The CFO career guide

I spent 20 years in executive search, much of it placing finance leaders. These are the guides I point CFOs, Finance Directors and Financial Controllers to most often. They cover how to write the resume, how to make the step up to CFO, what the role really asks of you, and how moves between sectors are read. Start with the section that matches where you are now.

Resumes and cover letters for finance leaders

How to show scale, commercial results and judgement on paper.

• →Accountant Cover Letter (With Example)
• →Audit Committee Reporting on Your Resume: Governance Proof Below CFO Level
• →Budgeting and Forecasting Achievements: Resume Examples for Finance Managers
• →CFO Cover Letter: What a CEO and Board Want to Read
• →CFO Resume Summary Examples: Five Before and Afters
• →CFO and COO Combined Role Resume: How to Show Both Jobs Without Halving Either
• →Capital Raising and Refinancing on a CFO Resume
• →Consolidation Leadership on a Resume: Multi-Entity Reporting Without the Jargon
• →Cost-Out and Restructure Programs on a CFO Resume: Show Judgement, Not Just Savings
• →Credit Manager Resume: Showing Cash, Risk and Relationships
• →Fast Close: How to Show a Shorter Month-End as a Business Result
• →Finance Director Resume: Showing the Commercial Side
• →Financial Controller Cover Letter (With Example)
• →Fund Accountant Resume: Funds Management and Super Roles
• →Group CFO Resume: Leading Finance Across Entities and Countries
• →Internal Auditor Resume: Turning Findings Into Business Value
• →Internal Controls on a Senior Resume: Showing Prevention, Not Just Process
• →Pricing and Margin Results on a Finance Director Resume
• →Project Accountant Resume: Construction, Engineering and Infrastructure Finance
• →Running Finance for a Foreign-Owned Subsidiary: How to Write the Resume
• →SaaS CFO Resume: ARR, Churn and Unit Economics
• →Statutory Reporting Leadership in a Listed Group: How to Show It
• →Systems Accountant Resume: Showing Systems Work in Business Terms
• →Technical Accounting on a Senior Resume: When It Helps and When It Hurts
• →Treasury Resume: How to Show Cash, Funding and Risk Results
• →What Boards and CEOs Expect to See on a CFO Resume
• →Why Most CFO Resumes Fail

Becoming a CFO

The step up from Financial Controller, Head of Finance or Group FC, and what boards worry about.

• →Acting CFO: How to Turn a Temporary Role Into the Job
• →CFO vs Financial Controller: Roles, Skills and the Step Between
• →Deputy CFO: Stepping Stone or Waiting Room?
• →From Financial Controller to CFO: How to Position the Step Up
• →Group Financial Controller to CFO: The Gap Most People Underestimate
• →Head of Finance to CFO: What Has to Change Before the Title Does
• →How to Become a CFO in Australia and New Zealand: The Complete Career Guide
• →How to Become a Fractional CFO in Australia and New Zealand
• →The First-Time CFO: What Boards Worry About and How to Answer It
• →The Four CFO Briefs: Turnaround, Growth, PE-Backed and Listed. How Each One Reads You
• →What Age Do People Become a CFO? Timing the Move

Inside the CFO role

Boards, chairs, CEOs and the parts of the job nobody prepares you for.

• →CFO and Company Secretary: Holding Both Roles
• →CFO and Investor Relations: What Listed Company CFOs Need to Show
• →How Boards Judge a CFO: The Measures Behind Your Review
• →Leading a Sale Process as CFO: How to Show It on Your Resume and in Interview
• →Leading an Offshore Finance Team: What Group Financial Controllers Need to Show
• →Management Equity in Private Equity Deals: What CFOs Should Understand
• →Rebuilding the Finance Team as a New CFO
• →The CFO Interview: What Boards and CEOs Really Ask
• →The CFO and the Chair: Building the Relationship That Protects You
• →What a CFO Signs: Declarations, Liability and Protecting Yourself
• →When a Director Oversteps: How CFOs Handle Board Members Who Go Direct to Staff
• →When a New CEO Arrives: What It Means for the CFO
• →Why CFOs Get Fired: The Patterns Boards Talk About
• →Working With the Audit Committee Chair: A Guide for Group Financial Controllers
• →Your Company Has Been Sold: Career Options for the Senior Finance Team
• →Your First Board Meeting as a New CFO

CFO roles by sector

How finance leadership changes from one kind of business to the next.

• →Agribusiness Finance Leaders: Seasons, Commodities and Family Owners
• →CFO in Banking and Insurance: Finance Leadership in a Regulated Business
• →Co-operative CFO Roles in New Zealand and Australia: Members, Not Shareholders
• →Commercial CFO to Public Sector CFO: What Changes
• →Construction CFO and Financial Controller Roles: WIP, Claims and Cash
• →Energy and Utilities Finance Leaders: Regulated Returns and Big Capital Programs
• →Family Office CFO: Private Wealth, Many Hats
• →Finance Leadership in a Roll-Up: Running Finance in a Fast-Acquiring Group
• →Iwi and Māori Organisation Finance Leadership: What Finance Leaders Should Know
• →Not-for-Profit CFO Roles: What Boards Look For Beyond the Numbers
• →Not-for-Profit to Commercial Finance: Making the Move Back
• →Property and Real Estate Finance Leaders: Funds, Developments and Valuations
• →Regional Financial Controller Roles in Asia-Pacific: Is It the Right Move?
• →Retail and FMCG Finance Directors: Margin, Stock and Speed
• →University and Education Sector CFO Roles

Finance roles, pay and skills

Job descriptions, pay and the skills that move you up a band.

• →Accountant Salary in Australia and New Zealand: What Moves You Up a Band
• →Accounting Career Path in Australia and New Zealand: From Graduate to CFO
• →Chief Financial Officer Job Description: What the Role Really Involves
• →Group Financial Controller Job Description: What the Role Really Covers
• →Group Financial Controller Pay: What Drives the Gap Between Roles
• →Writing Management Accounts Commentary That Managers Actually Read