THE Asean Economic Community (AEC), as a goal of regional economic integration, will redefine the business landscape. Local competition will be overshadowed by greater competition across member-countries of the Asean region, and business standards will be challenged by stricter regional practices that will compel companies to improve and upgrade in order to succeed.
The Philippines comes at the forefront of Asean integration in 2015, as it plays host to a series of Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meetings that aim to promote the competitiveness of the Philippines and help change the way our country is viewed, taking into focus the principles of sustainability and inclusivity as key drivers in global business growth.
As we take on this active participation to communicate the merits of the reformed Philippine economy and provide opportunities for long-term investment, we also must recognize the key roles we must take as CFOs to contribute to our respective companies’ ability to thrive, compete and advance in the Asean business environment. As CFOs, we must learn to go beyond our traditional role of financial stewardship and perform expanded roles in the midst of Asean integration.
Market changes and technological advances in the Asean are challenging present business models and paradigms, and the need for more collaboration across functional business units become increasingly significant.
The role of CFOs becomes all the more integrated into each business function. While CFOs are expected to carefully manage and preserve company assets and provide foresight into future financing requirements, we are also expected to ensure that strategies for growth are executed properly.
CFOs must become partners of the CEOs and other members of management in making business decisions. We must help our respective organizations and business units understand and assess market and industry trends that come with the Asean integration and analyze its relative impact to business performance.
We must also be able to communicate strategies on how to plan ahead or address the key challenges. We must also take advantage of the opportunities provided by a greater regional exposure that the integration provides. CFOs need to build strong relationships and linkages around the region and understand best practices that can be applied in our respective companies.
CFOs must also learn to be excellent communicators and relationship-builders. We must also actively engage investors and credit-rating agencies to help communicate the business values and build confidence in the company’s growth plans.
Last, we also have to improve on our corporate governance standards and practices. Through the Asean Corporate Governance Scorecard, we can measure and evaluate our business practices to raise our respective competitiveness ranking in the region.
This is a part of our responsibility to ensure that good corporate governance and prudent risk management are institutionalized and embedded in our day-to-day management process.
These are just quite a few of the many initiatives we can take to ensure that we actively participate. CFOs will play a critical transformational role in this integrated Asean region. With our expanded roles as strategist, operator, catalyst and steward, we can equip our companies well with the right measures that can help endure competition, withstand various market challenges and ensure the long-term continuity of our operations and boost shareholder value.