Human Resource Management: Roles and Responsibilities

Nature of the Job and the Organization

The nature of the job is the Chief Finance Officer in JPMorgan Chase Company in the United States of America. The Chief Finance Officer is a very important position in an organization and so to JPMorgan Chase. Traditionally, Chief Accountants performed several tasks which included the preparation of financial accounts, budgets, reporting and interpreting reports, evaluation of results, preparations of tax returns and formulation of internal regulatory procedures necessary to safeguard company’s assets. The globalization of corporate governance and management and has led to the transformation of the roles of Chief Executive Officer. This portfolio seeks to explain the scope and the role of the Chief Finance Officer and the complexities, responsibilities and skills that is required of this position.

JPMorgan Chase is among the oldest and the largest financial institutions in the United States of America. Established in 1799, JPMorgan Chase has succeeded by being a listening financial partner and fulfilling customer’s demands. JP Morgan is a multinational company that combines two major financial brands, that is: JPMorgan and Chase with operations in over fifty countries and serves world’s major corporate, institutional and government clients. The firm is the leading and reliable brand in financial transactions, investment and commercial banking, business banking and private equity. The affiliates of the JPMorgan chase and Co. are the Chase Manhattan Bank, Bank One, Chemical trust, the First National Bank of Chicago, Manufacturers Hanover trust Co. and the National Bank of Detroit. The banks are connected and tied in their principle and commitment to financial innovation and growth of global economies (JPMorgan Chase, 2008, p. 1).

Strategic Importance of the Job to the Organization

The Chief Finance Officer (CFO) plays a central role in JPMorgan Chase & Co. CFO controls the financial reins of the company and has the responsibility of ensuring the well planning and regulation of the financial resources to secure results. The global financial crisis and the economic meltdown underpinned the critical importance of the CFO. The CFO is entrusted with the role of securing monetary stewardship of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, 2009, p.1). The CFO is charged with the task of leading and directing the financial strategies and financial operations of JPMorgan Chase & Co. CFO occupy a central role both to the external stakeholders and the leadership team of JPMorgan Chase &Co and their strategic and planning decisions have to be supported by sound analysis.

The CFO is accountable for company’s financial, administrative and the risk management operations of the company. CFO develops the financial and operational strategy of the company and the monitoring of company’s control system that is aimed at preserving the assets of the company in order for them to report accurate financial date.

Job Analysis Plan and the Method used to conduct the Job Analysis

• Step 1: determine the exiting job in the company and competency framework. This can be achieved through infrastructure assessment and discussion between the management and the board of directors.
• Step 2: define the job analysis process and supporting documentation: this can be achieved by reviewing previous job advertisements and templates.
• Step 3: implementation; this involves the communication of job analysis and the undertaking of job analysis process and expected outcome. This can be achieved through facilitated discussions, documentation review, employee questionnaire and presentations (GreenBlox, 2006, p. 1).

Job description for the position: accountabilities, responsibilities, reporting requirements and job specifications.

CFO is the key player of the leadership team which develops and implements the monetary strategy of the company. As a member of the strategic team, collectively they will be responsible for defining the strategic direction of the company and develop some ways of implementing the strategies. Consequently, he/she plays an active role and can influence material decisions of the company in order to ensure immediate and long-term implications, opportunities and risks are taken into consideration. CFO leads the promotion and delivery of good financial strategies which are effective and efficient (Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, 2009, p.7). The CFO acts as the link that matches business plans and the financial projections. He/she will wield executive power regarding strategic and operational aspects of financial and management planning of the company, as such facilitating strategic planning at the corporate level should be the core of this task.

Job description

• Title of the job: Chief Finance Officer.
• Reporting to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO)

Accountabilities of CFO

Planning

• Help in formulating future direction of the company and to assist in strategic initiatives.
• To monitor and to direct the implementation of strategic business plan.
• To initiate financial and tax strategies of the company.
• Management of capital request and budgetary processes of the company.
• Developing performance parameters that facilitate the strategic directions of the company.

Operations

• Participate in principal decisions as an executive member.
• Maintain strong relations with management team members.
• Management of accounting, human resource, investor relations, treasury departments.
• Supervising the operations of subsidiary companies.
• Management of third parties performing outsourced duties.
• To supervise the process of transactions.
• Implementation of best operational practices.
• Oversee the plans for employee benefits and to ensure cost-effective benefits package.
• To oversee and negotiate acquisitions.

Financial information

• To supervise the issuance of financial data.
• Report financial results to the Board of directors.

Risk management

• Understand and combat the risk elements of the company.
• Monitor all legal issues surrounding the company.
• To develop and monitor reliable control systems.
• Maintain the necessary insurance coverage.
• Make sure that the company satisfies all the legal, statutory and regulatory requirements.
• To ensure that books of accounts meet the threshold requirements needed by auditors and government agencies.
• To report to the audit committee all the risk matters.
• Maintain good relations with external auditors and to carefully look at their conclusions, findings and recommendations.

Funding

• To monitor cash balances and cash forecast.
• Organize for debt and equity financing.
• To invest the company funds.
• Investing pension’s funds.

Third parties

• Taking part in investment and conference calls with the investors.
• Maintain banking relationship with clients.

Desired qualification of CFO

The requirements and the qualifications of the Chief Finance Officer is defined under code of corporate governance which states that a person to be appointed CFO must have the following qualifications:

• Good leadership skills: CFO is the leader and the director of the financial function of the Company.
• Experience: The CFO should be professionally qualified and with experience on financial matters and fund management.
• An individual with greater understanding of the market dynamics and the global competitive environment and ethics.
• Wide academic background and appropriate accounting knowledge both theoretical and practical.
• Should be a graduate with master’s degree in accounting or business related field an equivalent from a recognized institution of higher learning with at least 10 years business experience in handling financial and corporate matters of a listed company. Priority will be given to candidates with master’s in business administration in finance and with a Certified Public Accountant or Certified Management Accountant designation.
• Knowledge in information technology, accounting packages and proficiency in computer applications.
• Should be focused on consumer needs.
• Should have a professional accounting qualification like Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and be a member of any registered accounting body like Institute of Chartered Accountants or equivalent with expertise in financial management.
• Should maintain good financial management systems and processes and be able to interpret and analyses financial data.
• Should be conversant with financial legislations that are applicable like Financial Management Act or the Audit Act. And internal control frameworks (Auditor General, 2004, p. 3).
• Should have strong analytical techniques and be capable of analyzing financial information and budgets.
• Communication and presentation skills: the CFO must have these requisite skills to enable him communicate with the board of directors or to convince the investors. Proficiency in at least one international language will be an added advantage (Accounting Tools, 2011, p.1).

Responsibilities of CFO

The Chief Finance Officer will be attending executive board meetings. As such CFO has responsibilities toward the Board of Directors and responsibilities to the stakeholders. The CFO is required to provide critical and classified financial information to the Board of directors complete with analysis and suggestions. In the stakeholders meeting, it is expected that CFO provides financial data that will be included in the director’s report.

• Contribute to the leadership of the organization by focusing on the purpose and the vision of the company through accurate analysis and challenge. The CFO is instrumental in the determination of policy, programs and strategies. This is achieved through the provision of strategic and operational performance, the reporting and analysis of forecasts and projections.
• Contribute to the corporate management of the organization, its strategy, implementation, risk and performance management and integrated business planning.
• Sustaining organizational governance by developing efficient corporate governance arrangement and risk management and corporate decision making arrangements.
• Leading and defining the financial policy of the company. CFO should devise an appropriate financial approach. This is achieved through the analysis of financial information which includes budgets, business planes and cash flow projections.
• Developing short-term, medium term and long-term financial strategies and defining annual budgeting process to facilitate the financial balance and monitoring process. CFO also ensures the medium term financial strategy reflects a joint planning with other officers and stakeholders (Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy, 2009, p.10).
• To provide the top management with financial data that is obtained outside the organization. She/he should offer advice and aid on policy proposals.
• To strategically formulate the goals and the objectives of the company by influencing and necessitating development of future strategic decisions. This will include making proposals concerning the inability by the company to recover material amount of loans, advances or deposits and inter-corporate finances to the board.
• To provide the requisite financial management leadership and to ensure that financial policies and guidelines are adhered to.
• To verify the information presented in the financial reports and to endorse it based on reliability, accuracy and completeness before it is submitted to the Board of Directors.
• To create and to provide support of performance management that can connect qualitative and quantitative performance indicators to the company’s strategies (Auditor General, 2004, p.4).
• To be an advocate of connecting financial and operational data that is necessary for decision making functions.
• To provide financial statements that have been approved by the management of the company, by furnishing the stakeholders with financial state of affairs of the company, cash flows and equity changes for particular period.
• To ensure the proper maintenance of company’s books of accounts and to provide relevant accounting polices that have been consistently applied while preparing financial statements or the accounting estimates.

Skills and professional standards

• The CFO should be energetic, focused, determined, robust and able to inspire confidence and respect.
• Be able to incorporate a flexible leadership style.
• Be able to build a good relationship both within and without the company.
• Should work effectively with other officers or those in the leadership team.
• CFO should support the collective ownership of the company’s risk and strategy.
• Should be in a position to address and effectively tackle difficult situations.
• Balance both pressures and needs whether short-term or long-term trade offs.
• Should balance between the broader financial aspects of the position and the desire to enhance retail focus with the expectations of the stakeholders.
• To effectively articulate financial matters and with sound negotiation skills.
• An advertisement of the job based on job description and where the advert is to be placed.

JPMorgan Chase & Co

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is a large financial institution, specializing in equity, mortgage and financial banking in USA. It is the industry leader in commercial and investment with operations in more than fifty countries. It is associated with seven financial institutions in the United States of America renowned in its diversity in responding to ever growing business needs. The company wishes to recruit a Chief Finance Officer.

• Vacancy: Chief Finance Officer (CFO).
• Department: Finance.
• Location: Chicago and transferable to any of the JPMorgan Chase & Co. branches in other parts of the world.
• Span of control: the CFO will be reporting to the CEO and all finance and accounting officers will report to him/her in matrix report format.

Role objectives

To strategize the profit and loss of the company; as a CFO, he/she should ensure effective financial management of the company through control financial planning, budgeting and fund management and effectively overseeing all working capital issues, treasury and investor relations.

The successful candidate should have financial experience in supervising financial in an organization with annual turnover of $100 M and an exposure in multi national business environments and knowledge of mergers and acquisitions.

Medium of advertisement

The advertisement will be placed on New York Times and the company website. The two media are preferable due to the seniority of the position and the need to attract the best and exceptionally qualified candidate for the job. Elaborate advertisement will be placed on the company website while a well trimmed, specific and summary advertisement will be place in the New York times; this is to save on the budget and money spend since newspaper ads are charged based on the amount of space occupied. The name of the company and the job title should be printed in bold to make it conspicuous (Infocomm international n.d., p. 2).

The link between job analysis and the design and sustainability of the organization’s human resource

The pressures from global competition and the dynamic challenges and technological revolution have prompted the Human resource departments to link job analysis with business needs. Job analysis is necessary to ensure recruitments meet the company’s budgetary and personnel investment plan. Before the investment of time and resources are invested in the company, it is advisable that job analysis is undertaken to ensure the person to be employed meets the requirements of the organization (Staffing Advisors, n.d., p. 2).

Job analysis is necessary in the analysis of resources and the establishment of the strategies that are required for accomplishing company objectives. A well designed job descriptions is necessary to ensure organizational success. The main aim of undertaking job analysis is to enable the management and the human resource team to define job description and job specifications that will facilitate the hiring of suitable and qualified employees.

Job analysis can also be used in training in order to design or identify relevant training content and evaluation test that can determine the method of training, the equipment used in training and measure the effectiveness of training. Job analysis is also necessary in the case of compensation in order to determine and to identify the skill levels required, the compensable job factors, the work environment, education or academic requirement and the responsibilities required.

Job analysis is instrumental in job selection procedure in the course of developing duties to be included in the design of advertisements for the vacant position, the salary level for the potential candidate, the minimum job requirements, the questions necessary for the interview and the selection instruments, whether written exams, oral tests or job simulations, the designing of appraisal forms and orientation program of the new recruits.

Job analysis is instrumental in performance review exercise which is necessary in developing particular tasks, duties and responsibilities. A well designed job analysis should include duties and tasks, work environment or physical work place, relationships in organizational hierarchy, job requirements, title of the post and the department it falls, position background, special requirements, objectives of the post and the tools and requirements that might be used in the job (Edwards, Scott and Raju, 2003 p. 28).

From the role analysis and developing job description, the personal specifications which details the necessary and desirable requirements or criteria that will enable the holder of the post to perform his duties and responsibilities as detailed in the job description will be developed.

The qualifications of a CFO can be influenced by the following factors: the size of the organization’s budget which determines the CFO that the company can afford to hire especially when the issues of salary, bonus and compensation are factored in (INC 2010, p.1).

Evaluate the role of job descriptions in the attraction and the recruitment process and the connection between your job description and the advertisement

Job description explains the job specifications which include the name of the job, purpose of the job and where it fits in the organizational structure. It sets out the major accountabilities and responsibilities that are linked to the job and the key duties to be performed. Job description is a necessary function in any organization. Its importance applies to all personnel, prospective personnel, candidatures and managers of a company. It is the complete list of tasks and responsibilities that are linked to a particular position in a company and hence it is central to any recruitment procedure Job description is important due to the following reasons:

• It helps define the cadre with which the job falls in the structure of the company.
• To provide necessary information to potential recruits and also to the recruiting team in order for them to identify the best individual for the job.
• Job description can be used as a basis of a legally binding contract for employment purposes.
• Job description can be used as a basis for setting individual objectives.
• Job description acts as a communication tool between the employee and the employee. An accurate and updated job description is a critical employee communication asset for a company.
• Job description is crucial in recruitment spheres. It communicates the company’s internal standard to external individuals. It will update the prospective employees and applicants with the knowledge of duties and responsibilities that are required for a particular job which will enable them to analyze whether it matches the position and their expertise. In the case of internal hiring, the applicants will be able to approach the potential position with absolute unfamiliarity with the requirements and qualification for the job. This will save the company the embarrassments of having to look for personnel trainer or embarrassment of receiving applications from individuals whose expertise that will require further induction and training which comes at extra cost to the company.
• Job description is necessary for the company to carry out job reviews. This may include the expectations for the job and provide parameters for performance insight. In this situation, the employer in times of performance reviews will understand where the employee falls short on and it will be used in corrective circumstances.
• Job description can be used as a legal ramification. A job description that is not updated and accurate may result in a risk of unfair hiring and other legally risk personnel practices (Lebednik, 2011, p.1).
• A description of a vacancy in an organization will provide a clear picture and open the mind to the applicant and provide him with an insight of what is expected of that particular job.
• Job description is necessary to ensure that the company attracts the most qualified and experienced people who can contribute to the prosperity of the company. It is in line with the job description that new employees are recruited, their performance measured, their disciplinary action will be based on it and can also be used as an instrument for deciding issues on salary increase, training needs and bonus eligibility.
• Job description is important to ensure that only suitable candidates are employed and that only a specific candidate to perform specific duties is recruited and not just an additional employee (Clark n.d., p. 111).

References

Accounting Tools. (2011). Chief Financial Officer Job description. Web.

Auditor General. (2004). Chief Finance Officer: Roles and responsibilities. Web.

Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy. (2009) The role of the Chief Financial Officer In public service organizations. Web.

Clark, A. (n.d.). The importance of job descriptions. Web.

Edwards, J.E, Scott, J.C. & Raju, N.S. (2003) The human resources program-evaluation handbook. New York, NY: SAGE.

GreenBlox. (2006). Job analysis sample flow. Web.

INC. (2010). How to hire a Chief Financial Officer. Web.

Infocomm International. (n.d.). Writing a job advertisement. Web.

JPMorgan Chase. (2008). The history of JPMorgan Chase & Co. Web.

Lebednik, C. (2011). Importance of job description. Web.

Staffing Advisors. (n.d.). The format of an effective job advertisement. Web.