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I don't think it is - I think it's cultural and organisational. The CFO and Finance in general see businesses as capital flows, they don't see value being added

by sgt101 5y ago

I don't think it is - I think it's cultural and organisational. The CFO and Finance in general see businesses as capital flows, they don't see value being added - just opportunities for leverage and cash management. The description of a cost center is a labelling denoting a target for removal and reduction - the destruction of value that occurs (typically 12 -24 months after the exercise) is seen as disconnected and irrelevant.

jart 5y ago
Eye of the beholder topics don't generalize. If your CFO and Finance team is doing things like laying off all the information security people since they thought Axa would pay the ransom gangs, then state the name of the company. Otherwise it's just venting handwavy frustration about people whose job requires taking risk mitigation seriously.
- sgt101 5y ago
  I'm not going to name companies as I don't fancy the blowback, but the fact is that CFO's aren't doing risk minimisation, they're doing bonus optimization. There is a common misconception that CFO's fiduciary duty to their shareholders determines that they should protect the long term stability of the company, but now most shareholders are in the company for 6mths tops. The duration of a CFO's fiduciary duty is arguably about 6mths out. The devastation of large companies in the economies of the west since 1980 is a testament to this.
srtjstjsj 5y ago
But everything is a cost center , even product development and sales. A salesperson is a cost center except for the singular moments when they sign a deal.
- syshum 5y ago
  It comes down to the balance Fake Numbers: sales "generates" 100,000,000 in revenue and "costs" 1,000,000 however IT "generates" 0 in revenue and "costs" 2,000,000 So to an bean counter, clearly the "investment" in sales is better because they make money for the company, where IT just costs money... Thus IT is often treated like a utility service, say something like custodial services, where they want to find the cheapest way to keep the bathrooms not disgusting... not clean mind you, just not disgusting

by sgt101 5y ago

jart 5y ago

Eye of the beholder topics don't generalize. If your CFO and Finance team is doing things like laying off all the information security people since they thought Axa would pay the ransom gangs, then state the name of the company. Otherwise it's just venting handwavy frustration about people whose job requires taking risk mitigation seriously.

sgt101 5y ago
I'm not going to name companies as I don't fancy the blowback, but the fact is that CFO's aren't doing risk minimisation, they're doing bonus optimization. There is a common misconception that CFO's fiduciary duty to their shareholders determines that they should protect the long term stability of the company, but now most shareholders are in the company for 6mths tops. The duration of a CFO's fiduciary duty is arguably about 6mths out. The devastation of large companies in the economies of the west since 1980 is a testament to this.

srtjstjsj 5y ago

But everything is a cost center , even product development and sales. A salesperson is a cost center except for the singular moments when they sign a deal.

syshum 5y ago
It comes down to the balance Fake Numbers: sales "generates" 100,000,000 in revenue and "costs" 1,000,000 however IT "generates" 0 in revenue and "costs" 2,000,000 So to an bean counter, clearly the "investment" in sales is better because they make money for the company, where IT just costs money... Thus IT is often treated like a utility service, say something like custodial services, where they want to find the cheapest way to keep the bathrooms not disgusting... not clean mind you, just not disgusting