Is it required for companies of a certain size to have an HR person?

Our HR person was laid off, now the CFO is acting as the HR person. Is that right? It seems like there is a bit of a conflict here, not only that I also doubt the person is trained or skilled in handling many HR issues.

No, there are no requirements for any company to have a qualified human resource professional on staff or even to use the expertise of an outside employment expert such as me.

Many companies assign human resource responsibilities to controllers or CFOs. Some of these professionals take the responsibilities very seriously and do their utmost to become experts to the degree that they can while juggling all of their financial/accounting work.

Others do not bother and that is unfortunate, as much damage can be done. Many businesses choose to think that what they don't know can't hurt them regarding employment laws and/or treatment of employees to maximize productivity and, thus, their return on the investment that they make in their workers.