The CFO who got a company through acquisition is not always the CFO who will get it through a sale. Early in the hold period, the finance job is about reporting discipline, integration, cash and lender relationships. As exit approaches, it becomes about building an equity story, preparing for diligence and giving buyers confidence in the numbers. Many strong finance leaders excel at one of those jobs and not the other.
Signs the role has outgrown the incumbent
Month-end close is still slow or depends on manual workarounds.
The board receives data, but not forecasts it trusts.
The operating team and the sponsor track different versions of the same KPIs.
No one on the finance team has been through a sale process or a data room.
Every add-on integration waits on the CFO.
None of these means the current CFO is doing a poor job. They usually mean the job has changed.
What to assess in a CFO candidate
Transaction experience. Have they been through a sale, recapitalization or diligence process from the company side? What surprised them, and what would they do differently?
Forecast credibility. Ask for an example of a forecast that was wrong and what they changed afterwards.
Systems and team building. Can they upgrade reporting and finance systems while still running the business?
Equity storytelling. Can they explain the business to a buyer who was not in the room when the investment thesis was written?
Working with a sponsor. How have they managed reporting cadence, operating partners and lenders?
Fit with the CEO. Buyers meet the CEO and CFO together in management presentations. The pairing matters as much as either résumé.
Timing
If an exit is 18 to 24 months away, the time to look at the finance seat is now. A search, onboarding and a few quarters of results under the new leader's name all take time. Starting late leaves a new CFO presenting numbers they did not produce, to buyers who will ask about them.
When the incumbent is still in the seat
Often the board wants to see the market before making a decision. A well-run confidential search keeps the company's name out of the market until a candidate is seriously engaged, and approaches leaders directly rather than through job postings.
Hunter Sheppard runs finance leadership searches, from VP Finance to CFO, for PE-backed and growth companies across the US and Canada. To talk through a finance search in confidence, contact Alexander Giannone at alexander.giannone@huntersheppard.com or (416) 920-8765.
