This blog posting by Marcus Beale of Odgers Berndtson in the UK caught my attention – The growing trend towards Internal FD appointments. (For those that are unaware, FD is short for Financial Director, which is the term used in the UK for CFO).
While Marcus notices this as a trend in the UK, I am led to believe that this is also common in the United States as well.
Since starting our CFO Moves Blog over 3 months ago and tracking CFO Movement (hires and unhires) across America each week, it is evident that companies in the US are hiring from within in many instances.
As 2011 comes to a close, we will be providing you with some statistics on the CFO market that we have gleaned from our CFO Moves Blog. Want to stay on top of these movements? Sign up for the CFO Moves Blog.
For companies with an excellent succession plan, it makes perfect sense!
I’m looking forward to those stats, Samuel!!
It does make perfect sense for those companies with succession plans.
The question is: Do companies that promote their next CFO internally actually have a succession plan, or are they flying by the seat of their pants once a CFO leaves and they need to fill the role?
My bet is that larger companies probably have the succession plan in place. My bet is also that mid-sized companies are making quick decisions that may not be in their best interest.
Thanks as always Cindy for your great feedback.
Samuel
Samuel. This is my experience.
1. The Controller insists on getting promoted or they leave.
2. Company doesn’t have the extra funds to pay a recruiter.
3. It is a knee jerk reaction because of audit or budget or maybe an internal financial crisis.
Every job where I have have been hired as the CFO the controller was passed over. This has caused lots of challenges since it takes the controller a long time to calm down and start helping the CFO. In one company the Controller did everything to set me up to fail. I feel maybe his intent was to tell the CEO that he made a bad decision. So some firms may already know this and don’t want that internal strife.
I have yet to ever see a succession plan at the CFO level.
Joseph Patrick Duran