By Andy Burrows

Recently, I asked a question on LinkedIn and to Supercharged Finance mailing list subscribers. It went like this:

If I was to say to you that I want to help you get CFO-ready, what are the top 3 things you think you would struggle with (and therefore need the most help with)?

If you want to submit your own answer to that question, I’m always interested in what people think. So, do let me know via the comments.

The responses received so far have been quite revealing, in two ways:

First, it shows what people think you need to be ready for a CFO role. And some of the things mentioned actually surprised me.

Second, it helps me in designing CFO Readiness Builder (my upcoming development program for aspiring CFOs) to focus on high priority areas.

Now, just because people think certain things are needed to be a CFO, doesn’t mean they actually are absolutely needed as pre-requisites for CFO selection. Perception isn’t always reality. And some...

By Andy Burrows

What are the skills needed for Finance in business in the next generation? One of the biggest current challenges for the Finance and Accounting profession, the individual Finance professional, and Finance functions in general, is around skills.

It’s not just a problem of what skills are needed for the future. But whose responsibility is it to create the career pathways, the learning opportunities, and to ensure the right skills, mindsets and behaviours, prevail?

In an earlier article, I looked at what’s really happening in Finance in the realm of automation and technology. I argued that it need not be all about RPA and AI, as the media and software companies would have you believe. There are plenty of other tools we already have in the toolbox, some are more robust and stable, and some are much lower cost. Automation isn’t new in Finance, and RPA is just the new kid on the block (and that would make AI a babe in arms!).

But what I want to point out...

This article is written by financial modelling specialist, Lance Rubin. You can find more of Lance's work at https://www.modelcitizn.com/

Background

If you have recently been for a job interview or at least just taken a small peek through the door called opportunity then you may have noticed something emerging regarding a new key skill requirement, which you may or may not have.

Irrespective of your level, financial modelling skills have become one of the most highly sought after for finance professionals today.

Good news for candidates is there is short supply and huge demand. There was certainly no shortage of opportunities when I was looking for a job recently, but I decided to use this shortage to consult to many different companies rather than just one as their employee.

Bad news is if you are in a finance team and never built or know what a 3-way model is, then you have lots to learn and to catch up on. A 3-way model refers to the 3 financial statements namely an Income...

By Andy Burrows

[First published 28 February 2018]

“What are the things I need to do to become a CFO in the future?”

“How can I make the transition from Financial Controller to Finance Director?”

These are the kind of questions I get from people from time to time. They probably ask me because of the breadth and length of my experience.

So, I thought I’d write something that gives a few pointers around how I would answer those questions.

[BONUS: I've created a free workbook to help you come up with your action plan from these tips.

It's called the CFO Career Action Plan Workbook.

Get it by clicking here!]

So, without further ado, here are those pointers…

1. Do a great job now

I’ve seen several career-minded people fail because they spent so much time and energy thinking of plotting their career that they didn’t do a good job. And that’s a shame.

Careers are made up of levels and steps. And you don’t normally get to...