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You’ve been promoted to CFO. Now what?

You’ve been in a senior financial role with the company for a while, and have been aiming for the CFO chair. One day, you get the call from the CEO (or the Chairman) and they offer you the CFO job.

Congratulations! You’ve been promoted to CFO. You have a new office, a new title, new business cards, and a better compensation package.

Except…

… You’re not exactly sure what to do as CFO.

Based on speaking with new CFOs in the same situation as you, you are not alone. When I speak with them and ask them if their job has changed since their promotion, they usually answer “Not really…”

As CFO, you should not be doing the same job you were doing before.

So now that you’ve been promoted to CFO, what can you do to ensure you become the best CFO you can be for your company?

1) Prepare a Plan

Your success as CFO depends on you having a plan for success. This requires that you be aware of the expectations the CEO and Board has from you, and putting in a plan to ensure you can deliver, and have a Strong Finance Team you support you in your goal to become a Successful CFO.

I recommend that this plan be completed within the first 100 days of your new tenure as CFO.

2) Get a Coach

If you ask your CEO, there is a good chance he or she has a Coach. It gets lonely at the top (see Lonely CFO). Being an Effective CFO requires someone that you can talk to that can guide you to make the right decisions and keep to your Plan.

Your success as CFO depends on your ability to deliver. Take responsibility for your new role. Make sure you have a Plan for your success, and have a Coach that ensure you keep to your Plan.

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More companies are ready for their first Real CFO

The WSJ CFO Journal recently posted an article by Emily Chasan called Silicon Valley Seeks CFOs to Hop on IPO Train.

This article, which is interesting reading, discusses how growing technology companies are getting ready for their next serious round of financing, which could include an IPO.

What I found interesting about this article is that many of these growing companies have been using Part-Time CFOs to guide them through their initial growth period, and that they are now ready for their first Real CFO.

Or, at least they think they are ready. But are they?

Having a Real CFO, especially for the first time, requires not only hiring the Right CFO. (See Dear CEO & Board: You can’t afford to hire the wrong CFO.)

The executives in the company, including the current CEO and other VPs, need to be ready for a Strong CFO. The leadership dynamics and the management relationships are going to change. Is your team ready?

My recommendation to CEOs, Boards and Investors: Make sure your team is ready for your new CFO.

How can you make sure your team is ready? Ask me about our program created specifically for you called: Are you ready for your 1st CFO?

 

 

 

 

 

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Dear CEO & Board: You can’t afford to hire the wrong CFO.

Hiring the wrong CFO can be detrimental to your business.

Costs of hiring the wrong CFO include:

    1. Risk to your company reputation.
    2. A weak CFO will not help your company with what it needs.
    3. Not being able to get the most out of your CFO as soon as possible.
    4. Opportunity cost – the wrong CFO misses the opportunities to add value to the company.

Yet, many companies fear doing a proper search because

    1. Cost of a CFO Search.
    2. Effort and time required to do a CFO Search properly.
    3. Cost.

As CEO or Board Member, you may think that you know people (that know people) that know CFOs. And you ask yourself “How hard can it be?”

Let’s face it. The cost of hiring the wrong CFO is way more than the fees you will pay for a proper CFO Search.

Well. Have you ever hired the wrong CFO? Wonder why they were wrong for you? The CFO was not right for your company because you didn’t do a proper CFO Search.

Now, there are options to how to do a proper CFO Search. You can work with me, work with any good executive search firm, or even manage the process internally.

However, you must have the following elements in your CFO Search.

Assessment: You need to assess what your company really needs from the CFO, both today, and in the future. You need to assess whether your leadership is really ready for a good CFO that will add value and be a leader in the business. You need to assess what skills, knowledge and abilities your new CFO will have to have to be successful in your environment. If your last CFO failed, ask yourself if you did a proper assessment first before hiring him or her.

Search: “Who you know” will not cut it. You need to do a proper search for CFO caliber people that can meet the needs you’ve assessed. If you don’t do a proper search, you will not end up with the best possible CFO for your business.

Onboarding: For a new CFO to be successful, it is important to invest in ensuring that the CFO has what they need to be successful. Onboarding allows your new CFO to acquire the necessary knowledge, skills, and behaviors to become most effective for your organization.

If you’re ready for your next CFO, do yourself and your company a favor. Hire the right CFO this time.

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CFOs and Recruiters: Quick Survey

Of the many relationships CFOs have (see CFO Relationship Map), they seem to have a love/hate relationship with Recruiters. Speaking recently with Cindy Kraft (CFO Coach), she confirmed that this dymanic has been mentioned to her several times as well.

In collaboration with Cindy, we want to find out what bugs you about Recruiters.

Take our quick survey by clicking here.

If you have spoken to a CFO colleague who has expressed their frustration to you, forward them this post to have them share their frustrations as well.

Photo Credit: JC Lamkin

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How you answer this question defines whether you are a Real CFO.

I’m about to upset some of you. It’s not intentional – I am trying to make a point.

The word CFO is overused by many people – by business owners, CEOs, boards, and recruiters. In too many instances, the position that many people call CFO is nothing more than a Controller or Chief Accountant.

CFOs are senior financial managers who work with the CEO and other executives within the company to make business decisions. CFOs do this with information provided to them by the team that they lead.

I have heard the argument that smaller businesses do not have the depth or resources for such a CFO, and their most senior financial person is designated as the CFO. I’m not saying every business needs a Real CFO, but a person doing the accounting as a part of their required tasks is NOT a CFO. Smaller businesses may need a CFO, and there are businesses and professionals that provide excellent Part-Time CFO services to these companies.

So, what is the one question that defines whether you are a Real CFO or not?

Answer this question in the affirmative, and it’s a good chance you’re a Real CFO.

Do you earn more than a $250,000 package annually?

(Caveat: This amount applies in the USA and Canada and may need to be adjusted lower or higher based on cost of living situations which vary from place to place. This amount is a number chosen to reflect my general statement. It does not mean you are making too little, or too much.)

Are you a Real CFO? Do you have a Real CFO working for you?

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CTRL-ALT-DEL: Time to Reboot the CFO World

In a world where the only thing that is constant is change, we can still sometimes be surprised how things turn out.

Today is the beginning of a new adventure for me.

Yet in many ways, today starts more of the same. Over the last years I have identified that I have a passion for working with CFOs and I started writing and speaking about my favourite people. In starting Dergel CFO Search & Consulting, I get to focus on what gets my juices going.

CFO Search

What I have learned over the past years is that the model that most companies use for hiring their CFO is, at best, weak. Many companies treat the hiring of this critical role as if the role of the CFO is not important. They are not willing to invest time and money into a process that seriously evaluates their real needs, a process that involves a proper and planned search which identifies and attracts the best people possible, and a process that ensures that the new CFO can be properly integrated into the company culture and that the expectations from the CFO are properly aligned with the CEO, Board and other stakeholders.

The state of CFO Search across North America has me upset. So it’s time to do something about it. I will be doing 2 things

  1. I’m going to perform CFO Search the way it is meant to be performed. Now I’m not going to change the world this way, but I will have a direct impact on my clients and their new CFOs. I will certainly be proud of the work that pays me. I do realize that the impact will be limited, especially compared to the next thing I’m going to do.
  2. I’m going to be talk, blog, tweet, present and discuss with whoever will listen about how CFO Search needs to change. How it needs to change so that companies and ALL its stakeholders can ensure that they get the best value from hiring a new CFO. Value is much more than just the dollar cost of a search. It costs the company in visible and invisible ways when they hire a CFO without a proper search. I know I will make a bigger impact here – an impact that will have tremendous reach and scope – much more than the numbers of CFO Searches I will be working on.

CFO Consulting

As committed as I am to ensuring that CFOs get hired in the best manner possible, I am committed as well to the ongoing success of the CFO. All CFOs, whether newly hired or veterans in a company, face multiple challenges on an ongoing and daily basis.

The biggest challenge CFOs face is not technical.

The biggest challenge CFOs face is people.

CFOs face different expectations from the multiple people they are responsible to. They are stuck between a rock and a rock and a rock. They have to keep the CEO, the Board and the shareholders happy. CFOs must keep creditors happy and the auditors satisfied. He or she works with and supports the other executives in the company. The CFO needs a well oiled and functioning finance team that supports him or her with correct and timely information. The talent on their team needs to be properly managed – from hiring, retaining and training, as well as planning for leadership succession in the finance group.

Again, as in CFO Search I will be doing 2 things to helps CFOs be the best in their roles.

  1. I will be working directly with CFOs to help them face these people challenges. I’m looking forward to the direct impact and close relationships I will have with my CFO clients, and adding multiples of value for these CFOs and their companies.
  2. Beginning today, I will be providing opportunities for CFOs to become engaged about the people challenges they face, and providing different forums that will allow CFOs to discuss these issues amongst themselves & help them learn from each other. The forums will be using different methods, from online to in person. My involvement in this area will be to engage and facilitate discussions that make a difference to a group I feel connected to and passionate about.

If I still have your attention, and what I have discussed here resonates with you, I urge you to reach out to me and let me know your thoughts (comment here or email me blog at dergelcfo dot com). I am embarking on a new adventure that I intend to have a positive and significant impact for companies and CFOs. If you are passionate about what I will be discussing, your engagement will make a big difference. I urge you not to sit on the sidelines and watch, but participate to help shift the importance of CFO Search & Consulting to the level it needs to be at. Help me help you.

Contact Information

You can reach Samuel by:

Telephone
San Francisco: +1 (415) 738-2070
Montreal: +1 (514) 907-0925

Email: samuel@dergelcfo.com