The Man Behind the Vision

If treasurer Chuck Chaplin was the general contractor for the integrated treasury at Prudential Financial Inc., then CFO Rich Carbone was the architect. Prudential's innovative treasury structure came from Carbone's experience with centralized and decentralized controllerships in previous positions and from a hybrid partially centralized organization developed on the controller's side of Prudential's financial operations. "It helps me be a better CFO," reflects Carbone, "because I get accurate information quickly from a straight-through process rather than having it trickle down through two or three layers of financial management. I can make better decisions and make them quicker and more efficiently."

Carbone feels so confident in this system that he does without a staff of his own, relying instead on those reporting to others for information and advice. "We're his staff, along with the people working for the controller, the tax department, mergers and acquisitions and the finance people at the business units," Chaplin explains. "We're necessarily involved in developing strategies and setting policies. He has [no one else] working on projects and controlling the agenda."