Two generations of CFOs: how different are they? We asked CFOs under 40 and over 60 years of age how they approach the same challenges, circa 2005. Here's what they had to say.

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.
• Position: Cover Story

The chief financial officer (CFO) is a relatively recent executive title, if you call 30 or 40 years recent. Some who hold the title today were barely born when it came to life, while others--early then in their careers--had something to aspire to. Prior to CFO, the top finance spot was usually senior vice president, chief accounting officer (CAO) or controller (or comptroller). It was during the 1960s and 70s when the CFO emerged, as a response to the growing interest in accessing capital markets. Elevating the finance role to a C-level post was seen to carry more weight.

By the 1990s and beyond, much was made of the fact that finance chiefs were shedding their "green-eyeshade" image and becoming strategic advisors to and partners with the CEO. Along with the explosion of 24/7 business news and media, CFOs were expected to be media-savvy, smartly discussing earnings, responding to analyst calls and posting webcasts of earnings notices on Internet sites.

Long gone are the days when the finance chief was holed away in a back office toiling over ledgers. Indeed, a large number of today's CFOs lack accounting backgrounds and a certified public accountant (CPA) designation. Today's finance guys and gals (another more recent occurrence) are expected to know all about the business and its customers, the industry and competitive issues, in addition to mastering the necessary finance and regulatory matters.

With the growth of the CFO role, however, came unintended consequences. Some attribute the recent spate of accounting scandals--the Enrons, Adelphias, WorldComs and others--to finance chiefs who forgot their primary role as the company's moral conscience, and to say, "No!"

Also, as the role has evolved, its qualifications have changed. Time was when the young finance or accounting major would aspire to the CFO seat. They'd often start out with an accounting firm and earn their CPA, all the while putting in their time, getting the right experience, getting hired by a client company and making that slow climb to the top finance spot by the time they reach age 50 or so.

In today's companies, CFOs can be in their 30s. Weaned on technology and often light on accounting skills, they contrast with those in their 60s--often lean in technology and strong on the traditional finance background.

To find out how these two generations are handling the job's inherent challenges, Financial Executive invited a half-dozen CFO members of Financial Executives International (FEI) to answer a series of questions about their careers, their experiences and qualifications, their concept of their role and their expectations. These CFOs are from a variety of industries and geographies. What they have in common, besides their CFO title, is a lot more than you'd expect. Three of them are under 40 and three are over 60. (Greg Millman interviewed the under-40s and Ellen Heffes interviewed the over-60s.) What follows are their stories. We invite you, our readers, to be the judge: How different are they ... really?

--Ellen M. Heffes

A CFO/IT Guy

Richard J. Taggart, 63

Executive Vice President and CFO

Weyerhaeuser Co., Seattle

NYSE: WY; $22.7 billion, 2004 revenues

One of the world's largest integrated forest-products companies

You'd expect that implementing and integrating financial systems for a $22 billion-plus company would be the responsibility of an information technology expert. Not so at Weyerhaeuser Co., where CFO, Richard J. Taggart is completing a project toward common financial systems company-wide that he started before moving into the top spot.

CFO for just three years, Taggart says the accounting systems are "critical to comply with regulations efficiently" for his very diverse company, which is geographically spread out all over North America.

He's had few employers--three in his 35-year career--and since joining Weyerhaeuser (taking an education break midway through his career), he's moved both horizontally and vertically by shifting focus and moving up the corporate ladder.

Trained as an economist, Taggart started in operations research for Ford Motor Co. and then joined Weyerhaeuser in 1974 as a manager of information systems and operations research. To create broader opportunities, in his early 40s, he attended the University of Washington Business School, taking accounting courses and passing the CPA exam. After a short stint with another company, he rejoined Weyerhaeuser as a financial manager for an operating business before being summoned to corporate headquarters to be groomed for higher-level positions by the then-CFO.

Taggart believes the CFO role has evolved in importance because of technology and institutional investors' demands. He concedes that he is better equipped than others in his shoes to deal with the technological changes. "If you don't understand the difficulty of managing change and large information-system projects, you're going to have some train wrecks that are going to cost you hundreds of millions of dollars," he says.

One significant change he's lived through--and has had to adapt to--is how technology affects communications with the financial markets--notably, the evolution of conference calls and emails. "It has increased the speed at which communications takes place, and that has happened in a regulatory environment that requires you to report things sooner." With this, he says, comes the expectation that everything a company does will be reviewed with the financial community on a webcast conference call.

He extols the benefits of having broad experience, in whatever business you are in, or having exposure to accounting and controllership, the

capital markets, bank markets and financing and tax. It's also useful to have some involvement in communications with the investment community--"understanding the players is really critical."

Taggart sees the biggest challenge for large-corporation CFOs as building the expertise of the people that work for them and ensuring that you're...