Making the Step Up: Treasurer to CFO
How does a treasury professional get to the position of chief financial officer (CFO)? I presume that if one interviewed a dozen CFOs, you would likely get a dozen different answers. If you had the opportunity to do interviews with a dozen different companies, you would likely find a dozen different points of view in terms of the type of person they may be looking for to fill their CFO position. Therefore, I cannot possibly speak for every CFO or every company in search of a CFO, but I can try to tell you my story.
Hopefully, what I believe to be my key messages will provide you with some meaningful food for thought in terms of your respective career, especially for those of you who may aspire to be CFO’s down the road.
From the start of my career, I knew one thing: I needed to be constantly challenged. I would have never been successful working for a company where such challenges did not present themselves on a regular basis. I began my career as an internal auditor for a diversified corporation involved in everything from Ex-Lax and snack foods (please do not draw any connections here) to real estate and plastics. This role provided me with a solid foundation from the onset of my career. My audit role provided me with an opportunity to learn about a wide array of businesses.
This is where my first message comes in – truly understanding the business you are supporting will always be a key to your success. It may feel safer to stay tucked inside the ‘finance box’, but it is rare that playing it safe will lead you towards long-term success.
My audit experience opened up the first door for me, which happened to be treasury as I had audited the treasury function many times while serving as an auditor. From an early stage of my career, I became a vacuum – trying to suck up as many responsibilities as I could possibly handle, allowing me to provide more and more value to the organisation. This role led to an opportunity at a completely different company in the electronics distribution space, which only came about because of the broad experience I gained during my first six or seven years of employment. I wound up staying with this company for nearly two decades, which will always be the most defining period in my business career.
Starting out as an assistant treasurer, I capitalised on my previous experience and immediately brought value to the treasury function. Somewhat fortunately, this organisation became increasingly acquisitive shortly after I joined and I quickly found myself in the middle of what became a merger and acquisition (M&A) machine. I gained experience in acquisition strategy, planning and analysis, capital planning and capital raising, etc., which are all invaluable experiences.
Ultimately, I became responsible for payroll, insurance risk management, real estate, purchasing and investor relations, and ultimately got myself involved in some meaty international cross-functional projects. I guess the message here is that it became obvious that I was willing (and hopefully able) to take on anything that was thrown my way. It is true that it was often stressful, but in the end it provided me with an unbelievable foundation to become a CFO. While every company will look for different qualities in a CFO, it is unlikely that any company would not appreciate the breadth and depth of one’s experience and, once again, the fact that candidates like myself really understand the businesses they support.
So what does this all mean to you? Everyone reading this article comes from a different background with very different experiences. To be very clear, opportunities will not always find their way to you – instead you need your way to find these opportunities. There is no silver platter here. If you really want to prepare yourself for a CFO role, you need to be aggressive, get yourself immersed in the business and involved in different projects. You need to focus on your communication skills, present well and have the ability in influence individuals up, down and sideways within and outside your organisation.
How about what’s happening in the world today? The banking sector is in turmoil. If you are a treasurer, your skills are more vital to your organisation today than ever before. Being proactive and thinking outside the box in terms of managing liquidity today should make you a star and prove how valuable you are to your organisation. This skill set may not have been as vitally important in the past, but in the current environment what could be better than a strong CFO candidate who has already demonstrated their ability to manage the balance sheet and drive cash flow? In my eyes, this is akin to hiring a baseball pitcher who also has the ability to win the game with a home run.
So, stay on your toes every day, never be too confident and keep learning. There is nothing profound in what I am saying, but it is important to always remember that you can reach your CFO goal. You can never completely control your destiny but you can contribute towards it, significantly, by always broadening and sharpening your skills.
Since this article is geared principally towards a ‘treasury’ audience, let me dispel one myth, once and for all. There is no reason why any treasurer should feel like they do not have the right background to be a CFO. Many treasurers who may not see themselves as strong accountants often assume they have no chance to reach this goal. This is completely false.
Although a CFO is not an accountant, an accounting background can be very valuable. But the CFO is no longer a glorified accountant (if that was ever the case), but rather a true ‘financial’ leader who is able to lead a broad group of financial talent including the accountant/controller, tax chief and treasurer, while strategically connecting finance with the business. This does not require an accountant but instead a strong leader with a breadth of experiences well beyond accounting.
Please do no sell yourself short. Particularly in today’s world, your invaluable experience as a treasurer makes you better suited for the C-suite than ever before. One thing I can tell you is now that I am here and on the job is that it’s a fantastic opportunity. Being in the ‘financial driver’s seat’ may add even greater stress to the equation but the role can also be a whole lot of fun. The best course of action is to stay focused and never give up on your goals. I wish you the best of luck!