TOP OF THE FORM
Announcing the winners of the first CFO Asia Achievements in Best Practices Awards.

In the last few years, the role of chief financial officer has grown out of all proportion. Once little more than a glorified accountant, today the CFO not only manages the cash, but directs the company's financial strategy, makes decisions on HR and IT matters and, most importantly, contributes to the overall value of the business. In recognition of this broader role, CFO Asia launched the Achievements in Best Practices Awards to honor those CFOs who have met this challenge and succeeded.

To help us choose our winners, we called on a panel of judges consisting of Nicholas Sallnow-Smith, CEO of Hongkong Land; Don Lee, past CFO of Guangdong Kelon, now CFO of T Holdings; John Scelfo, CFO of Dell Asia Pacific; Josephine Chesterton, formerly an investment banker with SG Warburg, now senior lecturer, Division of Commerce, City University of Hong Kong; and Carla Rapoport, editor-in-chief, CFO Asia. Choosing from a distinguished field of more than 25 finalists, the judges were asked to identify the CFOs who had made the most significant contributions to their companies. In particular, the panel focused on three areas: innovation, the CFO's leadership and impact on shareholder value.

The selection process was not easy. After much deliberation, however, the panel recognized the following CFOs as winners: Han Ying of AsiaInfo for Raising Capital; Hee Sang Cho of E-Land for Turnaround Management; Deepak Ghaisas of I-Flex for Managing Finance in an SME; Lim Cheng Cheng of Singapore Power International for Mergers and Acquisitions. Special Commendations went to Harvey Chang of TSMC and Chia Song Hwee of Chartered Semiconductor for Raising Capital, and Han Ying of AsiaInfo for Managing Finance in an SME.

We congratulate them on their outstanding accomplishments.

Raising Capital: Han Ying - AsiaInfo's CFO raised US$145 million within 12 months for the young Beijing-based company.

Turnaround Management: Hee Sang Cho - Facing bankruptcy three-and-a-half years ago, E-Land is now profitable and poised to go public.

Managing Finance in an SME: Deepak Ghaisas - I-Flex's CFO has ensured that the growth rate has been matched by its cost reductions at this Mumbai-based company vying to be a global competitor.

Mergers And Acquisitions: Lim Cheng Cheng - Innovative thinking and a cool demeanor helped Singapore Power International's CFO keep the cost of capital down.

Raising Capital (Special Commendation): Harvey Chang - Prudent cash management by the CFO helped TSMC execute the largest corporate equity issuance in Asia to date.

Raising Capital (Special Commendation): Chia Song Hwee - Chartered Semiconductor's head of finance pulled off an IPO and further fund raising with spectacular timing.

Managing Finance in an SME (Special Commendation): Han Ying - Faster collection on accounts receivables, tight cost control and staff incentives have helped AsiaInfo become profitable.