Which characteristics do the best CFOs share? What should you look for when hiring a CFO or bringing fractional financial leadership on board? As a Director of Finance, which skills should you look to bolster if you want to keep progressing in your career?

Obviously, the exact skills that a CFO needs to succeed in a specific role will vary based on factors like industry, company size and growth stage, and makeup of the c-suite team, but one commonality is that they all think strategically and communicate well.

You will see this exhibited across the following areas:

Financial Acumen

The best CFOs will always possess deep financial acumen. This is absolutely crucial and will serve as the foundation for everything that they do in their role. However, simply being great with numbers isn’t good enough!

Top financial leaders can also use data to drive decision-making and articulate the financial impact of critical decisions, create actionable narratives, and develop strategic plans. To give it a name, they are “numbers+” people. They can analyze and understand the numbers to lead well across their teams while also demystifying the data for the rest of the executive leadership team and external stakeholders.

Strategic Focus

Success as a financial leader requires sharp focus, which is why the best CFOs will have an unwavering focus on the organization’s financial strategy. They won’t show favoritism to their accounting and finance teams. They won’t be blinded by their own professional objectives. They won’t get distracted by what competitors are doing. Instead, they will put the overall organization first by:

• Aligning long-term financial plans with organizational goals
• Allocating resources effectively
• Identifying industry opportunities
• Anticipating market trends
• Adapting the organization’s strategy as needed

This strategic focus will serve as the lens through which all their decisions are made.

Innovation and Adaptation

Like all successful leaders, top CFOs will exhibit an innovative and adaptable approach to their role. They will be willing to adopt newly emerging technology where it can advance the organization’s position and help it meet goals more quickly. And, as the organization evolves, they will commit to embracing a continuous learning mindset both for themselves and across their teams. The best CFOs won’t fall into the “we have always done it this way” trap and certainly won’t settle for an “it’s good enough” attitude under their watch. Instead, they will change and adapt as needed to find success.

Multi-Directional Leadership

As multi-directional leadership becomes more prevalent across today’s fast-growing companies, the best CFOs will need to manage effectively up, down, and sideways as well. That means putting as much effort into managing the upwards relationship with the CEO and the Board as managing downwards relationships with lower-level accounting and finance staff and sideways relationships with colleagues across the organizations over areas like IT, Ops, and Sales. On a day-to-day basis this looks like:

• Presenting executive-level reporting concisely to key stakeholders like the Board and investors.
• Getting their accounting and finance teams on board with the organization’s overall vision.
• Working cross-functionally with other departments to achieve organizational alignment.

This kind of multi-directional management helps to align all areas of the business to achieve greater long-term results.

Influence with Stakeholders

The most successful CFOs will have sway where sway is needed to advance the company’s objectives. These CFOs will use their influence with key stakeholders to negotiate favorable payment terms with vendors, financing arrangements with lenders and investors, and partnership agreements with other organizations.

At CFO Selections we have a team of highly experienced fractional CFOs ready to lead your company or nonprofit organization. We understand why strategic thinking and effective communication are essential for the role and will prioritize your organization’s unique needs to guide you through whatever comes next. Contact us today to find out more! We would be happy to provide a complimentary consultation to discuss your needs and determine where we would be a good fit.