Teaching Finance and Accounting for Executives
Adjunct professor Mel Meyer talks about his experience as a CFO and why all executives need to be able to understand income statements and balance sheets.
Mel Meyer's job is to predict the future.
As principal of his own CFO advisory service, Meyer specializes in advising clients on potential financial and general business opportunities. He previously spent more than 20 years as CFO for The McShane Companies and Bulley & Andrews.
“One of the primary responsibilities of the CFO is to articulate the company's financial goals as a tangible focus for its business mission and strategy," Meyer said. "Managing a company's financial goals system is an unending process in which competing and conflicting priorities must be balanced. At any point, the system is potentially unstable because of the changing corporate environment and shifts in power and influence among constituencies.
"It is easy to manage when things are good, but when the business is at risk, a good CFO is essential."
While the role of the CFO remains critical to business success, Meyer believes the onus should be on all executives to understand the financial realities and limitations of their organization.
"Having a solid understanding of income statements and balance sheets is no longer just the domain of the CFO or controller," Meyer said. "All functional leaders, regardless of their area of focus, benefit from understanding these financial tools."
Meyer shares these tools with students as an adjunct professor in Northwestern Engineering’s Master of Science in Executive Management for Design and Construction (EMDC) program. Meyer, who helped develop the EMDC program, teaches Finance and Accounting for Executives, a course designed to give students the foundational knowledge and tools needed to be a more informed business leader who can weigh financial risks and costs when evaluating various strategies and driving new initiatives.
His goal is to help students gain self-awareness, clarify goals, achieve their development objectives, and unlock their potential.
Meyer, who also teaches in Northwestern Engineering's Master of Project Management (MPM) program, specifically focuses on training students to:
- Read and understand key financial statements
- Understand the impact of operating decisions on financial performance
- Know the different types of financing available for new developments and/or ventures
- Understand the time value of money and the impact on capital investments
Meyer enjoys being a part of EMDC because of the high caliber of students and the opportunity for them to apply lessons learned in the program immediately at their workplace.
"Students have direct interaction with the EMDC faculty in real time and acquire knowledge they can use now," Meyer said. "They get a personal connection with global peers for a high degree of collaboration and networking. Students gain powerful knowledge that is rigorous, challenging, proven for learning, and focused on results."
