One thing business owners hate is an unexpected surprise.  To avoid such things, Chief Financial Officers need to tell the business owner when it is cloudy not when it is raining. This is a key role of the CFO. Reducing the element of unpleasant surprises is one of the main roles of a CFO. Identifying cash flow problems, inventory overstocks, or shortages before they occur are just a few trouble spots that can be avoided.

Another reason why companies need CFOs is for identifying and assessing risk.  Since today's business owner wears so many hats and needs to make decisions quickly, the Chief Financial Officer is needed to help them identify and assess the risk associated with those quick decisions.

Today's CFO can also do many things to help reduce the business owner's risk. One example of this is looking into the Corporate American Express Card. Qualifying for certain classifications of corporate American Express Cards will just have corporate liability and no personal liability.