The CFO Landscape is Changing

During the economic recession of 2008 into part of 2009, there was a high demand from top-level companies looking for CFO's whose backgrounds were deeply rooted in pure financial theory and application. The reasoning that the shareholders of these companies used was mainly that they needed someone to fill their top finance position who would be able to make keen, strategic decisions in a time when everybody's finances were failing.

But now the economy is recovering nicely, and businesses in every industry are exploring different candidates to run their financial sectors. Instead of searching for people with purely financial experience, many companies are targeting candidates with operational and managerial backgrounds, in addition to a financial one. According to William M. Bulkeley's article on CIO.com, since CFOs are among the first in line for the succession within the company, "operational experience is a must."

Another reason that businesses are looking for more operationally oriented CFO candidates is that the role of the COO is being steadily spread out to the jobs of the CEO and CFO, and the position is fading away. With this in mind, more finance majors are pursuing job offers not just in the financial sector of businesses but also in the operations and IT areas in order to get the proper experience needed to become a CFO in the future.

After reading this article, I am glad that I have decided to add a double major in Operations to my current Finance major. While I do not know if I will pursue being a CFO as my career, it appears that from senior management down to operational management, it is necessary to have some background in management and operations in order to have a successful career in the field of finance.