A chief financial officer is both a historian and fortune-teller responsible for recording what has happened and for predicting what will happen with a company's financial performance.

The honorees for Arkansas Business' 2012 CFO of the Year Awards represent the perfect combination of intelligence, judgment, loyalty, integrity, high energy, balanced ego and impressive ability to see around corners. 

All finalists and Lifetime Achievement Award winners will be recognized at a luncheon on Wednesday, Nov. 14 at the Embassy Suites in Little Rock. Winners in each category will also be announced. You can purchase tickets here. 

And click here to view the program and see profiles of all the honorees.

This year, we are proud to recognize two individuals who are being honored with the Arkansas Business Lifetime Achievement Awards for their accomplishments in the fields of public accounting and as chief financial officer. 

This year, we have two very deserving recipients of these awards: Kim Crook of First Arkansas Bank & Trust and Tom Gibbons of Frost PLLC. 

Our thanks go out to our judges - Sam Fiser of S.F. Fiser & Co., Mike Hutsell of First Security Bank and Sherry Middleton of the Arkansas Department of Human Services.

We are deeply appreciative of their service in selecting these finalists and the eventual winners.

Below, our finalists:

Small Bank Category

• Scott Pittillo, Pine Bluff National Bank
• Sam Stricklin, The Bank of Fayetteville

Large Bank Category

• Ann Main, Community First Bank
• Greg McKinney, Bank of the Ozarks
• Jason Taylor, First Community Bank

Small Private Company Category

• Christopher Maynes, Whole Hog Café
• Judy Shelley, Flake & Kelley Commercial

Large Private Company Category

• Mark Hartman, Arkansas Heart Hospital
• Phyllis Rogers, Delta Dental of Arkansas

Nonprofit Category

• Mary-Lou Dunn, The Sunshine School
• Laura Zurborg Grimes, Conway Development Corporation and Conway Chamber of Commerce