Is it a bird? Is it a plane? It’s SuperFD!

Wednesday 18 Feb 09 - Forget your Brad Pitts and George Clooneys. Don’t even mention Barack Obama. The new superheroes for our time are going to be Finance Directors. For from being fazed by the biggest economic downturn since the 1990/1980s/ 1970s/1930s/ever (take your pick), these normally meek and mild creatures say they are in a confident mood and ready to fight the recession.

According to a wide ranging survey from Financial Director magazine , 2009 is likely to be the “Year of the FD”. Already, say FDs, along with collecting cash and providing reliable and timely financial information, their boardroom colleagues are putting pressure on them to look for cost cuts with prime targets being staff and travel and expenditure. However they also have half an eye on the eventual upturn, with many of them saying maintaining staff morale and confidence was at the forefront of their minds.

Other issues that emerged from the survey included the fact that wholesale changes in banking relationships had yet to take place, that the downturn had forced a majority of their businesses to change their overall strategy, and the a fair number of FDs would like the government to “stop tinkering” with the economy and let nature take its course. Interestingly 68% had found something positive about the current climate (although precisely what was not revealed!).

Meanwhile another snippet from the same magazine listed the qualities that those that aspire to be FDs are going to need if they are going to achieve their goal. Polling around 4,000 companies, Professor Colin Coulson-Thomas found that they would need to exhibit “integrity, determination, independence, objectivity, balance, commitment, individuality, sensitivity, strategic and ethical awareness and a sense of accountability and responsibility.” Wow! Is that all? However he also said that “being able to explain financial forecasts and results was more important than any of the other traits.” Oh that’s all right then. For a moment we were all off down to the fancy dress shop to get our outfits before stepping off into a phone box and flying off to our next client appointments……