CFO · job description template
CFO job description
The short answer · updated
A CFO job description sets out the most senior finance role in a company: the person who leads the finance function and gives the board numbers it can rely on. The core responsibilities are financial strategy and planning, reporting and the statutory accounts, cash and funding, controls and risk, tax, and leading the finance team.
Job purpose
The ICAEW describes the CFO or finance director as the most senior role in the finance function, overseeing all of it and providing strategic direction and leadership. The purpose line should say that, then name the finance problem the next CFO has to solve: a fundraise, a sale, reporting the board cannot rely on, or a finance team that has outgrown its leader. For the role itself, see what does a CFO do.
Choose the title deliberately. In a smaller company CFO and finance director are often the same job; in a group, the CFO leads finance across it and finance directors run divisions. Acas publishes an outline job description template whose headings (the main duties and who the post reports to) suit either.
Key responsibilities
Order the duties by importance and start each with a verb. A typical CFO job description covers:
- leading, hiring and developing the finance team;
- owning budgeting, forecasting and financial planning;
- producing monthly management accounts and the board finance pack;
- preparing the statutory annual accounts and managing the audit;
- managing cash, banking and funding: equity, debt and working capital;
- identifying financial risks and running the controls that reduce them;
- keeping tax compliant and, in a qualifying company, acting as Senior Accounting Officer;
- reporting to the board and dealing with investors, lenders and auditors;
- leading on investment decisions, acquisitions and disposals;
- choosing and improving finance systems and data;
- making sure the company complies with financial regulations, standards and its own policies.
Reporting line and scope
The CFO reports to the chief executive and often sits on the board as an executive director. The financial controller, finance managers and any planning and analysis team report to the CFO; in some companies so do legal, IT, procurement or company secretarial work. List what reports in.
Board exposure is constant. The CFO presents the numbers at every board meeting and, where there is one, works closely with the audit committee and its chair on the financial statements, the controls and the external audit. Say in the job description whether the role carries a board seat and which committees the CFO attends.
Skills, experience and qualifications
No law requires a CFO to be a qualified accountant, but investors, lenders and audit committees often look for a professional accounting qualification. Mark it essential only where the role needs it, and accept an equivalent where you can. Our guide on how to become a CFO covers the usual routes in.
- a professional accounting qualification, such as the ICAEW ACA, the ACCA Qualification or CIMA’s CGMA;
- experience leading a finance function at a comparable scale and complexity;
- a record against the specific problem: a fundraise, a debt refinancing, a sale, an audit or systems fix, or a turnaround;
- reporting to a board and to investors, lenders or auditors;
- forecasting and cash management the board can rely on;
- building and leading a finance team;
- sector knowledge where the accounting, tax or regulation is specialised.
Fractional CFO job description
A fractional CFO works a set number of days a week or month, so the job description narrows. Name the days, the outcomes expected over the first six to twelve months (a board pack and forecast in place, a fundraise closed, an audit completed, a finance system chosen), what the fractional CFO owns, and who does the bookkeeping and month-end in between.
Say whether the fractional CFO will be a director or officer. HMRC’s Senior Accounting Officer guidance says the role must be held by a director or officer of the company and cannot be delegated to an agent or adviser, which matters for a qualifying company engaging a CFO from outside. Our pages on how to hire a fractional CFO and hire a part-time CFO set out how each engagement works.
A fractional CFO working through their own company may fall within the off-payroll working rules (IR35). Status depends on how the engagement runs in practice, not on the wording of the job description, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
Interim and permanent versions
Interim. An interim CFO works full-time for a fixed period, so the job description leads with the situation (a fundraise, a sale, an audit or systems problem, a turnaround, or cover while the permanent search runs) and the date or event that ends the assignment. See our interim CFO page.
Permanent. The permanent version looks further ahead: the finance function over several years, the team to be built and the systems to scale on. When the CFO is hired as an employee, the job title or a description of the work goes into the written statement of employment particulars they must have on the first day, so keep the two consistent. For a permanent search, see our CFO headhunter and finance director recruitment pages.
We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives, and non-executive directors. For a CFO brief we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after our five-stage vetting.
A template you can copy
Copy these headings and write one short block under each. Keep pay out of the job description and state it in the offer.
- Job title: chief financial officer or finance director, and whether the role is fractional, interim, part-time or permanent.
- Reports to: the CEO, with any board seat and committees; list the finance roles who report to the CFO.
- Purpose: two or three sentences on why the role exists now and the finance problem it must solve.
- Responsibilities: eight to twelve duties, each starting with a verb, in order of importance.
- Requirements: essential and desirable experience, described specifically, and the qualification you need, with equivalents accepted.
- Terms: full-time or days a week, location, start date, fixed term or permanent, and the pay basis (salary or day rate).
Questions people ask
What should a CFO job description include?
The job title and type of engagement, who the CFO reports to and who reports in, the purpose of the role, the key responsibilities, the experience and qualifications required, and the terms. Keep the finance problem the CFO must solve at the top.
How long should a CFO job description be?
Long enough to cover purpose, responsibilities, reporting line, requirements and terms, and short enough to read in a few minutes: one to two pages is usually enough. The detail of the numbers belongs in the candidate pack and the interviews.
How is a fractional CFO job description different?
It names the days a week or month, the outcomes expected over the first six to twelve months, who covers the routine finance work in between, and whether the CFO will be a director or officer. See how to hire a fractional CFO.
Is a CFO job description different from a finance director job description?
In a smaller company, rarely: the ICAEW treats CFO and finance director as the same senior role. In a group, a CFO job description covers the whole group and the main board, and a finance director job description covers a division or subsidiary. See finance director recruitment.
What does a CFO earn?
It depends on the size of the company, its sector and ownership, and whether the role is permanent, interim or fractional. Our CFO salary page sets out CFO pay and day rates, each figure with its source.
How do I hire a CFO?
Define the finance problem, choose between permanent, interim, part-time and fractional, write the job description around that problem, test every candidate against it, and check qualifications with the awarding body. Our fractional CFO page sets out the process; we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
