Purchase Solution

Finance Departments and Training CEO's

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

With the proliferation of corporate takeovers, leveraged buyouts, and restructuring in the U.S., it would seem that chief financial officers (CFO) hold the keys to executive wisdom. Recruiters report a growing trend of grooming CFO's for chief executive officer (CEO) positions, with some estimating that nearly 25% of top corporate leaders are former CFO's. Analysts, academics, and headhunters agree that the ideal CEO communicates well, is adept at managing managers, understands the company's product and operations, and provides a consistent vision. A recent survey by Management Practices Quarterly reveals that, of 83 new CEO's appointed in 1988, more than 18% came from operations-production backgrounds, some 23% had technical training, while only 14.4% had a financial background. D. Wayne Calloway, who became CEO of PepsiCo in May 1986, was formerly the company's CFO and is probably the best example of the valuable experience CFO's can bring to the CEO position.

Question:
Do you think finance departments are the best place to train future CEO's? Provide two actual examples of CFO's of publicly-traded companies who became CEO's of publicly-traded companies within the past 5 years. Do these individuals have the CPA and/or CFA designations?

Purchase this Solution

Solution Summary

The finance departments and training CEO's are examined.

Solution Preview

Some companies turn to a CFO to temporarily run a company whenever the CEO leaves unexpectedly. For example, Miramax CEO Mike Lang left the company and the CFO was selected to be the interim CEO. This occurred at the following organizations as well: Yahoo, Hewlett-Packard and Advanced Micro Devices. Several studies have determined that at least 20 percent of current United States CEO's were former CFO's (The information was obtained at http://www.yespartners.com/news/human-resources/across-the-hall-the-benefits-of-promoting-cfos-to-ceos/ "Across the hall: The benefits of promoting CFO's to CEO's").

Yes, the finance department is an excellent place to train future CEO's. Today, the emphasis is to have a ...

Purchase this Solution


Free BrainMass Quizzes
Accounting: Statement of Cash flows

This quiz tests your knowledge of the components of the statements of cash flows and the methods used to determine cash flows.

Basic Social Media Concepts

The quiz will test your knowledge on basic social media concepts.

Paradigms and Frameworks of Management Research

This quiz evaluates your understanding of the paradigm-based and epistimological frameworks of research. It is intended for advanced students.

Marketing Research and Forecasting

The following quiz will assess your ability to identify steps in the marketing research process. Understanding this information will provide fundamental knowledge related to marketing research.

Organizational Behavior (OB)

The organizational behavior (OB) quiz will help you better understand organizational behavior through the lens of managers including workforce diversity.