No matter if they are CGAs or whatever, they seem to entangle themselves too much in nickles and dimes, and lose the vision it takes to lead! you may add your own thoughts..
Re: Accountants don't make good CEOs
Depends on the actual person, ofcourse. But if you insist on generalization, its probably half-true. :)
Re: Accountants don't make good CEOs
I think it also depends on the business of the company, for example if its an Engineering related firm then a technical person (non-nickel/dime player) would be better suited, if its an auditing company then an accountant with some marketing background may be a better suited candidate.
Re: Accountants don’t make good CEOs
I guess you mean CMAs’ or CAs’ …
CGAs’ definitely can’t manage a firm at that level - that’s a starter’s designation in Accounting. Also, tf you’re talking specifically from a training standpoint, then a purely Accounting oriented background won’t give you the prudence to be the top-gun in a multinational, but then again, there are specific designations for CAs’ such as the CBV (Chartered Business Valuators) and CCD (Chareted Corporate Directors) that could come in handy.
Aside from educational background though, the imperative for a CEO is more a state-of-mind than anything else.
Re: Accountants don't make good CEOs
A few days ago, in a gathering there was a similar discussion, but more focussed on whether techies make better CEO's as compared to marketing folks. Opinions were divided, primarily on people's own personal experiences. And since this was a gathering in the Silicon Valley, so examples were offered for companies like HP (Carly, Hurd), Dell (Dell), Microsoft (Gates, Balmer), Cisco (Chambers), Intel, IBM etc. The final conclusion is obvious. Job of a CEO is much more than either being a techie, or a marketing guru or a finance person. The CEO has to be all and s/he doesn't have to be master of any. S/he needs to provide leadership and vision and be able to spot/train/retain good and talented people in his/her team. So, the educational background is not too too important, but the demonstrated abilities should be the primary focus. A liberal art graduate has as much chance of being a sterling CEO, as a CS graduate. And some people, by their very nature, are either enterpreneurs, or get trained in cross-functions, which allows them to take on CEO roles successfully.
Re: Accountants don’t make good CEOs
Right on! - like I said education aint the sole credential you need to make it that far - some people are just gifted leaders.
Re: Accountants don't make good CEOs
^ that is very few leaders. You will find most leaders of companies above the microcap space having a pretty good educational pedigree, either prior to that position or during that position.
Re: Accountants don't make good CEOs
Faisal: it does depend on the actual person of course, but when a person with an accounting background has the authority to make strategic decisions about the company, the outcome is often short-sighted. They usually tend to make decisions based on micro preferences & benefits than the macro ones..something I have noticed after seeing couple of major deals close to being torpedoed...
Umar: I am referring to folks with accounting background in general, be it CGAs, CMAs or the ones with 25 + years experience..you can categorize them anyway you like..it's not the crux of this discussion.
Re: Accountants don't make good CEOs
like a painter ended up becoming one of the worlds most powerful leaders, it's true one's qualities may come out anytime and shine under the circumstances created by destiny, but since miracles rarely happen and most painters are not like Hitler, the course of action to be a bit closer to the chances of landing in a top position somewhere is throuhg acquiring some sort of professional qualification/certification, but, there may be many who inspite of having relevant qualifications and finding the right opportunities might still be unable to deliver the best possible...and there are some who having dropped out of school at class 6 own airlines, record companies and beverage companies, all before theyre 50...so all does depend from person to person but another question that emerges here is, what are those qualities that make a winner...? whether one has been to school or not, whether theyr a media doctorate holder, marketing moguls, finance/audits gurus or technical experts or not for some reason doesnt seem to matter... since everytime a success story comes up, these certain qualities seem to be more relevant and more of a signficant matter...Why and what are they...?
Re: Accountants don't make good CEOs
^ umm i think this is a mere thread on some mamooli sai accountants not yr fairytale character, dawood ibrahim..
Re: Accountants don't make good CEOs
excuse me...?
should i even bother asking where that came from and what it meant...? and do we hold a problem somewhere...?
btw fyi, Dawood Ibrahim is not 'fairytale'.
And this discussion that i brought up was perfectly relevant to what was being discussed i.e. whether accountants make good CEOs which had lead to discussing other profesionals as good CEOs which lead to discussing who at all can be a good CEO and what are the prerequisites regardless of education and background...so your point here...?
btw, fear the mamooli sa accountant next time your company revises its budgets, financial plans etc at the end of the financial year. His decisions may hold some ghair mamooli meaning for you, making him not so maamooli after all...