Real career paths, practical advice, and lessons from CFOs on how to reach the top finance role.
The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) role has expanded dramatically over the last decade. What was once centered on reporting and financial control has become one of the most influential leadership roles in the business. Today’s CFO helps shape strategy, guide decision-making, and partner closely with the CEO and executive team to move the organization forward.
In practice, this means CFOs are spending less time looking in the rearview mirror and more time helping shape what comes next, weighing in on growth decisions, translating financial data into strategy, and supporting leadership teams as they navigate important tradeoffs.
That evolution has also opened new paths into the role.
The old stereotype of the CFO as a strict “numbers person” is fading fast. Modern CFOs still need financial rigor, but they are also valued for their influence, clarity, judgment, and deep understanding of how the business actually runs. And most importantly, the path is no longer one-size-fits-all.
Whether you are coming from accounting, Financial Planning & Analysis (FP&A), consulting, engineering, or even a different leadership track, there are now multiple credible routes into the CFO chair. If you have been wondering how to become a CFO, this guide breaks down what real finance leaders say matters most and what the modern career path to CFO actually looks like today.
This ultimate guide draws on live interviews I conducted with more than 20 CFOs to break down real career paths, practical advice, and the skills that matter most if you are thinking about how to become a CFO or planning your own career path to CFO.
Nearly 59% of CFOs in the United States are promoted internally, meaning most finance chiefs are elevated from within their own organizations rather than hired from outside the company.
This trend reflects something many aspiring CFOs underestimate: becoming a CFO is often less about making a single perfect career move and more about consistently showing up as a trusted leader over time. Internal promotions tend to favor finance professionals who understand how the business really works, contribute meaningfully to decision-making, and build credibility through their actions.
Most CFOs who are promoted internally are stepping into the role for the first time. They earn that opportunity by demonstrating strong judgment, consistency, and the ability to support the business in ways that build trust with the executive team and the board. For many CFOs, the role is not a sudden leap but the natural next step after years of visibility, collaboration, and helping the organization make better decisions. Those experiences may look different from one career to the next, but they often lead to the same destination.
In this ultimate guide, I draw on live interviews with more than 20 CFOs to understand how they built their careers and what the career path to CFO looks like in today’s business environment. The insights reflect how modern CFOs build credibility, expand their influence, and move into executive leadership through a variety of career paths.
Here are the main themes we heard again and again:
At a high level, the CFO is responsible for financial strategy, planning, governance, and performance. But in modern companies, the role goes far beyond the finance department.
Today’s CFO is often expected to:
In other words, today’s CFO is still responsible for the numbers, but they are also responsible for helping the business act on those numbers. That is why the best CFOs are not simply strong analysts. They are strong communicators and decision partners.
Patrick Villanova, CFO at BlackLine, described how CFO impact is not about sharing a dashboard with numbers. It is about making the numbers understandable, relevant, and actionable. His point was simple: financial reporting does not drive outcomes on its own. Translation does.
Renaud Heyd, CFO at SAP, explained that finance is ultimately a language that needs to be translated. CFOs play a critical role in helping teams understand why certain decisions are being made, what the purpose behind them is, and how they affect people across the business. In that sense, strong communication and storytelling are essential to effective finance leadership.
This is a major mindset shift for anyone trying to become a CFO. The job is not simply to measure the business. The job is to move it forward.
Yes and no.
There is still a common, traditional path to becoming a CFO, especially in larger or more established organizations. That path often includes experience in areas such as:
At the same time, the path is becoming more flexible. Many CFOs now reach the role after making strategic career moves across different functions or industries, rather than following a straight, linear progression.
| CFO career path | Common starting roles | What this path helps you build |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional finance path | Accounting, audit, financial planning and analysis, and financial reporting | Strong technical credibility, deep understanding of financial controls, and accuracy |
| Startup or scale-up path | Finance manager, controller, and operations-focused finance roles | Broad business exposure, comfort with change, close partnership with leadership |
| Consulting or advisory path | Management consulting, strategy, and corporate advisory roles | Strategic thinking, executive communication, and exposure to many business models |
| Technical or analytical background | Engineering, mathematics, data analysis, and information technology roles | Problem-solving skills, systems thinking, strong comfort with technology, and complexity |
A classic starting point for many CFOs is auditing.
Patrick Villanova, CFO at BlackLine, said there is a traditional path, but his was considered “non-traditional” because he came up through accounting rather than FP&A or Wall Street. He started as a CPA at PwC, working on IPOs and M&A, and used that technical accounting foundation as a way to get deeply involved in the business.
Sacha Herrmann, CFO at Soldo, also started as an auditor at a big accounting firm. He described how it gave him the chance to work with companies of different sizes, which helped build business exposure early. But for him, the pivot came when he wanted more action. He moved into a startup finance role and built his career from there.
Stefan Wolvaardt, CFO at Simply Asset Finance, described a path that included commerce and finance at university and a graduate trainee program at Carphone Warehouse. Rotating through finance roles every six to nine months helped him understand how broad the finance function really is, and what it takes to lead it.
Taken together, these examples highlight why the traditional route still appeals to many organizations. Early experience in accounting, audit, and structured finance roles can build credibility quickly. It can also help you develop strong technical judgment and provide hands-on exposure to how financial systems operate at scale. Over time, that foundation often makes it easier for finance leaders to participate in larger strategic discussions and influence decisions beyond the finance function.
Yes. More than ever.
Many CFOs today did not start their careers in finance. Some began in technical or operational roles, such as engineering, data, or technology, and later moved into finance leadership.
These backgrounds can be an advantage because they build strong problem-solving skills and a deep understanding of how businesses and systems work. At the same time, these leaders still need to learn core finance skills and prove they can manage the fundamentals.
Liz Kistruck, CFO at Motorway, started in engineering and worked on heavy engineering projects like chlorine plants and a copper mine. Over time, she became curious about how the businesses behind the projects actually worked. That curiosity is what pulled her into finance.
Jason Eglit, CFO at Signifyd, said his early background was in physics and applied math. Business school helped open a path into consulting and then private equity, giving him a broader view into how companies operate and scale.
Devina Paul, CFO at Zumo, also studied physics at university, which gave her a good foundation in math and technology. While she did not come from a financial background, she said the math side of accounting came naturally.
Not every CFO transition is driven by education or a deliberate move into finance early on. In some cases, the shift happens later in a career, once leaders have spent time in senior roles and gained clarity about where their strengths add the most value. As companies grow and become more complex, some executives find themselves gravitating toward the discipline, structure, and decision-making aspects of finance rather than broader operational leadership. These transitions are often less about credentials and more about alignment between skill set, preference, and what the business needs at that stage.
Rob Steele, CFO at Iplicit, described stepping back from a CEO role. He was CEO when the business had six employees, but as the company grew, he realized he preferred focusing on numbers and discipline. Moving into the CFO role played to those strengths.
While these paths look different on the surface, non-traditional CFOs tend to share a few common traits:
This is where the CFO career path gets real. Technical finance skills are required, but they are not enough.
In many organizations, plenty of smart, capable finance professionals stay stuck at senior manager, Head of FP&A, or controller because they never develop the full skill stack that executives expect from a CFO.
Based on our interviews, CFO-ready skills generally fall into three categories.
You cannot lead finance without credibility in the fundamentals. Even CFOs from non-traditional backgrounds had to master the building blocks:
Konstantin Dzhengozov, CFO at Payhawk, emphasized that strong finance leadership starts with discipline and reliable processes. Being able to build structure, follow through, and create predictability around the company’s finances helps establish consistency and trust across the business.
But he also stressed that curiosity is what truly sets finance leaders apart. Spending time with sales teams, engineers, and other parts of the organization helps CFOs understand how the business actually works, not just how the numbers look on paper. That broader perspective leads to better budgeting, forecasting, and decision-making.
That distinction matters because trust in finance is not just about being accurate. It comes from showing that financial decisions are grounded in a real understanding of the business behind the numbers.
Once you have the foundation, your next job is to stop being a finance expert and start becoming a business partner.
Dzhengozov said curiosity makes the real difference. He explained that you need to look beyond your domain, spend time with sales and engineering, and understand how products are built.
This is what separates a finance professional who supports the business from one who shapes it.
At the CFO level, it is not enough to know what happened financially. You need to understand why it happened operationally.
This is the part many future CFOs underestimate.
Henry Allen, CFO at Caxton Group, said diligence and humility matter. Diligence creates confidence that the right things are being monitored, and humility means raising your hand when something is not right.
But he also emphasized that storytelling is essential, even though it is often underrated in finance.
Villanova made a similar point. Success depends on more than dashboards. CFOs have to make numbers understandable, relevant, and actionable.
Heyd described the CFO’s role as a strategic sparring partner. By questioning ideas that do not fully make sense and challenging plans constructively, CFOs help teams sharpen their thinking and develop stronger strategies and action plans.
These three CFO perspectives show why communication is not a soft skill in finance. It is a core execution skill. If you cannot tell the story behind the numbers, you will struggle to make decisions at the highest level.
| Skill area | What it includes | Why it matters for becoming a CFO |
|---|---|---|
| Financial fundamentals | Financial statements, budgeting, forecasting, cash management, and risk controls | Builds credibility and trust by ensuring the numbers are accurate and reliable |
| Business partnership | Working closely with sales, operations, product, and leadership teams | Helps finance influence decisions and support how the business actually runs |
| Communication and leadership | Explaining financial information clearly, guiding decisions, and leading teams | Enables executives and boards to understand the numbers and act on them |
One of the hardest shifts on the career path to CFO is realizing that strong performance does not always equal strong perception at the executive level.
Early in a finance career, results speak loudly. Accurate reporting, clean audits, and reliable forecasts build credibility quickly. But as you move closer to the CFO role, leaders are no longer evaluating you on output alone. They are evaluating how you think, how you influence decisions, and how you show up in high-stakes conversations.
Many finance leaders who wonder how to become a CFO assume that continuing to do excellent work will naturally lead to promotion. In reality, executive teams are asking a different question: Is this person already operating like a CFO?
That perception is shaped by:
At senior levels, visibility and narrative matter. CFO ready leaders do not wait to be asked for input. They position their insights in ways that help others make decisions. That shift from executor to advisor is a defining moment on the career path to CFO.
Another inflection point on the career path to CFO is learning when being indispensable starts working against you.
Finance professionals are often rewarded for being dependable, precise, and willing to take on complex work. Over time, that reliability can turn into a trap. Some employees become known as the person who always fixes issues, owns the details, and keeps everything running smoothly. While that makes you valuable, it does not always make you promotable.
Many CFOs we interviewed described moments where they had to step back from doing the work themselves in order to take on broader leadership responsibility. That meant delegating trusted tasks, developing their teams, and spending more time on decisions that affected the whole business rather than individual deliverables.
If you are serious about how to become a CFO, ask yourself:
Letting go of day-to-day execution is uncomfortable, especially for high performers. But that discomfort is often a signal that you are moving closer to executive readiness rather than away from it.
Mentors offer advice, feedback, and perspective. Sponsors advocate for you when opportunities arise. In most cases, this sponsor is a senior leader inside your organization who has direct visibility into your work and influence over promotions, succession planning, or high-impact initiatives. They mention your name in leadership discussions, recommend you for roles with broader scope, and trust you with visibility in moments that matter.
Many CFOs who were promoted internally described having senior leaders who saw their potential early and created opportunities for them to demonstrate judgment and leadership. Those relationships were rarely formal or transactional. They were built over time through trust, consistency, and shared decision-making.
If you are thinking about how to become a CFO, sponsorship matters because executive promotions rarely happen in isolation. Boards and CEOs look for signals that others already trust you at a senior level. Internal sponsors help provide that signal because they have seen how you operate under pressure and how you support the business beyond your functional role.
You can increase the likelihood of sponsorship by:
Sponsorship is not about self-promotion. It is about earning confidence through action. When senior leaders trust how you think and how you lead, they are far more likely to support your move into the CFO role.
For many CFOs, this is where leadership becomes real.
CFOs are responsible for accuracy, governance, and financial outcomes, but they also lead people through pressure, change, and uncertainty.
Rebecca Baker, CFO at Milk & Honey PR, said good finance leadership comes down to listening skills. Not just talking to different people across the company, but hearing what they need and responding with empathy. She described finance leadership as leading with care.
Karen Williams, CFO at AMEX Global Business Travel, emphasized that leaders need to be human. She also spoke about the responsibility leaders have to support others and create space for people to shine.
This matters because a CFO is not simply managing a finance function. A CFO is shaping culture. The way finance communicates, collaborates, and responds to pressure affects the entire business.
Many finance professionals assume that technology is just one part of modern finance. But based on our interviews, CFOs increasingly view technology as a core part of the job, especially when it comes to speed, efficiency, and decision-making.
Tim Langley, CFO at Go Live Data, described a path into finance shaped by technology and business-building rather than traditional finance roles. With a background in mathematics and technology, he learned finance by helping build companies, where managing cash flow quickly became a practical necessity rather than an abstract concept.
He emphasized the importance of pattern recognition and the ability to translate data into clear explanations that people can act on. For Langley, the modern CFO role sits at the intersection of technology, finance, and communication, with trust, compliance, and ethical use of data playing a central role in decision-making.
Nicci Setchell, CFO at ManyPets, emphasized the importance of being thoughtful about how AI is used in finance and operations. Rather than automating everything, her team focuses on AI to handle repetitive tasks like claims processing and administrative work, so people can spend more time supporting customers in situations that require empathy, judgment, and expertise. For Setchell, technology should remove friction, not replace the human connection.
At the same time, CFOs are approaching AI adoption thoughtfully rather than treating it as an automatic solution.
Patrick Villanova explained that finance operates under exceptionally high standards for accuracy, which naturally influences how new technologies are adopted. He emphasized that trust and transparency are central to adoption, especially in a field where leaders want to understand how decisions are made and why. Drawing parallels to earlier technology shifts, he noted that resistance to change is not new and that building confidence in AI is both possible and already underway.
Kevin Rhodes, CFO at Extreme Networks, described a similar mindset around balance. He supports using AI to enhance decision-making and efficiency, while keeping human judgment firmly at the center rather than relying on technology alone.
For aspiring CFOs, learning modern finance and technology tools is important, but long-term value comes from using those tools thoughtfully and communicating decisions clearly across the business.
There is no universal timeline, but there are common milestones that show up across CFO careers.
| Career stage | Primary focus | What to build |
|---|---|---|
| Early career | Technical credibility | Accuracy, fundamentals, and business basics |
| Mid-career | Broader exposure | Business partnering, leadership, and visibility |
| Senior leadership | Judgment & influence | Decision-making, trust, and executive communication |
In the early years, the goal is to become someone people trust with the fundamentals of finance.
Focus on developing:
This is where traditional experiences, such as audit, financial reporting, or structured finance rotations, can be especially helpful.
This is often the stage where career progress slows for finance professionals who stay highly technical but have limited exposure to how the broader business operates.
Mid-career CFO candidates tend to build momentum by expanding their scope through:
At the senior level, success is no longer just about having the right answer. It is about helping the business move forward, even when information is incomplete and tradeoffs are real.
Senior-level CFO readiness often includes:
We asked CFOs for one piece of advice for aspiring finance leaders. Their answers were different, but the pattern was surprisingly consistent: you do not get to the CFO seat by staying comfortable.
Karen Williams said, “Take risks. Get comfortable with being uncomfortable.” She shared that she moved to Sweden early in her career, just as she was about to have her first child, and she described those moments as the ones where you grow the most.
Villanova offered a mindset shift, saying, “Pressure is a privilege. Pressure is a sign of trust. Instead of viewing it as negative, he recommended seeing it as a vote of confidence.”
Maarten Odding, CFO at StorMagic, emphasized simplicity. In roles full of technical detail and acronyms, communicate in a way people understand without trying to dazzle.
Joe Fitzgerald, CFO at Domestic & General, focused on trust. He suggested asking yourself whether your team trusts you and whether they trust you to support them when things go wrong. If you build trust, you give yourself the best chance of succeeding.
Tamara Orlova, CFO at Flo Health, emphasized the importance of timely decision-making. She advised finance leaders to build the ability to move forward even when information is incomplete, noting that in finance, waiting for perfect certainty can slow the business down. Making a decision and adjusting as needed is often better than delaying action.
Andrew Collis, CFO at Moneypenny, emphasized the importance of building a strong team and creating an environment where people feel comfortable speaking freely and challenging decisions. He also stressed that momentum matters, noting that making a decision, even an imperfect one, is often better than delaying action when supported by the right team.
There is no perfect CFO career path, but there are a few common patterns that can slow progress, even for highly capable finance leaders.
Finance professionals who remain focused only on reporting or analysis can become indispensable, but may struggle to gain visibility for broader leadership roles.
The CFO role requires business partnership and influence, not just technical accuracy.
Several CFOs emphasized that dashboards alone are not enough. Effective CFOs help turn financial information into insight that leaders can use to make decisions.
In executive settings, clarity matters more than technical depth. Overly complex language can create distance instead of alignment.
Maarten Odding’s advice to keep communication simple is especially relevant here.
Many people move closer to the CFO role when they take on new challenges, even if those opportunities feel uncertain or inconvenient.
Karen Williams’ advice to take risks reflects how growth often comes from stepping outside familiar roles.
If you want to pressure-test your progress, here are a few questions worth asking:
If you answered “not yet” to some of these questions, that is not a concern. It simply highlights where to focus next.
No. While many CFOs start in accounting and earn a CPA, it is not a requirement. CFOs come from a variety of backgrounds, including finance, consulting, technology, and operations. What matters most is building strong financial fundamentals and earning trust over time.
There is no fixed timeline. Most CFOs spend years gaining experience across different roles before stepping into the position. Progress depends more on the depth of experience, leadership skills, and business understanding than on how quickly someone moves up the ladder.
Yes. Many CFOs start in technical or operational roles and transition into finance later in their careers. These leaders still need to learn core finance skills, but strong problem-solving, analytical thinking, and business experience can be powerful advantages.
Technical finance skills are essential, but they are only part of the job. Strong communication, sound judgment, the ability to explain decisions clearly, and the ability to make decisions when information is incomplete are what set CFOs apart at the executive level.
Not always, but experience in financial planning and analysis can be very helpful. FP&A roles teach forecasting, scenario planning, and business partnering, which are important parts of the CFO role. That said, CFOs can reach the role through other paths as well.
Technology is increasingly important, but CFOs do not need to be technical experts. The key skill is understanding how tools support better decision-making, maintaining trust in data, and knowing when human judgment matters most.
One common mistake is staying too long in purely technical roles without building visibility or influence across the business. Aspiring CFOs benefit from taking on broader responsibilities, working closely with other teams, and being willing to step into new challenges.
Modern CFOs come from different backgrounds. Some start in audit. Some come from startups. Some come from engineering, physics, and math. Some even step into the role after holding a different executive position.
But the CFOs we interviewed were aligned on one truth: the job is no longer only about knowing the numbers. It is about using the numbers to lead.
If you are serious about learning how to become a CFO, focus on building credibility, learning how the business works, and developing the judgment and communication skills that define the modern career path to CFO. Embrace technology without surrendering judgment. Build trust through your actions. And make decisions even when certainty is impossible.
Keep in mind, the CFO job is not about being the smartest person in the room. It is about helping the business move forward with clarity.
Rayanne Harmon is a seasoned finance professional with 30 years of experience in banking, finance, and accounting. She specializes in consumer and business banking services, with deep expertise in credit products such as HELOCs, HELOANs, auto loans, and consumer loans. Her background also includes financial risk assessment, credit repair, and treasury management, where she has driven process improvements and client-centric banking solutions.
