Character Traits of Successful CFOs

Character Traits of Successful CFOs: Do you have what it takes? 

The road to CFO is not a simple, straightforward path without bumps, especially the road to being a successful CFO. Furthermore, certain personality traits can contribute to becoming a successful CFO, or lead you to choose a different path for your accounting career. Consequently, there are degrees and certifications that you must hold in order to move up to this position. In addition to the basics, there are certain personality traits that aren’t as easily trained or learned that make great CFOs.  Moreover, they’re not necessarily the traits you’d imagine…

Here is a breakdown of what it takes to become one of the best CFOs in the business and how you can get there.

The most successful CFOs combine years of on the job experience and educational knowledge with these personality traits to run a successful financial business:

• Leadership Abilities: A CFO must be able to delegate and oversee the entirety of a company’s financial operations. Therefore, to be a good leader someone must be emotionally intelligent, self-aware, motivated, have the ability to motivate others, and have social skills.
• Communication Skills: Written and verbal communication is key to being a good leader. Again, a CFO must be able to not only communicate effectively with their team, but also with their clients to ensure they are communicating the financial health of their business properly.
• Integrity and High Ethical Standards: A CFO who runs a company’s financial information must have the utmost integrity. Additionally, they must uphold honesty and transparency in all situations, and ensure that they always do the right thing.
• Result-Oriented: CFOs must be able to set SMART goals that benefit the business in the long run. Additionally these goals will help the CFO manage expectations of all parties and ensure that all the financial responsibilities are running smoothly.
• Risk Awareness: A CFO must also be able to analyze risky situations and understand what risks are. Therefore, they must be willing to take risks that are calculated and educated. 

Thus, if you wondered if there was a career path in accounting that might be right for you and you see personality traits here that reflect your own communication style,  consider a career path to becoming a CFO. 

Furthermore, start your journey to CFO by enrolling in our Entry Level Course. At TGG, the road to becoming a CFO can start as early as being an accounting apprentice. An accounting apprentice is an entry-level accountant, with a degree in accounting, finance, or any related field. Hence, the accounting apprentice has Excel basics and intermediate training and a TGG University Entry Level Certificate. 

Some good extracurricular activities that build an accounting apprentice’s ability to move through the ranks are:

• Cash flow forecasting abilities
• Excel-advanced training
• The ability to write KPIs. 

Again, these are the educational aspects that can accelerate your path to becoming a CFO.

Every great career starts somewhere.  Why not start HERE.