Financial Leadership - Transforming Financial Experts into CFOs

Abstract

Financial leadership is usually defined as the last in a series of steps, leading from junior accountant to Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Financial leadership means that the CFO performs in a way that leads to a competitive advantage for the organization, not only, but particularly in a financial crisis. In a qualitative study, Austrian CFOs were interviewed between the beginning of the financial crisis in 2007 and 2010. The task was to find out whether there is a change in the challenges for the position of the CFO and which competencies and traits prove to be important and necessary for developing financial leadership competencies. The analysis of the interviews provides some surprising insights into a changing professional profile.