In practice, the structure of a finance department hinges on the functions and responsibilities overseen by the financial manager within each specific company. These internal organizational setups vary significantly from one shareholder to another, resulting in diverse roles for financial directors across different companies that differ greatly in scope, depth, and quality.

The traditional duties and authorities of financial managers also vary markedly based on geographical factors, varying from country to country. I have had the opportunity to live and work in several countries for over ten years, both as a banking specialist and as the head of corporate client divisions in banks in Russia and Europe, as well as managing companies in various European countries and the UAE. Early in my career, I directly interacted with financial directors of my corporate clients, and later I held that position myself. This experience allows me to compare approaches in the regions in which have worked, collaborated closely, and built businesses.

In Russia, the role of the financial leader is quite broad, encompassing responsibilities ranging from accountant to financial director, including:

1. Chief Accountant with certain CFO responsibilities.

2. Head of the Finance Department, focusing on data analysis and planning (even without overseeing accounting and payments);

3. CFO, making decisions on a wide range of accounting and financial-economic tasks, either as a classic CFO or as a Deputy General Director for economics and finance;

4. Financial-Operational director with a broad spectrum of tasks, not limited to financial and accounting matters but also encompassing responsibilities for the operational and administrative service units of the company.

In the latter case, in addition to purely financial teams such as the finance department, treasury, and accounting, the senior manager’s responsibilities include various compositions of the operational responsibilities, like human resources (such as payroll and HR document flow support, rather than recruiting or assessments), business analysis, automation and support of corporate IT systems, legal services, compliance and internal controls, and the administrative and economic functions.

In Western Europe, a CFO typically possesses a significant accounting and tax background, resembling more of a chief accountant with financial management functions. Therefore, a common requirement for such positions in Europe is to have the CPA (Chartered Public Accountant) certification.

In the operations of a European company’s finance department, considerable attention is paid to credit analysis, working with accounts receivable and accounts payable, tax accounting, and reporting. Career advancement for financial professionals in European companies often involves area-specific study, spending several years in each function. They rarely have wide coverage of tasks and processes within the responsibility area of one specialist or department, but rather increasing expertise and close hands-on focusing on a specific field. Financial specialists in European companies frequently focus on a single area of responsibility throughout their entire careers, gradually increasing their salary due to indexing and gaining greater autonomy in decision-making (e.g., in determining the size and terms of limits for accounts receivable).

In the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States, former Soviet countries) and EU (European Union) countries, the primary functionalities of the so-called «classic» CFO include: