Financial Management Challenges Essay

Find at least two articles from the ProQuest database that highlight and discuss two of the biggest challenges facing financial managers today. One of the articles should be about the challenge of maintaining ethical financial integrity and the other article should be on any other challenge that a financial manager may face (e.g., competition, foreign markets, government intervention, etc.). Financial managers face countless challenges ethical and financial alike. These challenges can be known to affect the reputation of the firm, and the ethical approach taken can set a positive or negative moral standing for the firm. The challenges alone would be a tough job for any normal individual, but financial managers also must deal with the rising demands that have been placed on the institution that span over a much wider area and deal with a countless different activities. The first portion will be ethically concentrated and touch on integrity and market reporting. There are a lot of mediocre leaders out there; I know, they’ve been my bosses. However, when it comes to financial managers, mediocre just won’t do the job. But what’s the difference between a good leader and a mediocre one? Doing a job just to get paid and using the smallest amount of effort to do so is typically the mindset of a bad or mediocre leader. Knowing your job includes many tasks, one of which and most importantly is to lead others with good examples of ethical and financial responsibilities is an example of a great leader. The lack of leadership in every level of the organization can affect the whole ethical integrity of the financial manager. â€Å"This leads to the offering of bribes, inaccurate timesheets  reporting or the provision of misleading information,† (Hennessey, 2007). The ethical standing of the financial manager affects the overall provision of the quality skills in the analysis of the documentation. â€Å"The financial manage r not being proficient enough to trace the individuals, who are responsible for the financial records, could mean the loss of the management,† (Hickman and Byrd , 2011). Understandably, false reporting would be unethical and illegal actions for a financial manager to partake in. This will ruin the firm’s reputation and trust. Financial record reporting requires the overall upkeep of precise and complete records and can be a huge challenge. â€Å"The lack of evident or documented policies and actions in the maintenance of the financial records affects the overall ethical integrity of the financial manager, â€Å"( Hickman and Byrd, 2011). The financial manager must make evaluate each situation and be able to formulate policies that will help in the growth of the firm to a successful point and beyond. â€Å"The ill will of a financial manager not reporting the truth or the overall analysis of the firm makes his conduct un-ethical,† ( Chan, 2005). These unethical practices will eventually lead to the problems dealing with legal liabilities that happen due to the design of the financial systems. Each of which is backed by a set checks and balances that occur in the process of maintaining the financial documents. The absence of compliance to this unique design affects the overall running of the compan y’s activities. Faulty reporting will damage the company’s trust publicly and internally. Shareholders, employees and stakeholders alike would all be affected by unethical practices within a firm. Foreign markets, apart from financial integrity are another challenge. â€Å"The time period and ban on the entry of the foreign market affects the financial manager’s valuation or process of reporting,† (Hickman and Byrd, 2011). â€Å"The inconsistent regulations and strong rule of law in the foreign markets should be reported to the stakeholders,† (Chan, 2005). Financial managers are expected to report ethical issues that affect a firm’s market. â€Å"The challenge of cultural misunderstanding of the firm and the investment that the financial manager has presented to the market could lead to the abrupt decline of sales or ban of the institution. This ban will mean the loss of  all the funds that will have been invested,† (Hennessey, 2007). A poor estimation of the human resource funds and the business operational cost may lead to a decline in the profit of the firm. Once profit begins to decline, shareholders are more likely to push to replace a financial manager due to the performance of the firm’s management. In conclusion, financial integrity and foreign markets scenarios affect the overall activities of the financial managers. Unethical practices of financial managers affect almost every aspect of the firm. The lack of formation of a relationship with the players and customers in the foreign market will lead to the overall decline of the firm’s market share. â€Å"The financial managers should look at the provision of morally approved approaches in the activities of the firm,† (Chan, 2005). Reference Chan, R. (2005): Does the Natural-Resource-Based View of Emerging Economy? Survey of Foreign Enterprises in China: Journal of Management Studies, 42(3), 625-672 Hennessey, J. (2007). Communicating the Value of Energy Efficiency Projects to Financial Decision Makers In Not-for-profit Markets. Strategic Planning For Energy & the Environment, 26(4), 55-66, Retrieved from Pro-Quest Hickman, K. and Byrd, J. (2013): Essentials of finance: San Diego, CA: Bridge point Education Inc. Retrieved from Pro-Quest Norton, E. (1991). Factors affecting capital structure decisions. The Financial Review, 26(3), 431-431 Retrieved from Pro-Quest