What Is a Chief Executive Officer (CEO)
Definition and Role
A Chief executive officer is a professional who represents the company as the highest-ranking executive responsible for making major corporate decisions, managing the overall operations and resources of the company, and being the key POC or point of communication between the board of directors and corporate operations.
A Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Definition includes three crucial aspects of their role including
· Highest ranking executive
· Major decision maker
· Point of Communication between BoD and Corporate operations.
Now that we have mentioned that he/she/they are the highest-ranking executive, let’s understand how they are different from other high-profile executives in the company:
CEO: Chief Executive Officer is accounted for/reported to by everyone else in the company.
VP: Vice President of the company is an executive responsible for the long-term strategizing for the company operations.
COO: COO, Chief Operating Officer is someone who oversees the day-to-day company operations.
CEO and CFO are both parts of the management team, however, they are differentiated based on their roles in the company. As the name suggests, CFO or Chief Finance Officer is responsible for the financial aspects of the business.
CFO is an executive who focuses on analysing and reviewing financial data, reporting financial performance, preparing budgets, and monitoring expenditures and costs.
Another difference between CEO and CFO is that the CFO reports directly to CEO as the latter holds a higher rank.
When it comes to CEO or MD, the highest position holder is CEO. CEOs are crucial to the company and they are present in every company while a company may or may not have an MD.
MD is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company while CEO is responsible for designing strategies and vision/mission of the company.
The executive director is one of three major aspects of the Board of Directors who are elected by the shareholders.
The executive or inside directors are also known as executive directors who are chosen within the company and responsible for three major decisions: approving high-level budgets prepared by upper management, business strategy implementation and monitoring, core corporate initiatives and projects approval.
While both CEOs and executive directors hold similar powers and responsibilities, however, executive directors are usually a part of the non-profit organizations while CEOs serve to profit as well as non-profile large companies.
A general manager (GM) or product manager is responsible for a particular line of business, say in a large organization with several lines of business. A CEO oversees all lines of businesses
CEOs are not restricted to one type of organization. CEOs serve public and private organisations. They also serve profit and non-profit organizations. They also serve government organizations notably state-owned enterprises.
Yes, every company has a CEO who is responsible for the smooth operation of the entire organisation. They are the key aspect of any business who is the bridge between the Board of Directors and the rest of the management team including CFO, COO, etc
The CEO is responsible for the critical decisions of the company which will impact the brand in the short and long term. They also oversee the duties of other C-level executives. They not only develop the vision and goals of the company, but they also put the same into motion.
In small companies, owners are CEOs, while in large companies, CEOs are hired internally or externally by the company. When it comes to understanding who is higher, CEO or owner. Well, the CEO is someone who reports to the Board of Directors and chairperson.
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