The chief financial officer’s job has become more complex in recent years as mergers and acquisitions, financial structuring, and managing relations with investors and analysts have demanded increasing amounts of time and attention. At the same time, the potential value that the CFO adds in a more traditional role—as guardian and leader of good planning and performance management—has lapsed into neglect. Today, as business fundamentals and credible accounting become the new touchstones by which investors judge corporate quality, many companies would benefit if their CFOs gave renewed attention to helping chief executive officers understand the performance of their businesses and to evaluating critical strategic decisions.

There is no question that mergers, financial dealings, and investor relations are important. Mergers can add significant value under the right circumstances, as can innovative financing. Good communications with investors and analysts can help companies avoid unnecessary market volatility and ensure that they get credit for the strategies they pursue. But for most companies, shareholder value comes from internally generated growth, through new products or services, new business, or cost and capital efficiencies.

One characteristic of today’s business climate is a seemingly endless stream of advice about shortcuts that promise to create value without...