Survey of CFO's shows Finance Teams have Good Grasp of Rules and Regulations

Robert Half Management Resources recently conducted a survey of more than 2,100 Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) all over the United States of America (USA). The findings of the survey show that CFOs believe that their finances teams have good understanding and knowledge of regulations. About 73 of the participants of the survey declared that their accounting and finance teams have either "excellent" or "good" compliance and regulatory knowledge.

The CFOs were asked to rate their finance and accounting teams' knowledge, expertise and understanding of regulations and compliance. 45% of the CFO's stated their knowledge as "excellent" while 48% of the participants reported their expertise was "good". Only 6% of the respondents said their expertise was "fair" and just 1% said it was "poor".

Paul McDonald, a senior executive director as Robert Half Management Resources said that ""It's not surprising today's finance teams feel they're current on new regulations, but businesses shouldn't fall into a false sense of security, thinking catching up to existing mandates is enough." He also added that "Corporate leaders need to implement proactive strategies to ensure their employees stay up to date on emerging regulatory demands."

Paul McDonald suggested 3 strategies that the CFOs can use to make sure that their finance and accounting team have suitable regulator and compliance expertise: (1) The teams should be provided with suitable training opportunities. (2) The teams should be offered access to continuing professional development courses and industry seminars. (3) Hire the services of consultants who have specialized experience to support the compliance issues and to provide cross-training to current team members.

Robert Hall Management Resources is a provider of high-level accounting, finance, and business systems professionals on interim and project basis. The survey was carried out by an independent research firm. The findings of the survey are based on interviews of over 2,100 CFOs of companies in more than 20 largest metropolitan areas of the United States. A stratified random sample of companies was used.