Google CFO Search
June 29, 2008
The Washington Post has an interesting essay by Joseph Weisenthal (PaidContent.org) here. The story asks and answers the question, “Google’s CFO Search: Why’d It Take So Long?” This is an important bit of thinking and I urge you to read the full write up.
The short answer is risk. Mr. Weisenthal writes:
In a free-wheeling culture like Google’s, it would be up the CFO to be the stern taskmaster?basically, the parent or teacher that nobody likes cause they actually enforce all the rules. Ribstein adds: “The problem under SOX is that a CFO has to worry about what hedoesn’tknow ? that’s what Butler and I have called SOX’s “litigation time bomb.”
In my KMWorld column, which will appear in September 2008, I talk about Google’s transparency push. Google’s executives have been chatty Kathies in Israel, California, Washington, DC, and anywhere a journalist or three and an audience will listen.
Mr. Weisenthal’s discussion of snail-like CFO vetting clanks against the apparent transparency of Google. The last line of the essay nails the issue squarely:
You can see why it might not appeal to someone who from a typical CFO’s background, given the current regulatory environment.
The non-traditional approach of Google is working well. Will it work in the CFO’s office?
Stephen Arnold, June 29, 2008
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