By David Parmenter

Never before has the role of the CFO been more complex, multi faceted and rewarding. The CFO is now juggling more balls in the air than ever before, in front of an audience that is more demanding and knowledgeable.

What makes the difference from average to good and from good to great performance?

In this article I will attempt to shed some light on why you may not be scoring the goals you should, save training drills and suggestions. Please note that I am not writing this from personal success. I have never been a CFO, nor was I a good corporate accountant. I am basing this article on countless years of benchmarking CFO’s from all sectors and whose success varied from poor to great.

Five foundation stones of a winning CFO

In order to succeed as a leader, you need five foundation stones in place. These have been derived from my observations of some very good CFOs.

10+ traits of successful CFOs

  1. Minimizing one’s personal baggage

  2. Being an effective leader
  3. The art of negotiation and persuasion

  4. Mastering time management

  5. Develop and maintain relationships

To continue reading please view Mastering the traits of a winning CFO here. (PDF: 250KB)

Next steps

Buy one or more of the following toolkits to help you on your journey

Lean Practices to Transform Your Finance Team – Toolkit (120 page Whitepaper + electronic templates)  

How to avoid the twenty major mistakes corporate accountants commonly make every year – Toolkit (110 page Whitepaper + e-templates

Fast close: A Guide to Rapid Month-end and Year-end Reporting – Toolkit (120 page Whitepaper + electronic templates)

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20+ System Improvements for the Finance Team – Toolkit (100 page Whitepaper + electronic templates)