Elevating the Finance Function: The New CFO Brief
“I spent the past year focused on one thing more than any other: recruiting CFOs - largely for companies in the consumer and retail sectors,” says Anna Bonde, Partner at Amrop Sweden and a member of Amrop’s Global Consumer & Retail Practice. “Together with the team, we worked on 15+ CFO searches last year, and I personally led 11 of those assignments, half of them in the Consumer and Retail space. That intensity reflects both cyclicality in leadership roles and a clear structural shift in what companies now expect from their finance leaders.”
Closer to the Business
There are several reasons so many new CFOs were needed at once. Partly people had simply held positions longer than usual, and when turnover began it moved fast. But underlying that is macro uncertainty – the volatile geopolitical climate, the elevated inflation - that pushed boards and CEOs to rethink finance leadership. “In the current climate, CFOs are far more than number-crunchers; they must be business partners who can steer through uncertainty,” Bonde comments.
“During the past decade, there’s been a shift toward clients wanting CFOs who are more business-facing,” Bonde continues. “It’s no news that there is a need for financial leaders who understand commercial drivers, pricing and margins, and the operational levers that move profit - particularly in retail, where margins have always been wafer-thin and are even more pressured now. Food retail is a standout: cost sensitivity and volume dynamics demand hands-on finance leaders who can act quickly.”
More recently, digital capability is now a must-have. Many finance functions are still overly manual; accounting and reporting processes can be inefficient. “We’re recruiting CFOs who can lead digital transformation in finance - automate the routine so the team can focus on insight and decision-making,” she notes. “A digitally savvy CFO makes the finance organization faster, more accurate and more strategic.”
Speed, Salary and Specifics
The search process itself has changed. The biggest challenge is simultaneous demand: many companies are replacing their finance leadership at the same time, which makes top talent scarce. This requires a different approach to search and to client collaboration. The search partner must do more of the explanatory work for the clients about the new landscape: the pace of a search must be faster, and decision-making more decisive. “You can’t afford to drag a process when competition for CFO talent is high - speed and clarity win,” Bonde points out. “At the same time, clients need to recognize that salary expectations have shifted upward; part of our role is advising them on competitive packages to secure the right person.”
Another factor that allowed them to deliver so many successful hires was variety in the brief: the searches spanned subsectors and specific requirements - production knowledge, listed environment competence, strong investor-relations capability - which opened more candidate pathways. “That diversity in needs enabled us to match the right profile to the right company” Bonde concludes.
Ultimately, the work over the last year reinforced two truths: the CFO role is evolving rapidly, and executive search must evolve with it. “We’re spending more time in an advisory role - helping clients understand market realities, reframe their role specifications, and move with the speed and flexibility that today’s market demands. Good search is as much about changing expectations as it is about finding people, because getting the brief and the process right is now as important as finding the candidate.”
------------
To find out more reach out to Anna Bonde or the members of the Amrop’s Consumer & Retail Practice in your country!