18% of Asian CFOs have their eyes set on being CEOs: survey

While 5% are aiming to venture on their own.

Being proactive, hard working, adaptive and confident all make the list of personal characteristics shared by successful CFOs.

According to a release from Hays, based on a survey of 500 CFOs, conducted for the recruiter’s ‘DNA of a CFO’ report, 61% of CFOs said that being proactive has aided their career success.

This was followed by being hard working (44%), adaptive (43%), confident (42%), ethical (41%), credible (40%) and collaborative (40%).

Here's more from Hays:

“Finance teams traditionally have heavy workloads and lots of deadlines to meet, which places a great deal of importance on the value of being proactive and hard working,” says Christine Wright, Managing Director of Hays in Asia.

“We frequently work with board directors and non-executive directors to appoint CFO posts, and find that included in the key attributes explored at selection stage is a proactive approach to work and problem solving.

A board will turn to their CFO to be a trusted adviser, someone that helps the organisation create a ‘no surprises’ environment and who can prioritise opportunity and mitigate risk.

“For any aspiring CFO, demonstrating that you combine talent and expertise with a proactive work ethic can help you stand out from your competition.”

When it comes to career development, 49% of CFOs said they have recently attended a networking event.

“CFOs appear to value being able to share their thoughts and concerns with other finance leaders, and learn from them. Sounding boards are very helpful to them,” says Christine.

“You only have to look at the appetite from the next generation to see how technology will play its part in helping CFOs of the future share information.”

Reassuringly, the majority of the CFOs in the Hays survey are generally happy with their role since most would either like to stay in their current post or take on a bigger finance job, such as CFO of a larger organisation.

An ambitious 18% have their sights set on making Chief Executive Officer, while 5% dream of starting their own business. 34% already sit on the board.

Encouragingly 86% say that if they had their time all over again, they would still choose to become CFOs.