YOU'RE NOT CFO MATERIAL
Wondering whether you have what it takes? Here are ten signs that you're never going to make it to the big chair.
By Marie Leone

The numbers are firm, and they're not encouraging. You may very well be a skillful, seasoned finance manager, but many other people - both inside and outside your company - can say the same. And in every company, there's room for only one CFO.

The first, most important step you can take toward landing a CFO job is to get your name on the short list - or, more to the point, not to get your name crossed off the list. We spoke with CEOs, executive recruiters, consultants and others who consider the merits of prospective CFOs at both public and private companies. Many candidates, they told us, are weighed in the balance and found wanting; heed their advice - and our ten warning signs - and you need not be among them.

You're Still a Bean Counter

Financial technicians, however skillful, can't rise to the top without practical operating experience, asserts Marc Pfefferle, a principal in the Carl Marks Consulting Group, a turnaround firm based in the US. Only a bean counter would fixate on the profit and loss statement while ignoring daily indicators like cash flow.

CFOs are more than just funnels for information adds Raymond Vennare, president and CEO of ImmunoSite, a private biotech research firm in the US. They must distil it, he insists and become, in effect, analysts of both the market and what the company should be telling the market.

So, if they are not to be bean counters, does it matter if would-be finance chiefs are qualified accountants? Yes, maintains Jim Cederna, president and CEO of US-based manufacturer Calgon Carbon. Even without the latest round of regulations from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, says Cederna, public companies would be hard-pressed not to have an accountant at the finance helm.

You Can't Handle Office Politics

When a company has many capable financial executives, one of the things that marks out a potential CFO is the ability to manage the politics of the business. And that means juggling the concerns of corporate constituents - the CEO, unit managers, directors, Wall Street analysts, bankers, and the finance department - without being skewed one way or another.

For a CFO to be a successful strategist, says Melissa Halpert, a managing director at institutional investor Providence Capital in the US, he or she needs to really understand the board. That requires a significant management experience and the ability to use board members' expertise to enhance the business.

You Have a Swelled Head

Dealing with the CEO requires self-assurance but all too often, bright managers are cocky and overconfident. Executives with big egos tend to overlook little things, or things they deem insignificant, says ImmunoSite's Vennare.

Even well-intentioned finance chiefs can be hurt by their egos. When he was the incoming CEO of another biotechnology firm, Vennare arrived just in time to squelch a disaster caused by a myopic CFO who only trusted her own company's technology. Instead of farming out a complex imaging project to the industry leader, the CFO cobbled together a business plan and started raising funds for a two-year, US$8 million IT infrastructure project that almost destroyed the company, according to Vennare.

You Have No "Heart"

Cowardly lions need not apply - certainly not ones without the "heart" to stay the course under pressure.

To some extent, says institutional investor Halpert, a CFO's job is to rein in the CEO. Cederna calls the fortitude to expose potential scandals "managerial courage". It's more than just speaking up, it's "having the confidence to fix things, too," he adds..

You're Too Content with the Status Quo

Letting things brew and dealing with them later is certainly not the mark of a successful CFO candidate. Sometimes, taking the initiative with a business problem means stepping out of the finance role to become, for example, an operational catalyst.

While CFO at a private scientific research company in the US, Stewart Griffin identified a major new piece of equipment which had a disappointingly low return on investment.

Griffin, who took on the task of making the equipment pay its way, determined that a further investment was needed. It cost his company another US$7,000 - but returned a US$300,000 saving to the research lab.

You Don't Care Enough about Operations

Finance chiefs have to travel to plants and facilities, attend industry conferences, and visit clients so they understand what's behind the numbers. There's no other way for them to become rea business counselors and advisors.

A prospective CFO also needs to dig into the company's core competencies, says ImmunoSite's Vennare, who demands that his finance chief understands the company's business and financial model, not to mention its relationship with the capital markets.

You're the "Quiet One"

If you can't step up in front of a large group and speak about your company's finances and business, you won't make a good CFO, especially when you consider how often the finance chief must stand in for the CEO.

That was the case for Jeff Burkel. After being hired as the CFO of Blattner Brunner, a US-based advertising agency, Burkel and the executive vice president were asked to handle some duties for the CEO. Burkel's negotiating dexterity turned out to be as important as his financial skills. Within a month, he was sent to a large pharmaceutical client to make his agency's case for a major rate hike, in the face of adamant objections by the client. Eventually, Burkel drove home the point that the increased rates reflected a higher level of service. The agency held on to its client - at the new, higher rates..

You Have a "Financial Disconnect"

Bringing old and new financial relationships to the table is essential for anyone who's stepping into the top finance job. So is a thorough understanding of the financial "triggers" that can hit a company.

For public companies, experience with regulatory body filings is extremely important, as is a solid relationship with corporate lawyers and commercial bankers. And since the finance chief is the point person with bankers and securities commissions, adds Cederna, it's important for CFO candidates to have some treasury and accounting background.

You Pay No Attention to the CIO

Information technology - and the IT department - shouldn't mystify you, let alone intimidate you. In fact, if your IT IQ doesn't measure up, you might just want to consider another career.

Ad agency CFO Burkel contends that a finance chief has to be comfortable enough with technology to understand the project requests coming from the IT department. You can't always spend money on a consultant "to tell you whether your CIO is making sense," notes Burkel.

You're Not a Leader

Without the intangible ability to lead - the mortar that makes the whole greater than the sum of its parts - an aspiring CFO will fall short of the mark. On a strategic level, leaders excel in the areas you might expect, namely constructive persuasion, talent assessment, leadership development, team building, and organizational design, says Professor Jay Congers of the London Business School in his new book of essays entitled Leaders Talk Leadership.

It's a delicate balancing act, adds Congers, in which adapting quickly is the hallmark, and "years of experience will no longer be enough - and, in some cases, may prove a hindrance."

And finally, says Pfefferle, finance executives need to be able to admit their errors, correct them, and avoid repeating them. Prospective CFOs who don't see it that way may simply have "The Wrong Stuff".

Marie Leone is a writer at CFO.com