How we ranked India's Best CFOs for 2014

BT-Yes Bank Best CFOs Survey

The fifth edition of Business Today's Best CFOs Survey, conducted in association with knowledge partner YES Bank, involved three phases that started with the BT500 list of the country's biggest companies by market value. To identify the best woman CFO, however, we considered the broader BT1000 listing because of the abysmal number of women leading finance roles at Indian companies.

There are a total of 16 awards in 10 categories. The companies have been split into two groups by size. Companies with net sales higher than Rs 3,000 crore in 2012/13 are called large companies, and the rest, mid-sized companies. This threshold has been raised from Rs 2,000 crore last year. For state-run companies, the threshold remains at Rs 10,000 crore.

In the first phase, which included quantitative analysis, the consolidated financials of the BT500 companies over the past three years were pulled out from the Capitaline database. These were then analysed across metrics such as return on equity, price-to-earnings ratio and market value to book value.

Companies were eliminated if the CFO had changed within three years, unless internally promoted. Even here, the CFO should have been with the company for more than three years, and held the office of the CFO for at least one year. A peer set comparison was done for all sectors, and top performers were short-listed for phase two where market research firm Ipsos India conducted a perception survey of fund managers, accountants and brokers to assess factors such as corporate governance practices and stock performance.

The jury meeting - phase three of the survey - was chaired by former RBI Deputy Governor Subir Gokarn, who is also Director of Research at Brookings India. Other jury members were Zia Mody, Managing Partner at AZB & Partners; D.R. Dogra, MD and CEO of Care Ratings; Sri Rajan, MD, Bain India; and Sudhir Vasudeva, former CMD of ONGC. The meeting was moderated by BT Managing Editor Josey Puliyenthuruthel, with Mick Gordon, Country Manager of Ipsos India, and Amit Kumar, Group President, Corporate and Commercial Banking, YES Bank, providing technical assistance.