Is a financial director a strategist or a steward? A comparative analysis of Poland, the US and China
Is a financial director a strategist or a steward? A comparative analysis of Poland, the US and China

Summary/Abstract: This paper is dedicated to analysing the size of local administration. On the basis of literature study, ten variables that define size of local administration were chosen, out of these variables two synthetic measures were created. The sizes of local administration at the level of voivodships were calculated for 2013. The research results show a big differentiation among the analysed units in Poland. Data were sourced from the Polish Main Statistical Office (GUS). Taxonomic methods were used in the analysis – synthetic measures were constructed on the basis of the Hellwig method.The article aims to present the role of the financial director in three different countries (Poland, China, and the US). The role of the financial director was defined by the Model of Competences covering two dimensions and four faces of the CFO. The literature and survey reviews let us think that nowadays the dominant role of the financial director is that of Strategist. The main research question was to find out whether the job of the CFO and his/her main role differs across these countries (Strategist and Catalyst will be dominant in the US, but in other countries Steward and Operator will be dominant). The choice of these countries was not a random one because they have a different history, corporate governance systems and culture. The method which reveals the CEO’s expectations towards the CFO’s duties was applied. The research consisted of a comparative analysis of job advertisements in these countries. The results of this research provide a new description of the CFO’s roles. In each country the main duty of the CFO was Steward (even in the US). In Poland, financial director as Strategist appeared more frequently (than in the other two countries) but was not dominant, either. The research study uses the Model of Competences, which allows to identify whether the CFO is really a strategic position. These findings have important implications for understanding the role of CFOs and their work.

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