what is strategic financial management 
strategic financial management means not only managing a company s finances but managing them with the intention to succeed that is to attain the company s long term goals and objectives and maximize shareholder value over time understanding strategic financial managementstrategic financial management is about creating profit for the business and ensuring an acceptable return on investment roi financial management is accomplished through business financial plans setting up financial controls and financial decision making before a company can manage itself strategically it first needs to define its objectives precisely identify and quantify its available and potential resources and devise a specific plan to use its finances and other capital resources toward achieving its goals strategic management also involves understanding and properly controlling allocating and obtaining a company s assets and liabilities including monitoring operational financing items like expenditures revenues accounts receivable and payable cash flow and profitability strategic financial management encompasses furthermore involves continuous evaluating planning and adjusting to keep the company focused and on track toward long term goals when a company is managing strategically it deals with short term issues on an ad hoc basis in ways that do not derail its long term vision strategic financial management includes assessing and managing a company s capital structure the mix of debt and equity finance employed to ensure a company s long term solvency strategic vs tactical financial managementthe term strategic refers to financial management practices that are focused on long term success as opposed to tactical management decisions which relate to short term positioning if a company considers strategic considerations instead of tactical ones it makes financial decisions based on long term objectives rather than short term metrics to realize those results a firm sometimes must tolerate losses in the present strategic management focuses on long term success and tactical management relates to short term positioning part of effective strategic financial management thus may involve sacrificing or readjusting short term goals in order to attain the company s long term objectives more efficiently for example if a company suffered a net loss for the previous year then it may choose to reduce its asset base through closing facilities or reducing staff thereby decreasing its operating expenses taking such steps may result in restructuring costs or other one time items that negatively affect the company s finances further in the short term but which position the company better to succeed in the long term these short term versus long term tradeoffs often need to be made with various stakeholders in mind for instance shareholders of public companies may discipline management for decisions that negatively affect a company s share price in the short term even though the long term health of the company becomes more solid by the same decisions the average salary of a strategic finance manager in the united states according to ziprecruiter that amounts to about 57 per hour 1the elements of strategic financial managementa company will apply strategic financial management throughout its organizational operations which involves designing elements that will maximize the firm s financial resources and use them efficiently here a firm needs to be creative as there is no one size fits all approach to strategic management and each company will devise elements that reflect its own particular needs and goals however some of the more common elements of strategic financial management could include the following strategies based on industryjust as financial management strategies will vary from company to company they also can differ according to industry and sector firms that operate in fast growing industries like information technology or technical services would want to choose strategies that cite their goals for growth and specify movement in a positive direction their objectives for example might include launching a new product or increasing gross revenue within the next 12 months on the other hand companies in slow growing industries like sugar manufacturing or coal power production could choose objectives that focus on protecting their assets and managing expenses such as reducing administrative costs by a certain percentage 