We have a few success indicators that we look for in candidates such as engagement, positivity, forward-thinking, and good social skills. Afterward, we ensure that the nature of the role i.e., large and complex organizations should have a CFO with strong leadership skills to coach the finance personnel and the business itself. The candidate should also have an established accounting and controlling background with multiple years of experience, from entry-level positions to management. In large organizations with complex structures and finances, it’s important as a CFO to have high numerical and spatial abilities to quickly understand and deliver financial information. Naturally, we have in-depth reference conversations in our screening process to further learn about each candidate’s performance and competencies to identify whether they are the correct fit for each role.
CFO Recruitment’s long-standing experience of matching high-quality financial professionals with our customers, this combined with a well-founded understanding of our finance specialization has proved successful. We strive to remain a trusted partner to our customers and to maintain our position as one of the leading players in our market space.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have additional questions or would like a quote for our services. Otherwise, please find more information below.
Chief financial officer job description
The role of a CFO encompasses a focus on strategy, as well as, being responsible for much of the business operations/development, and ultimately having fiscal control of the organization. This usually also coincides with reporting to the CEO and board and shaping new routines, processes, and standards. The strategic aspects of this role include budgeting, analysis, business management/development, and of course, general fiscal responsibility for the organization i.e. accounts, control, financial statements, annual reports, and everything in between.
More often than not the position of a CFO also comes with direct or indirect people management responsibilities, which demand solid leadership skills. This often entails overall responsibility for both the accounting and controlling functions and direct personnel responsible for the accounting manager and head of business control.
The finance department and its design
The accounting department can be described as the hub of the finance department and is therefore vital in small, mid, and large-cap companies alike. In smaller companies, it’s not uncommon for a single individual to shoulder the financial responsibility and this person is usually referred to as the finance manager. In small / mid-sized organizations, the finance team is more likely to be composed of several individuals such as finance managers, accountants, bookkeepers/account clerks, etc.
In larger organizations, the accounting department usually consists of multiple employees where job descriptions are more specialized and multi-leveled, for example, invoice specialists who focus on accounts payable or accounts receivable. These individuals concentrate solely on the handling of invoices to suppliers and customers and are usually titled, accounting clerks or bookkeepers. There are often payroll specialists that focus on payroll. Often overseeing the work of the clerks are accountants, who in turn, are responsible for the ongoing accounting. From there the accountants may report to the accounting manager/finance manager who has the responsibility for the accounts as a whole for the organization or division. Often, accounting managers report directly to CFOs who hold more of a strategic role than operational at companies of this size. Depending on the organizational structure it is possible there is an additional accounting team that consolidates accounts on a group level.
The business control function is usually a separate wing of the finance department, which work in close collaboration with the accounts team and other commercial teams. The number of business controllers again correlates to the organization’s size. Similar to the accounts team, in larger companies, this wing of the finance team may become more specialized and multi-leveled. Business controllers may focus on a particular product, service, or division. Group business controllers have oversight of the organization as a whole, all of whom may report to the head of business control who usually has the general responsibility for the business control wing. The head of business control, in turn, reports to the CFO.
Skills and competences
The larger and more complex organizations become, the more strong leadership skills are required from the CFO. CFOs may be expected to coach both finance and operations staff, as well as mold the finance team and business as a whole. A solid understanding and knowledge of accounting and controlling, from entry-level to senior-level positions, is required to be successful. Excellent numerical skills and high spatial reasoning to quickly gauge the organizational structure and financial situation are highly desired.
Important to highlight:
Solid leadership skills: As mentioned above, leadership skills are required for the CFO role being that many employees rely on their CFO to ensure they have the right conditions in order to perform. A good leader understands that all individuals have different requirements and expectations from leadership, and are able to adapt to meet these needs. It goes without saying that good leadership is founded on high-functioning social skills in addition to empathy.
Strategic mindset: Generally the role of a CFO is very strategy based. Over and above understanding finances and the market, a CFO should be a confident decision-maker, action-taker, and delegator.
Software skills
A broad knowledge of different financial software and systems is definitely advantageous for our customers. We are therefore selective in our scouting process. Most of the professionals in our network have good knowledge of both large consolidation systems such as Aaro, Hyperion (HFM), Cognos (Cognos Controller) and Ocra, and large ERP systems such as SAP, Agresso, Navision, or Visma.
Industry Experience
Our recruiters at CFO Recruitment have industry experience, and we believe this is vital in pairing the right individual with the right client. Our background in finance is also very practical because we can quickly identify the resource issue and what is required, and pull a fitting and competent professional from our extensive network. We at CFO Recruitment come from different specializations, markets, organization sizes, and can understand the complexity and nuances of each client request. We are also aware of how important organizational culture is and how it can vary in different industries, and we understand that sector-specific experience is always advantageous as well as finding the right person to fit the rest of the team.
CFOs in San Francisco
We’re based in San Francisco and our assignments often extend to include the surrounding areas (i.e. Fremont, Santa Rosa, Hayward, Sunnyvale, & Santa Clara). We have made a number of successful assignments in other metropolitan regions such as San Jose and Oakland, but San Francisco is where our network is strongest.
Salary CFO
The salary of a CFO varies depending on the profile requested i.e. the degree of responsibility, competence, education, industry experience, etc. Market trends over the past years indicate high demand and low supply which has led to increasing costs, however, our well-established CFO network includes a large number of professionals with different profiles where we’re confident we’ll be able to connect our customers and professionals correctly.
Find a CFO
There are a few competitors in our marketplace such as Michael Page and Robert Half. However, we at CFO Recruitment are working at the forefront of scouting high-quality & talented CFO candidates and relish any competition that keeps us on our toes.
