Financial Officers

Egon Zehnder International recently organized a forum to discuss the role and responsibilities of the CFO in dynamic environments. The global financial crisis put the spotlight on the CFO as never before. In addition to responsibilities of corporate governance, he started to involve himself in operational and strategic decisions of the company, moving from supplying financial information to actually providing business advice.

As the role of the CFO has grown exponentially more complex, so has the challenge of developing a steady supply of talent and an eventual successor. To find out how outstanding CFOs meet those challenges, we interviewed almost 20 exceptional CFOs on four continents and reviewed the CVs of another 20 in order to determine what contributed to their ability to get to the top. What we found and what they told us provides a clear guide for preparing CFOs for the increasing complexities of the role.