The CFO's Chair

You take the CFO's chair. Each quarter the board hands you a slate of projects — each with an outlay and its economics — and a limited capital budget, and you decide which to fund. Some quarters add a financing or a payout call. Then the firm moves: value is made or destroyed, the cash buffer swings, leverage builds. It starts with a routine accept/reject. By the end you'll face a risk-adjusted-hurdle trap, a financing squeeze, the leverage trade-off, a profit-≠-cash cash crunch and a downturn — often at once. A positive headline number won't save you: you have to know which number to trust. Every world of the course, live.

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Cash bufferThe firm's liquidity. Stay within budget and it builds; overspend or hit a cash crunch and it drains. Zero → insolvency, and you're out.

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Value createdShareholder value you've added — the sum of the NPV your calls captured. 50 is neutral; fund good projects to grow it, destroy value and it falls.

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Board confidenceThe board's & market's trust in your judgment. Make disciplined, value-accretive calls to build it. Zero → the board removes you.

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Financial riskFragility from leverage & distress (lower is better). Over-lever and it climbs; past 100 the balance sheet spirals.

You run the firm's capital. Ten board meetings, one question every time: where does the cash go?