CFO Studio Magazine - CFO Innovation Award Winners

20 WWW.CFOSTUDIO.COM 2nd QUARTER 2015 FEATURED CFO A s CFOs grapple with an array of issues — including mergers and acquisitions, equity and debt offerings, regulatory filings, and environmental disclosure — they need quick access to reliable expert legal advice in order to ensure that the company’s obligations are carried out correctly and in a timely manner, while minimizing exposure to legal or other risks. At the same time, a growing number of chief financial officers find that managing their firm’s compliance-related initiatives is increasingly challenging, according to a Robert Half Management Resources survey. So it’s more important than ever to ensure that a CFO and a general counsel (GC) work well together. Establishing and maintaining a smooth working relationship between them requires some give-and-take on both sides. Daiichi Sankyo Inc., the U.S. arm of the global pharmaceutical company Daiichi Sankyo Company, Ltd., seems to be getting it right. CFO Sandra Clarke’s financial vision and GC Craig Bleifer’s legal outlook remain distinctive, but the two still manage to mesh in order to meet the company’s goals while ensuring that its legal, safety, and other requirements are met. “Many times, finance and legal have similar goals, but our priorities or approaches can be vastly different,” says Clarke, who joined Daiichi Sankyo in 2013, following a successful career that included a position as CFO of Philips Healthcare’s Americas Commercial organization. “A great example is an M&A deal. We both want a deal that is favorable for the company. I want the structure to minimize financial risk and to be as easy as possible to administer, while my legal colleagues want to minimize legal risk even if that means a more complicated legal structure.” Sometimes, that can lead to trouble, she adds. “I have seen companies where the lawyers were so proud that they had set up separate legal entities for each acquisition in order to contain environmental exposure.” The result was an accounting “nightmare,” she notes, since financial statements and tax returns had to be prepared for 50 separate entities. Fortunately, Bleifer, the company’s general counsel, has a comprehensive view that en- compasses financial as well as legal issues. “It’s critical for the GC to be a fully integrated member of the management It Takes Two WHEN A PHARMACEUTICAL COMPANY’S CFO AND GC WORK TOGETHER, IT’S AN RX FOR SUCCESS BY MARTIN DAKS Sandra Clarke, Chief Financial Officer Daiichi Sankyo, Inc. Craig Bleifer, General Counsel Daiichi Sankyo, Inc.