In the first quarter of 2024, 20 of the 82 CFOs appointed globally were women. This is the highest number of women CFO appointments across public companies in three years, according to new data from global leadership advisory and search firm Russell Reynolds.
“Women remain underrepresented in the CFO role across the world,” the report said. “In 2023, women accounted for 57 … CFO appointments globally (20% of all appointments), compared to 235 for men.”
While this year’s Global CFO Turnover Index findings suggest an upward trajectory for women in finance roles, there is still work to be done to advance underrepresented groups at the same pace as their peers, the report said.
“To build on this progress and achieve true gender balance in the CFO role, organisations must build robust and diverse internal pipelines and invest in structured sponsorship programmes that target underrepresented groups,” the report noted.
The total number of new CFOs appointed in public companies, 82 this year, is on par with the record turnover seen in the first quarter of 2021. The report said this spike indicates that economic uncertainty has become “the new normal” for organisations and the “trepidation to replace CFOs has dissipated.”
Many of those appointments are happening in-house. CFO succession plans are coming to fruition, with 55% of global incoming CFOs appointed internally, the report said. For those externally appointed, experienced finance chiefs have been increasingly favoured, as organisations navigate complex economic markets.
The spike in turnover rates can also be explained by a fast-moving CFO-to-CEO pipeline. “High CFO turnover is reflective of CFOs increasingly being considered as succession candidates for the CEO role,” the report said, “CEOs often replacing their finance leader within the first year of their tenure, and increased retirement rates amongst CFOs post-pandemic.”
The technology industry observed the highest turnover rate since the first quarter of 2022, the report said, at 6.2%. Three-quarters of the technology CFO turnover is from the S&P 500 companies, the report said, reflecting changing attitudes around the CFO archetype, with companies opting for finance leaders with strategic and operational rigour who can ensure sustainable growth and profitability.
Tech companies’ rethinking of the CFO role has also involved addressing gender parity, the report said: “With high turnover in the tech industry, strides in gender diversity have been made with 38% of incoming CFOs being women, the highest proportion since 2021 records.”
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