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CFOs need an ever-broadening skill set to keep up with the increasing demands of their role, or so we often hear: problem-solving. Storytelling. Empathetic leadership. Executive presence. But what hiring executives look for in a CFO is something more fundamental: whether they’ve got a good head for numbers.
That’s according to a survey by the Massachusetts Society of CPAs. It polled 320 hiring executives, including CEOs, CFOs, CHROs, and executive recruiters, at companies across a broad range of industries and sizes. Respondents were asked to rank more than 80 competencies they’d want to see in a CFO, in order of importance. The competencies fell within eight domains, including finance, technology/analytics, communication, business acumen, and EI.
Hiring executives clearly valued finance expertise above all else. Four of the top 10 most-wanted competencies were finance-related, including the top three: capital management/strategy, financial forecasting, and operations and financial reporting. (Accounts receivable came in ninth.) And two of the top 10 competencies were compliance-related: financial reporting compliance (#5) and tax compliance (#8).
Hiring personnel also highly prized two leadership- and strategy-related competencies: critical thinking (#4) and strategy creation (#6). They also highly valued industry-specific competencies, including the ability to forecast for one’s industry or product (#7) and having networking relationships within one’s industry (#10).
Respondents placed far less emphasis on technological skills. The highest-ranked technological competence was advanced data analysis, at #21. Perhaps surprisingly, AI skills and openness to using AI weren’t much of a priority for respondents, who ranked it 52nd.
And social, emotional, and communications skills took a back seat to financial and leadership prowess. Only two communications-related competencies ranked among the top 30 (effective verbal communication at #22 and transparency at #28). All the EI-related competencies, such as social skills, self-motivation, and adaptability, were ranked at 69 or lower.