Chapter 246: Balance

As the Chief Financial Officer of Dongling High-Tech, the matters Hu Zi now has to handle are increasing by the day. It is not just the finances of Dongling High-Tech, but also the financial audits of Feiyan Technology, Dongxin Semiconductor, Dongfang Optoelectronics, Focus Media, and other companies; in the end, they all actually land on Hu Zi's desk.

Even the financial audits for the Zhixing Foundation are first reviewed by Hu Zi's side before being handed over to Li Dongling.

Hu Zi, in reality, acts not only as the Chief Financial Officer of Dongling High-Tech but is also managing a portion of the industries invested in by Li Dongling.

Li Dongling has given sufficient authority to executives like Ren Yuefeng and the supervisors at Dongxin Semiconductor, but there are two things that Li Dongling has always kept firmly in his own hands.

The first is the promotion of personnel at the supervisor level and above, which requires Li Dongling's personal signature. Regardless of whether these supervisors belong to the so-called "Old Guard" faction of Dongling High-Tech or the "Professional Manager" faction, becoming a department or regional manager requires Li Dongling's signature. This ensures that personnel power remains in Li Dongling's hands.

The second thing is finance. Hu Zi's finance department is independent of other departments at Dongling High-Tech. Even if Dongling High-Tech's General Manager, Ren Yuefeng, proposes a new project and wants funding, it must pass the finance department's approval. Of course, under normal circumstances, Hu Zi would not reject Ren Yuefeng's project funding, as that would be equivalent to completely tearing off the mask; it would then be up to Li Dongling to fight that battle and decide which of the two stays!

Hu Zi is among the first batch of executives to join Dongling High-Tech and is now Li Dongling's absolute confidant. No one knows better than Hu Zi how much capital is in the accounts of Dongling High-Tech and Li Dongling.

The finance department also reports directly to Li Dongling. Personnel and finance are the two major departments that Li Dongling does not delegate to others; Li Dongling must personally sign the documents submitted by these two departments.

Taking the documents from Hu Zi's hands, Li Dongling flipped through a few pages. Now, Dongling High-Tech's marketing department has added a professional information department and is collaborating with numerous consulting firms, which allows for the rapid collection of data on the companies they wish to investigate.

Although this investment cost quite a bit, it is much more cost-effective than being deceived.

Li Dongling looked at the information on the Laizhou Chen Guangwei Company in his hands. Although it was impossible to be exhaustive, he had basically grasped the bottom line of Chen Guangwei.

Fishing gear, to put it bluntly, is just a niche industry. Before carbon fiber emerged and before it was used on a large scale for military purposes, basically no giant companies paid attention to this industry.

To Hu Zi and Ren Yuefeng, who were standing before him, Li Dongling's plan to research carbon fiber fishing rods was also just seen as a whim.

Li Dongling is a veteran fishing enthusiast, which everyone at Dongling High-Tech knows. In fact, "when the superior has a hobby, the subordinates will surely indulge in it even more." Because of Li Dongling, fishing has now become the number one sport for internal staff at Dongling High-Tech, from supervisors down to ordinary employees, who cast a few lines whenever they have the chance.

Under these circumstances, Li Dongling establishing a carbon fiber fishing rod research center is truly the most normal thing. Looking at the entire country and even the circle of wealthy people in Hong Kong, who doesn't have a few hobbies?

Those super-rich individuals with immense net worth either love cars, female stars, antiques, luxury goods, and so on. Bill Gates likes to collect the periodic table of elements; another founder of Microsoft plays with sports teams; and there are not a few who like gambling and lose their family fortunes.

By comparison, Li Dongling's hobby doesn't count for much. "The fishing enthusiast loves the house and its crow"—is it excessive to research a carbon fiber fishing rod with a good feel?

Neither Ren Yuefeng nor Hu Zi felt it was excessive. It was just researching a "lousy" fishing rod; they felt that for Li Dongling, as the founder and major shareholder of Dongling High-Tech, it didn't amount to much.

It's just that they didn't know what Hu Zi and the others would think if they knew the funding that might be required to research domestic carbon fiber.

"In the domestic fishing gear industry, Chen Guangwei has its own R&D team. Although there is still a gap in strength compared to overseas fishing gear giants, if we invest R&D funds and hire professional material R&D experts and teams, we can directly proceed with R&D!

It's just that..."

Hearing the hesitation in Hu Zi's tone, Li Dongling raised his head and cast an inquiring look at him.

"It's just that I've heard the founder of Chen Guangwei has a very peculiar personality. Whether he is willing to accept investment is still unknown!" Hu Zi said truthfully.

Li Dongling closed the file, pondered for a moment, and then said, "Send a message to Chen Guangwei's founder and invite him to Hanxi for a trip. I will talk to him personally!"

Hu Zi and Ren Yuefeng exchanged a glance. They felt that Li Dongling's attitude toward Chen Guangwei and carbon fiber fishing gear was somewhat beyond their expectations.

But no matter what they thought in their hearts, Hu Zi still nodded. This was a matter Li Dongling had entrusted to them, and it was certainly something they, as executives, needed to complete. Whether they wanted to do it was one thing, but doing it was another!

"There is one other thing!"

At this moment, a few glints of light appeared in Hu Zi's eyes. "Li Zong, the finance department submitted a proposal to you last time regarding the establishment of a Funding Budget Management Committee. I wonder what your thoughts are on this?!"

Hearing Hu Zi's words, Ren Yuefeng's expression changed slightly. The "Funding Budget Management Committee"—just hearing the name, one knew what this department was coming to do.

Once this department was established, it could truly become the "Big Daddy" over the various departments of Dongling High-Tech and even companies like Feiyan Technology under its umbrella. Everyone would have to be subject to this new department. Even he, as the General Manager, would probably need to give this new department some face; otherwise, once funding was blocked, he, as General Manager, would find himself in a difficult position.

Hu Zi noticed Ren Yuefeng's expression and shook his head helplessly, saying, "Ren Zong, establishing the Budget Management Committee is not aimed at anyone. It's just that now, the scale of Dongling High-Tech is expanding too fast. The various funds required are doubling every month, and the funding that needs to be invested in R&D is also increasing. If we don't audit the use of funds, Dongling High-Tech is very likely to be dragged down!

Besides, I am willing to give up the position of the first chairman of the Dongling High-Tech Budget Management Committee!"

Hu Zi said this with certainty, indicating that he had no selfish motives and was entirely devoted to the public interest, even giving up the opportunity to become the first chairman of the Budget Management Department. But no matter how much he said, it could not change the fact that this department, supported by the finance department and certain to be staffed mostly by personnel from the finance department once established, would see its influence soar within Dongling High-Tech.

Even Hu Zi's status and influence within Dongling High-Tech would rise accordingly.

After all, the internal executives of Dongling High-Tech certainly wouldn't all be convinced by Ren Yuefeng, but those executives would dare to occasionally challenge Ren Yuefeng, yet they would never dare to challenge the Budget Management Committee. Once their purse strings were blocked, whether it was a department or a supervisor, they would likely find it quite uncomfortable.

"Funding does need to be managed, but this year's projects have already been pushed forward. If we establish the Budget Management Committee at this time to audit funding, many projects will likely be delayed, or even end in failure!"

Ren Yuefeng spoke up. He didn't know if establishing the Funding Budget Management Committee was Hu Zi's own wish or a plan by the so-called "Old Guard" faction of Dongling High-Tech. He needed to delay this Budget Management Committee; otherwise, his plans might be completely disrupted.

Li Dongling looked at Ren Yuefeng and Hu Zi, but did not rush to speak, regardless of what was on their minds, and regardless of the subtle competition between the "Old Guard" faction and the "Manager" faction behind them.

In reality, if the internal executives of Dongling High-Tech were all of one mind, following the lead of only one or a few people, that would not be good news for Li Dongling. A little bit of contention, as long as it does not affect the operation of Dongling High-Tech, is harmless.

And establishing a Budget Management Committee is absolutely beneficial. But when to establish it, and who enters this new department, is something Li Dongling needs to consider.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 247 =====