How to manage a balance-sheet in troubled times

dream of becoming a chief financial officer () when they grow up. If things are going well, s take the credit (and a fatter slice of the spoils) instead. s seldom make the news and, when they do, it is usually preceded by a crisis. Corporate historians and markets alike judge finance chiefs by their ability to juggle the competing demands of capital structure, investor returns and investment. The imperfect scorecard for this game is the balance-sheet, the statement of what a firm owns and owes. Today’s topsy-turvy economic conditions, with and , make managing it far trickier.Since the financial crisis, historically low interest rates have allowed firms to borrow cheaply and plentifully. High profits have been returned to shareholders instead of being used to boost investment. Now the rules are changing. A new economic chapter has begun, marked by squeezed profits and .