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The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of a company is responsible for analyzing data and making recommendations to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) on the direction the business takes. In theory, anyone can be a CFO. No specific degree is required, but the typical CFO has a degree in accounting or finance.
Building the framework for Becoming a CFO
To become a CFO you must pursue the education to get there. Yes, it’s true that one can start in the mailroom with a GED and then work very hard to become an executive. It’s happened before and will again, and we’ll applaud those who do beat the odds.
For those who want to put the odds in their favor, getting degrees in accounting and/or finance is important. Add an MBA to this – in accounting or finance – and your chances improve.
Once you Have the Degree, What’s Next?
Once your education is finished, you must embark on a career that will take you in the appropriate path toward becoming a CFO. It could involve working as an auditor or tax preparer, and then becoming a controller. Being a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) will add to your pedigree, setting you above and beyond colleagues who also want to become a CFO.
Hard work and dedication is important, but it isn’t the only aspect of becoming a CFO. Contacts are important, too.
Establishing Your Career and Making Contacts
Part of the research that went into this article was seeking out an actual CFO.
Christopher Pascale is the CFO of Portfolios With Purpose, a charity that is centered around a fantasy stock portfolio. Players enter the game before January 1st, select 5 stocks, and the top players win the money for their charities.
Q: Mr. Pascale, how did you become a CFO, and what do you do with all of the money? You must be incredibly rich!
A: [A brief chuckle] The work I do at PwP is for free. The charity is only three-years-old and money needs to be spent on more important things, like accounting software and marketing.
Q: That’s a little disappointing.
A: Our donors would disagree. On becoming a CFO: I was working at an accounting firm and one day I was in Manhattan to see a client. While out to lunch, a young woman who works there told me about her sister’s charity and forwarded me an unsolicited link to her on CNBC. To say the least I was intrigued, and signed up to play the game. Afterwards, I reached out to the young woman who connected me with Stacey Asher [PwP’s President]. We met for lunch, discussed some ideas, and I was fortunate enough that there was no CFO at the time.
Q: Are all CFOs accountants?
A: No. You may recall from the Facebook story that the original CFO, Eduardo Saverin, was a college student who was studying economics.
Q: But he was pushed out of that post.
A: Not for a lack of an accounting degree.
Q: Lastly, what advice would you have for people who want to be CFOs?
A: To play in the 2014 Portfolios With Purpose game.
Q: Anything else? Perhaps something less promotional?
A: Seek opportunities for self-improvement, and don’t always chase money. When I accepted the offer to be the CFO of PwP, I did so because I wanted to learn how to run a charity. In addition to this, Stacey Asher and her husband are the kind of people I’d invite to meet my family.