eCFO: Sustaining Value in The New Corporation [Hardcover]

Cedric Read (Author), Jacky Ross (Author), John R. Dunleavy (Author), Donniel S. Schulman (Author), James Bramante (Author), PricewaterhouseCoopers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 11, 2001

Important and groundbreaking financial strategy
Recognizing that traditional accounting and financial conventions may no longer provide the CFO with adequate armory to face the challenges of the electronic environment, eCFO takes a bold step forward to examine how modern CFOs must reposition themselves to operate effectively in this new era. Picking up where CFO: Architect of the Corporation's Future left off, this progressive new book provides new models and techniques to help corporations prosper in the twenty-first century. Featuring interviews at the start of each chapter from some of the world's leading CFOs-including Clayton Daly from Procter & Gamble, Tom Meredith from Dell Computers, and John Coombe from Glaxo Wellcome-eCFO draws on their experience to address the key issues they face in the new business environment.

Editorial Reviews

Review

.."A guide to a topic no eCFO can afford to ignore..."
(Lloyd's List, 16 November 2001)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1st edition (April 11, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471496421
• ISBN-13: 978-0471496427
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,776,034 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!, October 22, 2001

By 

Marcelo Suarez Castillo (San Salvador, El Salvador) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: eCFO: Sustaining Value in The New Corporation (Hardcover)

As its predecessor, CFO: The Architect of the Corporation's Future, eCFO continues PwC's collection of financial masterpieces.

eCFO provides a major turnaround in the finance function for the
21st century. The new CFO profile will demand a series of capabilities in order to lead companies through the e-world. Technical skills no longer suffice; CFOs are to be great visionaries and good communicators/motivators in their new leadership role.

For example, the new finance function has to take into account that budgets no longer work. They inhibit growth and creativity. I particularly liked a comment that said that budgets are an exercise of how small a company wants to be. Instead, the authors suggest using rolling forecasts as an alternative to foster creativity and at the same time control risks/costs.

I highly recommend this book. This is the third book I buy from PwC's finance team: CFO, eCFO and In Search of Shareholder Value.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book, June 5, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: eCFO: Sustaining Value in The New Corporation (Hardcover)

This book is far from typical. By focusing on modern management principles, it is both practical and informative and provides detail to implement new ideas that make a significant difference to my company's future. As a CFO it is refreshing to see a new perspective where the finance function looks at adding value not just on the balance sheet but contributing to customer strategy and contributing to decision-making in areas of software selection such as CRM, marketing tools and business intelligence. I applaud the authors for a looking at a fresh approach and would recommend this book to any company director seeking a competitive advantage.

Well done!

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Is this a joke?, November 27, 2002

By A Customer

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: eCFO: Sustaining Value in The New Corporation (Hardcover)

Having actually been a CFO, I was excited to learn how I might improve on how I do things, challenge any old thinking I had picked up, etc. However, this book says nothing new. In fact, it says almost nothing at all.

PwC has assembled a collection of jargon and case studies that are so high-level as to be of no use. I give it one star instead of zero because the eCFO checklists at the end of each chapter are, in fact, useful in terms of giving you some things to think about -- but you don't need to buy the whole book just for that. Check it out at the library -- better yet, just make photocopies of the checklists.

Is this book also an indication of what you get by hiring PwC consultants?