Nailing your next CFO role
CFOs are often expected to just get on with it.
However as the role has evolved away from pure number-crunching, executing on the broadening responsibilities now requires a wider range of developed skills.
Whether you’re a seasoned C-suite exec who is about to switch roles, or you’re just about to make that leap from Senior Director to CFO, here’s how to grab the bull by the horns and excel in your new gig.
Continue your education
The bare bones that you’ve most likely already got; a bachelor’s degree in accounting, economics, or finance, and a qualification such as ASSA or CIMA.
That’s great. But in a recent survey of CFOs across a variety of industries, it was found that 88% of finance leaders now have an MBA.
Management consulting behemoth Robert Half recommends anyone looking to advance their career within the CFO realm should be looking to achieve an MBA from a business school.
“Business schools can help aspirants learn more about strategy and operations so they can successfully collaborate with human resources, information technology and risk management.”
CFO and Managing Partner at Promenade Capital Partners stated that “having a CPA or MBA is often a requirement to become a CFO. Getting one or both will be something to consider.”
Deloitte’s ‘The Journey to CFO’ which focuses on womens’ perspective on the career path, highlights Robin Washington’s story. CFO of Gilead Sciences, Robin attributed her deep curiosity to learn as a key driver of her success.
CFO of American Electric Power Company, Holly Koeeppel, enrolled in an MBA on the advice of her then boss, whilst she was a Risk Manager. Returning to the company, having broadened her knowledge, Holly switched to Treasury Manager and has said that stepping out of her comfort zone through further education was a critical experience in becoming a top CFO.
Education is also of course not solely limited to academia. Peer learning and networking can also provide an invaluable fountain of knowledge from people in your position. Check out our latest in-person events here and check out the forum on LinkedIn.
The Deloitte report also iterates the point that education can come from those around you, and in particular, your boss. “Choosing a company with a great CEO and a boss from whom they could learn from was central to the careers of most of our CFOs.”
Education, both academic and on the job learning, seems like the foundational building block towards a successful career. However, it’s worth noting that in the turbulent times we appear to find ourselves in on a weekly basis, there is more to being a top CFO than your certifications.
Understand the tech
The ever-hastening journey to a cloud-based world has seen many CFOs working in greater collaboration with their CIOs and CTOs.
Even in the past three years (we say even, something rather cataclysmic did happen that increased the need for tech-savviness in that period) 82% of CFOs have reported that they are having more meetings and projects in conjunction with their CTOs/CIOs.
Digital transformation initiatives have had to be rapidly developed, and will continue to occupy meeting agendas in the immediate future. Read more on automation acceleration here. (link to our piece on automation)
Financier Worldwide highlighted that cloud applications are soon to be the standard. Having a strong grasp of emerging technologies is key to being able to stay ahead of the curve.
Being ahead of the game has multiple benefits, according to FW’s Kirit Patel.
“Finance teams utilising the cloud and tools like corporate performance management are in a better position to build their own future stars or recruit top talent, as ambitious finance professionals want to work with the latest technologies to build their data-driven decision-making skills.”
In a recent panel hosted by CFO at Planful, Ian Charles, there was unanimous agreement that almost all organizations are heading towards the cloud. This is to reduce their IT infrastructure costs and provide further support for growth and expansion.
CFO of Trintech, Omar Choucair told Forbes that “CFOs are now the stewards of new technology and process adoption, to unlock efficiencies and enhance agility.”
“Digital transformation has become the definitive gateway for both organizational stability and value creation. Companies that embrace data-driven decision making and standardized, streamlined workflows have options when the world around them changes.”
It now falls on the CFO to constantly and consistently advocate the power of technology in terms of ROI, as well as a strategic benefit.
The Financial Times hosted an event focusing on digital transformation, a key point highlighted was that “technology doesn’t necessarily fix a problem on its own, it is key that businesses implement the right processes and training to ensure their digital transformation realises its full potential.”
That’s why really getting an understanding of technology is helpful to avoid wasting time and money on software or infrastructure that isn’t right for your business.
Lead the culture
Alongside digital transformation, a major factor in successfully integrating yourself into a new organization is to become a culture champion.
Forbes CFO Network Senior Contributor, Jeff Thomson, in conversation with Couchair, said “the finance professional of the future needs to have a solid combination of ‘hard’ skills in technology and data analysis, and ‘soft’ skills like communication and leadership to acquire the competencies needed of finance leaders in the 21st century.”
Communication and leadership, in the context Thomson is speaking about, would previously have been the remit of other members of the C-suite.
Grow Wire surveyed a cross-industry panel of nine CFOs, and leadership skills came out as the number one most important quality that makes a great CFO.
CoorsTek CFO, Jay Voncannon, spoke at the CFO Innovation Summit in Las Vegas on optimizing company culture. We wrote about his advice here, but to quickly summarize it, a good company culture informs better decision-making.
Jay spoke about leaders who listen and instill a culture of collaboration, idea sharing, and communication are on the right track to success.
CFOs have reported that the pandemic has made creating a strong office culture difficult, due to the lack of an actual office. We put together an ebook on exactly that problem, outlining methods to overcome leadership problems in the remote working environment.
CFO of the Golden State Warriors, Jennifer Cabalquinto, made a strong point that ties together leadership and culture. “The key to a championship organization is hiring the right people, and I think you can see that reflected in the leadership group.”
Culture informs organizational strategy, and that includes hiring. Starting right at the top, the CFOs looking to attract the top talent have to give incentives other than a salary. Champion the culture and lead from the front, and you’ll get the right kind of people working in your organization.
Establish what success is
Gartner released their report into succeeding as a new CFO, and gave a checklist for the first 100 days in the role.
First 30 days: Mastering the role and managing key relationships
- Develop intimacy with operations to understand the value chain, business model and internal power structures; build rapport with senior executives and meet with key shareholders to discuss organization’s strategic and long-term growth prospects
- Map organization and industry value chains
- Identify internal stakeholders’ expectations
- Maintain regular meetings with leadership
- Maintain proximity with strategic investors
After 15 days: Defining a vision for the future
- Review functional best practices to define end states for changes in key functional capabilities
- Determine finance function’s capabilities
- Establish finance’s critical mission statement
After 30 days: Assessing staff capabilities
- Analyze finance skill gaps to identify readiness for change and an optimal change management style
- Conduct skill gap analysis
- Identify direct report role expectations
After 60 days: Focusing on critical activities
- Make difficult time allocation trade-offs to ensure focus on the activities that will add the most value
- Evaluate personal time allocation across all responsibilities
- Aggressively delegate less-value-added activities
The interesting statistic they start with is that CFO orientation programs exist at only 9% of companies.
The idea that CFOs can just arrive and have an impact with such little time and resources dedicated to them is now outdated.
That’s why the first 30 days are spent rapidly getting up to speed and embedding yourself in operations and stakeholder management.
After that, assessing capabilities, defining success, and then focusing on mission-critical objectives make up the CFO checklist.
Hear from a cross-industry line up of speakers who have all faced the pressures of starting a new CFO role, who’ll be sharing their success stories and greatest challenges in London and Miami at the World Finance Forum.
