Business Chief Europe Magazine January 2023 | Page 37

PROFIT | CFOS IN FOCUS

“Finance chiefs make the best CEOs ”

Hanadi Khalife , Senior Director , Middle East , Africa , and India Operations at Institute of Management Accountants ( IMA ), argues the case for CFOs as CEOs

Traditionally , CEOs of B2B companies were typically chosen from among those with strong operations , engineering , or technical backgrounds until well into the beginning of the new millennium , whereas CEOs of consumer-facing companies hailed from strong marketing or sales backgrounds .

However , in recent years , an increasing number of CFOs are taking on the CEO mantle .
Because of their rising capacity to comprehend the subtler aspects of the company , while bringing forth an aptitude for interpreting numbers , there is a growing – and I must say logical – trend of CFOs being considered for the position of CEO .
According to recent studies , the CFO-CEO transfer rate peaked in 2007 and 2008 , with 20 % and 17 % of all transitions occurring in those two years alone . A second , slightly more modest peak was also seen in 2012 when 11 % of CFOs from 2004 became CEOs .

“Financial acumen is more likely to be in demand during times of hardship – a theory that was proven during the pandemic ”

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