May 02, 2010: Business Today Magazine: How BT-Yes Bank Found The Best CFOs

HOW BT-YES BANK FOUND THE BEST CFOS

The BT 500, which ranks companies based on their average market capitalisation, was considered as the base set to kick off the quantitative part of the exercise of selecting India’s best CFOs. The companies were segregated into large ones (those with sales of over Rs 2,000 crore for 2008-09) and mid-sized ones (those with net sales of less than Rs 2,000 crore). Two-year financials (for 2007-08 and 2008-09) of these companies were analysed across three crucial categories: Wealth creation (or creation of shareholder value), leverage management and working capital management. Under wealth Creation, parameters like market value to book value, return on equity and return on capital employed were considered. For leverage management, we looked at the companies’ net debt, total debt/total net worth and total debt/earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation. And the working capital cycle was considered for liquidity management.  Based on the numbers, some 60-odd companies were selected for the next phase of evaluation, across the 12 different award categories (see page 33 for the award categories and the winners).

 In the next phase, Synovate, a market research agency, was appointed to conduct a survey amongst brokers and fund managers to create a further short­list of 24 finalists (two in each award category). For the Commitment to CSR award, a separate questionnaire was sent to a panel of experts on the subject. These included Parul Soni, Executive Director, Development Advisory Services, Ernst &Young; Urvashi Devidayal, Programme Manager, The Climate Group; Amol Tope, General Manager Environment, Health & Safety and Employee Training Manager, Johnson & Johnson; and Vinay Somani, Founder, Karmayog. The questionnaire sent to them dealt with factors like the extent of the involvement of the top management in CSR initiatives, how scalable and sustainable are these activities and whether there has been any negative impact on society or the environ­ment on account of the company’s operations.

The stage was set for the final stage, when an eminent jury of experts met to thrash out the final win­ners (see page 34 for details on the jury meet). The entire process was a gruelling one, but at the end of the day it was more than worth the effort and time spent.

Source: Business Today Magazine, Page No: 36, Dated: May 02, 2010