The next 80 years.

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.

We asked leading financial executives and business leaders how the next 80 years of global finance will evolve. Some offered cautious prognoses, others predicted fundamental, sweeping change and one scenario was simply out of this world.

Any conversation about the future financial executive and the profession must consider the changing regulatory landscape and the up-and-coming talent pool. Like a major league ball club, organizations of all types require a pool of qualified individuals from which to draft and develop their future stars.

Gone are the clays that a company's outside auditors would serve as the primary training ground for such talent, as more than half of all current accounting grads do not initially work for a CPA firm, according to the AICPA. As to the future financial and regulatory environment, GAAP as we know it is coming under increasing pressure both from abroad (IFRS vs. GAAP) and domestically (private vs. public GAAP).

Toss into this mix the seemingly endless quest for tax reform at the federal level and it is easy to see how volatile the atmosphere is becoming for the future. Facing this, will the future financial executive become more of a technocrat over time, enforcing rules and statutes primarily, or will the environment become more business development-oriented, reversing the trend of the last few decades of ever more complex rules setting and regulation, with the result that once again the CFO becomes an equal member of the management team? One can only hope.

Tim Anglim, president and founder, YesCFO, FEI member

Given all the changes in the accounting profession and the business world over the past 80 years, it would be presumptuous for me to predict the next 80. But I'm virtually certain that having enough cash will continue to be the lifeblood of any successful corporation and that the debits and credits will still have to balance each other.

Denny Beresford, professor University of Georgia, former Financial Accounting Standards Board chairman, FBI2006 Hall of Fame inductee

The primary responsibility for today's financial executive is to drive intrinsic value. Finance executives partner with the CEO and COO as their companies' senior strategists to achieve success. I don't see this role changing much, but the competencies required to perform effectively in this role will evolve.

In the future, the CFO will need to focus externally more so than internally and create and leverage connections and drive change outside their organizations as well as inside to create value. As a result, strategic thinking, creative vision and the ability to "connect the dots" will be much more important to the financial executive of the future.

George Boyadjis, CPA, FHFMA, executive director, Corporate Real Estate Services, CresaPartners, FEI member, current FEI chairman

Financial executives are ultimately stewards of growth for their organizations. Smart, quality growth is ever more reliant on sound financial management, which underpins the strategy of any organization. At Grant Thornton, we look forward to close, rewarding relationships with these business leaders for decades to come.

Stephen Chipman, CEO, Grant Thornton LLP, FEI Strategic Partner

In the short term (five years), getting comfortable with data and core processes operating in a cloud environment. Days of having all data stored/managed/locked down internally will be gone and procedures for security will need to adapt. Given the increasing role of government, I'd expect financial executives will need to be more directly involved in shaping public policy without the often high-cost middleman of lobbyists or other interpreters guiding their view.

Countries with aging demographics will need to find ways for financial executives to contribute in some fashion beyond the traditional boundaries of retirement and pay-by-the-drink consulting. Possibly some form of knowledge bank creation and toolset. Finance recruitment and training will need to focus more heavily on emerging economies, particularly in the southern hemisphere.

Kevin Cunningham, vice president, Sun Solar LLC, FEI member

The financial executive will need to continue to evolve into a business leader with global experience and a global perspective. More than any other executive in a corporation, the financial executive will need to be multifaceted to help deliver returns to the shareholders.

10. Scott Di Valerio, CFO, Coinstar Inc., FEI member, Financial Executive Editorial Advisory Board

    Financial executives will remain ever critical to business success and work in an ever-increasing global economy with ever-increasing government and professional regulation.

    Alexis Dow, CPA, FEI member, former FEI chairman

    Over the next 80 years, information technology may exert an increasingly powerful influence on financial executives. Computers and the Internet have already changed many aspects of financial management, but the relentless creativity of IT developers means the process may accelerate and be less expensive than today. Sooner than we think, software could permit "continuous monitoring" that allows management to track and improve performance in real time, and "continuous auditing" could enhance auditors' reviews and analyses, down to the transaction level on a real-time basis.

    Management's intensified performance monitoring and improvement activities may promote more consistent and positive earnings, internal auditors' more regular, thorough and complete reviews may enhance controls and compliance and independent auditors' issuance of more efficient and frequent audit reports may provide assurance at speeds consistent with the rapid pace of the high-tech 21st century marketplace.

    Joe Echevama, CEO, Deloitte LLP, FEI Strategic Partner

    I have two questions: Will CFOs, members of senior management and...