How to manage a balance-sheet in troubled times

Few teenagers dream of becoming a chief financial officer (cfo) when they grow up. If things are going well, ceos take the credit (and a fatter slice of the spoils) instead. cfos seldom make the news and, when they do, it is usually preceded by a crisis. Corporate historians and markets alike judge finance chiefs by their ability to juggle the competing demands of capital structure, investor returns and investment. The imperfect scorecard for this game is the balance-sheet, the statement of what a firm owns and owes. Today’s topsy-turvy economic conditions, with soaring inflation and subsiding gdp growth, make managing it far trickier.