Chief financial officers · the career path
How to become a CFO
The short answer · updated
Most CFOs qualify as chartered accountants first, through the ICAEW ACA, ACCA or CIMA, then climb the finance function: management accountant or financial controller, then finance director, then CFO. The step to CFO comes from leading a finance team, reporting to a board, and owning funding, risk and strategy alongside the chief executive.
The routes in: financial controller, finance director, CFO
The National Careers Service sets out the start: a degree and a graduate training scheme, an apprenticeship, or work combined with a professional accountancy qualification. From management accountant, it says, you could become a finance manager, chief financial officer, finance director or chief executive.
The usual ladder runs from qualified accountant to finance manager or financial controller, then to finance director, then CFO. The ICAEW describes the CFO or FD as the most senior role in the finance function, overseeing all of it and giving it strategic direction.
Other routes exist. Some CFOs come from audit and advisory practice, from corporate finance or from investment banking, and move into business as a finance director or group financial controller. What they share is a professional qualification and a record of running finance for a business, not just advising one.
Qualifications: ACA, ACCA, CIMA
No law requires a CFO to be qualified, but most employers ask for a professional accountancy qualification. Three bodies cover most finance leaders.
An MBA can help a qualified accountant who wants broader business training before a CFO seat. Look for a programme accredited by the Association of MBAs. It is an addition to a professional qualification, not a substitute for one.
- ICAEW ACA. The ICAEW Chartered Accountant qualification combines technical exams, practical work experience and professional skills. It is common among finance leaders who trained in audit practice.
- ACCA. The ACCA Qualification combines exams, an ethics module and a period of professional experience, and is taken both in practice and in business.
- CIMA. CIMA’s CGMA Professional Qualification runs through Operational, Management and Strategic levels, then practical experience requirements. It is built around management accounting and finance business partnering, the commercial side of the CFO job.
The experience employers look for
The ICAEW lists the CFO’s typical tasks: leading and mentoring the finance team; budgeting, forecasting and planning; identifying financial risks; reporting to the board and to external stakeholders; leading on investment, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures; and making sure the business complies with financial regulation. Each is something a hiring board will ask you to show you have done.
The board is the step change. ICAEW’s profile of one CFO describes the move to finance director as being suddenly tested by the board, and the move to CFO as the point when other directors look to finance for strategic leadership, not sign-offs. Present to the board early, support your CFO at board meetings, and build relationships across the business, not just in finance.
Some CFO seats carry personal responsibility in law or regulation. In a larger company, the senior accounting officer is the director or officer with overall responsibility for the financial accounting arrangements, and the role cannot be handed to an adviser. In an FCA-regulated firm, Chief Finance is a senior management function that the regulator must approve.
Fractional, interim and part-time CFO work as a route in
Fractional and interim work is one of the faster ways to gain CFO-level experience. A growing company that cannot yet justify a full-time CFO will often take a finance director or experienced financial controller for part of the week, and that seat carries board reporting, funding and investor work.
See fractional CFO roles for part-week work, interim CFO roles for full-time cover through a transition, a fundraise or a turnaround, and part-time CFO roles for a fixed number of days on the payroll.
If you work through your own company, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply. Status is decided by how each engagement runs, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
What a CFO earns
CFO pay depends on the size and stage of the business, its sector, whether it is investor-backed or listed, and how much of the role is strategy, funding and investor relations rather than running the finance function.
Our fractional CFO salary page sets out pay and day rates, each figure with its source. For the cost to a business of a part-week CFO, see fractional CFO cost.
Where to find CFO roles
Our fractional jobs board lists live senior roles across functions, and the fractional CFO jobs page lists CFO roles. Many first CFO seats are also filled by promotion from finance director, so a finance director role in a growing business is itself a route.
We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives. For permanent CFO searches, see our CFO headhunter page. For the role itself, read what a CFO does.
If CFO is not the right target yet, see how to become a finance director, the usual step before it, or how to become a COO if your interest is running the whole operation.
Questions people ask
Do you need to be a chartered accountant to become a CFO?
It is not a legal requirement, but most employers ask for a professional accountancy qualification: the ICAEW ACA, ACCA or CIMA. Some CFOs come from banking or corporate finance, and they usually still hold one of these or an equivalent.
Which qualification is best for a CFO: ACA, ACCA or CIMA?
All three lead to CFO roles. The ACA is common among those who trained in audit practice; ACCA is taken both in practice and in business; CIMA is built around management accounting and business partnering. Choose the one that fits where you are training now.
What is the difference between a finance director and a CFO?
The ICAEW treats CFO and FD as the most senior role in the finance function. In larger or investor-backed businesses, the CFO owns funding, investor relations and strategy, and the FD may run the finance function beneath them. Read what a finance director does.
Can you become a CFO without being a finance director first?
Yes, though it is less common. Some move from group financial controller, from corporate finance or from a senior role in audit or advisory practice. Fractional and interim CFO work in smaller businesses is another way to take on the full remit sooner.
Does an MBA help you become a CFO?
It can broaden a qualified accountant’s business training, especially in strategy and leadership. It is an addition to a professional accountancy qualification, not a replacement. Look for a programme accredited by the Association of MBAs.
How do you get your first CFO role?
Build board exposure as a finance director or financial controller, lead a fundraise, an acquisition or a system change, and take a fractional or interim CFO role in a growing business. See fractional CFO roles and interim CFO roles.
