Profit maximization basic objective of firm?

Profit maximization basic objective of firm?
A firm's main objective should be to make decisions that maximize the value of the company for its owners, and as the owners of a company are its shareholders, the main financial objective should be 'the maximization of shareholder wealth'.
Since shareholders receive their wealth through dividends and capital gains, shareholder wealth will be maximized by maximizing the value of dividends and capital gains that shareholders receive over time.

Problems with the 'maximization of profits' objective:

Firstly, there are quantitative difficulties associated with profit. Maximization of profits as a financial objective requires the profit to be defined and measured accurately, and that all the factors contributing to it are known and can be taken into account. It is very doubtful that this requirement can be met on a regular basis.
E.g- If 5 auditors go into the same company, it is very likely that each will come out with a completely different profit figure.

A second problem concerns the timescale over which the profit should be maximized.
Should profit be maximized in the short term or the long term?? Given that profit considers one year at a time, the focus is likely to be on short-term profit maximization at the expense of long-term investment, putting the long term survival of the company into doubt.
There are many examples of companies going into liquidation shortly after declaring high profits. Check out - Polly Peck Plc's dramatic failure in 1990! (good example)

The third problem is that profit does not take account of or make any allowance for risk! It would be inappropriate to concentrate efforts on maximizing accounting profit when this objective does not consider one of the key determinants of shareholder wealth.

So the 'maximization of profit' is not a suitable core objective for a company. That is not to say that a company does not need to pay attention to its profit figures, since falling profits of profit warnings are taken by the financial markets as a sign of financial weakness.
Instead these sort of profit targets/objectives should can serve a useful purpose in helping a company to achieve short-term or operational objectives within its overall strategic plan.