Article at a glance:
Microsoft serves as a bellwether for high tech. Pioneering decisions on stock options, financial reporting, and cash payments to shareholders have now positioned it at the vanguard of the sector's financial policies and practices. Shortly before announcing plans to depart after 16 years at the world’s leading software company, CFO John Connors talked with McKinsey's Bertil Chapuis and Tim Koller about the thinking behind its financial moves and growth plans and about the changing role of finance.
The take-away
As the high-tech sector matures and Microsoft's businesses become more diverse, the company's finance team is stressing transparency and accountability as a way to build shareholder value.
This article includes the following exhibits:
- Biography of Microsoft’s John G. Connors
- Exhibit: Quarterly revenues of Microsoft's 7 business units, 2003–04