Bertil Chappuis, Paul Roche and Kevin Frick of McKinsey's Silicon Valley office have an interesting article in the McKinsey quarterly on the role of CFOs at high-tech companies, and include many software company examples. For earlier stage companies who don't have a full-time CFO, these are activities the CEO should be aware of and growing toward, and areas to look when recruiting a CFO.
I found their discussion on how the CFO's role has changed interesting. They suggest CFO's role is to provide the right metrics so investors can value the company properly, and to blend the roles of strategist and accountant/controller. Some are even taking a page from marketers (imagine that!) in segmenting their investor base and tailoring their message to maximize long term shareholder value...
A recommended read!
