You are at an airport waiting out a flight delay. The person sitting next to you introduces himself/herself as the CFO of company XYZ. She/he says the following: I believe CFOs now face a dilemma. This notion resides in the idea that there is a disputable choice for finance leaders, that there is always a trade-off between making money in the short term or being a force for good in the long term. Of course that assumes that its not possible to earn profit and also contribute to society. My argument is that they should be one and the same thing. Simply put: we no longer have the public consent to do one, unless we do the other. The CFOs dilemma, in my mind, is therefore not so much a binary choice: between the soft things that support society, as opposed to the hard things like, shareholder return. The dilemma is not the choice between those things, the dilemma is the choice of the actions you take to ensure you can achieve both. In this regard, the role of the CFO is changing and finance professionals need to appreciate not only financial and manufactured capital, but need to understand, respect and account for social, human and natural capitals too because this is what society, not just shareholders, are asking CFOs about. I would argue that the CFO is at the center of a change that is happening within business. Corporate responsibility is no longer the philanthropic side-line that is a million miles away from the core business, it is now an essential part of the CFOs toolkit. Sustainability and corporate responsibility are corner stones of successful businesses. Finance teams are providing leadership within their organizations to ensure decision making fully encompasses economic, social and environmental impacts. Companies that fail to ensure this will risk their overall business model and ultimately their right to make an appropriate profit.

What is your response to him/her? Do you agreee that CFOs (or firms') responsiblity is only to the shareholders? Should the corporation care about what the society needs as long as it abides by the law and pays its fair share of corporate taxes?

Please note that this question may lead to heated discussions so please be considerate in expressing your opinions. There are no right/wrong answers, just well articulated reasons. Go...