history of the growth of Chinese enterprises, under the leadership of Mr. Guo, can go to the U.S. New York Stock Exchange listing, can be said to be a great success. Thank you for having Mr. Zhong.
Mr. Miguel Miguel Zhong: At that time, P&G sent me from Singapore, because we were building a factory in Tianjin, 07 years we just came to meet the financial crisis, the direct impact on us, the first is the foreign exchange control is very strict, we were in the construction site there are a few containers to live, I have more than five years of experience, my team is basically a fresh university graduate. Procter & Gamble invested very much in Tianjin at that time, at that time we invested a lot of money in it, at that time I think on the one hand, the company trusted me very much, basically have no experience, has been given the heavy responsibility in the operation process, including the Guangzhou or Asia headquarters, is completely authorized us to do, require us to solve the local problems themselves, if the foreign exchange at that time to pay not to go out and face a great deal of pressure on the foreign equipment there is no way to import, you have no way to put into production as scheduled, the first is the very strict foreign exchange control. You have no way to put into production as scheduled, every day late on the loss of a lot of money, and finally we through the efforts of all parties, we are very young team, then we solved that problem, we put into production as scheduled, we intermediate industrial and commercial, and we started to build, but two or three years before or production. At that time more happy point, our team if it is difficult to say in an enterprise team of personnel to do the evaluation of excellence, are excellent. Now 8 years have passed, now think of everyone like comrades in arms, to solve the problem, because we face at the same time the production team, their work is much earlier than ours, across the past also opened up a very good runway for our team. Then I was promoted to another position, and my men took over my position again, and I was very fortunate to have those finances in the factory before that. As an Internet company, we believe that we have to constantly create value, because the Internet is changing very fast, it is very important to constantly create value to our users, to our customers, although we are these two or three years we are also constantly creating value.
Ma Jinghao: We feel that behind every gold medal CFO there are sweet and sour stories. Recently, there is a popular saying on the Internet that first-class people are people's money, second-class people are talents, third-class people are people's hands, fourth-class people are people's cuts, and fifth-class people are people's scum. Just now we said that creating value for the enterprise is the essential value of CFO, that is to say, only for the enterprise to create value for the financial personnel to become a gold medal CFO, thank you very much for the four to share with us the sweet and sour behind them, the secret of their success, two words, was? The secret of their success is two words, being? , not only for the enterprise to create value, but also for the individual to create value.
The third session we enter the discussion, I saw a microblogging, many people ask me questions about business, these questions I do not ask, there are some are professional ethics, we give each two minutes of time to simply say what we should have the most basic qualities of the financial staff, what are the good experiences.
Ye Jun: just now Mr. Chen summed up very well, one is its own skills, what we call ` professional knowledge, this part of the usual more look at Mr. Ma's microblogging on the growth, can not be fake, this is the bottom line, and then only to speak out the stock market behind the figures, this is one of the most basic skills. The second more difficult is the so-called leadership training, to become a CFO, the first force to have this responsibility, the second is whether you can do it, how can you do it, this is the test of the future of all of you here more, give you this stage, can you show your beauty, this is what we need to do, is your communication, your organizational skills, or your temporary power, and soft power training.
Ma Jinghao: Leadership development is very good.
Miao Tianxiang: I feel that the first quality you need to have as a CFO is to have a good body, especially your mental health. Every day to bear the pressure from all sides, a lot of things are not in your scope of things, such as he thinks you are omnipotent, that you know anything in your company, all the questions more ask you, you can not tell him that this does not belong to me, you have to find ways to understand this thing clearly, of course, to understand the process of their own mastery of the process of business. Why talk about the body to be good, Pfizer is headquartered in the U.S. company, as CFO and other personnel is not the same place, you work for China during the day, and at night for the New York work, because we have a 12-hour time difference, with their time is either morning or night, this is one. In addition, just now, Mr. Ye said leadership, you must put your own thoughts, instilled into the general manager's mind, into the behavior of the whole company, especially the comprehensive budget management, you must make it consistent with you, this aspect requires a lot of soft skills, you can not order him how to do, so that after the end of the year, we are more good-looking, the performance of the entire company are good-looking, everyone can get a bonus, the idea of force into the mind of the whole company.
Ma Jinghao: not only the body should be good, their own ideas should also have influence.
Guo Jianmin: just now the two have mentioned expertise and influence, a point is the ability to communicate and coordinate, very much agree with Mr. Miao said, as CFO you are the company's executives, you must use your insight in the day-to-day work, to influence your CEO, influence the board of directors to make decisions in favor of the company, to create more value for the company, because the resources in your hands, how to allocate is your responsibility. The second point, in today's world, change is too fast, as the CFO should keep pace with the times, always keep new, constantly learning, especially in the world of the Internet, the future is full of unlimited possibilities.
Zhong Yi Miguelita: You talk to executives and middle and senior management, today's achievements are from yesterday's accumulation, tomorrow can continue to enjoy this success, we have to look at yesterday's accumulation, in a fast-growing environment, we have to continue to accumulate, including the cultivation of our financial self-competence, the sky rewards hard work. The second is somewhat similar, there is no best but better. The third is to the company inside and outside, with the customer, we have to have a **** the same value, that is, how to continuously improve our value. The fourth is professional, in addition to professional certification, there is a professional attitude, people really see is the attitude, you are willing to bear, willing to improve efficiency, willing to innovate, this is a very important point, and now the enterprise is very concerned about these six words, bear, efficiency, innovation. The last point is never say die, to continue to learn, in the process there are certainly sweet and sour, but behind the scenes is also the opportunity to learn.
Ma Jinghao: very good, I would like to summarize with the most core keywords, is leadership, because our CFO is the leader of the enterprise, is a corporate executive, leadership training is very important. Only professional knowledge is not enough, your ability to communicate, communication skills, the ability to influence others, are to be gradually cultivated in the work process.
We four each with a sentence, I think any discipline is ultimately the process of enlightenment, can we give you a heartfelt words.
Miguel Bell: The Way of Heaven rewards the diligent.
Guo Jianmin: I still say, always keep curiosity, embrace change, in this Internet world, the future is full of infinite possibilities.
Miao Tianxiang: I hope more and more young people like to love finance work, because finance is the only see the whole picture of the company.
Ye Jun: never give up, confidence is more important than gold. Thank you.
Ma Jinghao: Well, thank you all the guests, this topic ends here, goodbye.
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