The CFO role has become a test for the CEO job
The shift in CFO succession is hard to miss. Russell Reynolds Associates’ 2024 Global CFO Turnover Index found that 34% of departing CFOs moved into President or CEO roles, up from 20% a year earlier. In a Boston Consulting Group survey of about 500 chief executives, more than one in four named their own CFO as the greatest threat to their job, ahead of any other C-suite colleague. Together, those findings point to a finance role that increasingly serves as a proving ground for company leadership.
Strong financial results can put a CFO in contention for the CEO role. They don’t, by themselves, make the case that the person can run the whole business. I learned that after joining Dreamix as its first CFO in mid-2022, following a decade in corporate banking, and becoming CEO in September this year. Between those appointments, I worked on a buy-side acquisition and a sale, served as Deputy CEO, and received EY’s CFO of the Year award. Those experiences helped, but five habits mattered more.
Make growth part of the finance job
Cost control is familiar territory for CFOs. It can also keep them confined to the finance function. To be considered for the top job, you need to show that you can help produce growth, not only measure and protect it.
At Dreamix, I led a buy-side acquisition that drove half of the company’s growth that year. I also brought in clients through my own network and dug into whether sales or marketing spending was actually generating revenue, so we could direct the budget toward results.
There’s a reason boards may question whether a finance leader can do this. Spencer Stuart’s research on CEO performance says former CFOs tend to be slower than CEOs from other backgrounds to drive top-line growth. Only 8% of CEOs promoted from CFO roles led their companies into the top quartile for revenue growth. A persuasive growth plan needs evidence behind it. Reassurances about spending discipline won’t answer the concern.
Get involved while business decisions are taking shape
If a CFO enters a discussion only after an idea has been developed, their contribution can shrink to whether the company can afford it. Joining earlier changes the job: you can help shape the strategy instead of simply assessing its cost.
I began working that way at Dreamix before I had a title that called for it, and I wasn’t a shareholder. Acting like an owner is a matter of attention and responsibility, not equity. The people who may later choose a CEO get years to observe whether you think beyond finance.
McKinsey found that more than 90% of CFOs who became CEOs were promoted from inside their companies. That gives boards time to assess how a finance chief approaches the wider business. And Russell Reynolds says CFOs in many companies already take on work associated with a de facto COO, including oversight of IT, legal and facilities. If those responsibilities are part of your role, handle them as operating work and make your ownership visible.
Take responsibility beyond finance
Good financial reporting won’t make a CFO familiar to the rest of the company. Running a division, region, integration or transformation can demonstrate that you can own outcomes across functions. For me, acquisitions gave that experience: transactions touch the whole business, and someone has to answer for the result.
McKinsey found that three-quarters of former CFOs promoted to CEO in the FTSE 250 had worked outside finance. Former CFOs interviewed by Spencer Stuart offer a practical version of the same advice: spend less time with spreadsheets and more time with customers and in commercial negotiations.
That doesn’t mean claiming expertise you don’t have. Learn what sales, marketing and engineering are trying to accomplish, and look for ways to help. Time in project reviews and pricing discussions can show where teams deliver on margin; working with engineering leadership can help solve business problems while leaving technical calls to the experts.
Write down your view of the company’s future
A CFO can explain what happened. A CEO candidate also needs to make a case for what should happen next, then accept responsibility for the decision. Historical numbers matter, but a backward-looking account alone doesn’t show how you’ll lead.
At Dreamix, I could track revenue rising from €7.25 million to €25 million and EBITDA margin increasing from 11.2% to 18.8%. I could explain the changes in both measures. The harder test was deciding what the business should do with what the data suggested.
My first major call came a few months after I joined. In 2022, as central banks raised interest rates, I argued that startup clients—then more than 40% of Dreamix’s revenue—would find fundraising harder. I recommended shifting toward enterprise clients, a move that changed sales, marketing, delivery and hiring. By the end of 2024, startups accounted for 18% of revenue. Over the following two years, I saw software companies with heavier exposure to startups struggle with falling revenue and late payments. The experience supported the direction of the decision, though it doesn’t establish that every company should follow the same path.
Write a one-page view of where the company should be in three years and put it in front of the CEO. Take strategic arguments to the board alongside the results. You’ll get parts of the forecast wrong; refusing to take a position carries its own cost. McKinsey found former CFOs were almost twice as likely as the average CEO to conduct a strategic review during their first two years in office. Finance leaders already know how to analyze the numbers. The step is to commit to a decision based on them.
Build trust before the succession decision
By the time a board starts choosing its next CEO, its members need a basis for trusting the candidates. That confidence grows through years of ordinary conversations about the business and where it’s headed.
At Dreamix, the likely decision-makers changed when the company was sold to Synechron in 2024. I built relationships with the new shareholders while representing Dreamix’s interests in negotiations. Two years later, that trust helped lead to the CEO appointment.
Russell Reynolds’ report says boards are increasingly treating CFOs as potential successors and want leaders who can present the company, hold their own with investors and serve as a thought partner to the CEO. Board meetings and shareholder discussions are chances to demonstrate those abilities. Treat them accordingly.
The work starts before the title
These habits build over time, through repeated choices to take responsibility beyond the job description. The CFO title may open the door to succession discussions; the scope you take on can determine whether you’re ready for the next role.
That record can matter to clients, too. Choosing a software partner means trusting the judgment of the people leading it. A leader who has learned to own business outcomes is more likely to treat a client project as a responsibility they personally carry.
