WHY THE CFO’S response to a question

about what, in hindsight,

FIRST 100 DAYS respondents would have
AT WORK MATTER done more or less of. This
CFO pointed out, “There is
Chief financial officers no simple answer to this.
around the world on their One cannot put the clock
first 100 days and what back. Every day the
could have been done situation changes, and the
differently responses and actions will
have to be tuned to the
Susan Cocker, Anders situation. CFO(s) must be
Rasmussen and Kevin able to assess the business
Zander needs and act.”
Fortunately for new CFOs,
New chief financial officers as they respond to their
(CFOs) may not be fluid situations, most have
spending their time where strong support from the
it’s most needed, CEO. More than three-
according to a new quarters of the
McKinsey survey of CFOs. respondents say that they
received explicit guidance
Finance chiefs, globally from the CEO in the first
and across industries, 100 days on the job, and
report spending most of 46% say that the CEO was
the first 100 days on a mentor.
budgeting, management CFOs also are more likely
reporting, and financial to name the CEO than
reporting. anyone else as having
By contrast, they think that been helpful in making big
the most crucial activities decisions early on. Almost
during that time are twice as many CFOs credit
understanding the drivers the CEO with playing that
of the business, providing role as credit their finance
input into corporate staffs.
strategy, and building the A majority of CEOs strongly
finance team. support the CFO’s
Why are there such involvement in strategy;
differences between what more than half of our CFOs
they do and what they say that the CEO expects
regard as important? them to challenge the
A possible answer was company’s strategy,
suggested by one CFO’s

1
though CEOs see other Managing expectations
activities as more
important. Nearly 90% of Nearly four-fifths of the
CEOs encourage the CFO CFOs report that the CEO
to be an active member of provided explicit guidance
the senior-management about expectations of the
team. new CFO; CFOs at private
This is good news for CFOs, companies were
given the ongoing significantly more likely to
evolution of their role, the report getting such
increasing visibility of their guidance than those at
statutory responsibilities, public ones.
and their considerable CFOs say that the activities
interest in corporate-wide the CEO most often
strategic initiatives. describes as important are
Indeed, nearly three- being an active member of
quarters of the CFOs the senior-management
reported that they would team, contributing to the
like to be involved in firm’s performance, and
strategy, and those who ensuring that the finance
wished they had spent organization is efficient.
more time with the CEO Furthermore, more than
say that they wanted to two-thirds of CFOs say that
talk about strategy more the CEO expected them to
than anything else. improve the quality of the
Finally, relatively few CFOs finance organization, and
say that the finance staff more than half that the
would explicitly articulate CEO expected them to
its expectations to a new challenge the company’s
CFO. However, when staff strategy.
members did provide CFOs say that members of
explicit guidance, the CFOs the finance function were
say, their priorities differed much less likely to give
from those of CFOs and explicit guidance about
CEOs. This makes a CFO’s their expectations but that
communications with the those who did had
finance team crucial. expectations strikingly
A CFO is likelier to different from those of the
communicate with the CEO.
team ad hoc and in person The finance function staff,
than in any other way. for example, was less than
half as likely as the CEO to

2
see the CFO as an active
member of the
management team,
contributing to the
performance of the
company or challenging its
strategy. CFOs say that
finance staffers were most
likely to expect the CFO to
play a more traditional
role: ensuring the finance
function’s efficiency.
CFOs seem to think they
received enough advice
during the first 100 days.
Business unit heads are the
only group that a majority
of CFOs wish they had
spent more time with
during that period. Several
respondents commented
that they would like a
better understanding of the
needs and priorities of this
group.
CFOs of private companies
are significantly less likely
to say that business unit
heads gave explicit
guidance on their
expectations of the CFO
role—and also the most
likely to want more time
with these managers
during the first 100 days.
Notably, while relatively
few CFOs were involved in
strategic initiatives so early
in their tenure, those who
were are more likely to say
that they are satisfied with
their performance during
3
that time. A large majority
of CFOs say that they
would now like to be
engaged in corporate-wide
strategic initiatives, as
opposed to more
traditional CFO activities.
Key activities
Aside from understanding
the company’s business
drivers, CFOs generally
report that their most
critical activities during the
first hundred days were
functional, such as
providing input into the
business strategy, and
organizational, such as
setting up the core finance
team and upgrading
capabilities.
Only half of the CFOs
responding to this survey
recall being required to
come up with a formal plan
of action during the first
100 days. The priorities of
those who did have a plan
were the inverse of those
without one: providing
input to business strategy
was the most crucial of
their top three priorities,
while understanding the
company’s business drivers
came in third. Setting up
the core finance team was
the second most crucial
priority for both groups.
Not surprisingly, CFOs
hired during or just after a
turnaround were more Building relationships
likely to have been
required to create a formal Most CFOs tell us they
plan of action than those communicated widely
hired in other during the first hundred
circumstances. days, holding regular in-
CFOs overall showed little person meetings with the
propensity to make core finance team and the
fundamental staffing broader finance staff and
changes during the first (in many cases) making
100 days, though CFOs of themselves available for ad
private companies were hoc discussions as well.
more likely to do so than Interestingly, CFOs who
their counterparts at public report being satisfied with
ones. (CFOs of private their performance during
companies are also the first hundred days are
significantly more likely to far more likely than those
have fewer than 50 people who are not satisfied to
employed in the finance report having held in-
organization.) person meetings with both
CFOs who planned the core finance team and
fundamental changes in the broader finance staff.
financial accounting and They also report having
reporting or financial more communications
planning, budgeting, and overall. CFOs at large
analysis (FP&A) were companies (with revenues
significantly more likely greater than $1 billion)
than not to have had tend to report
formal plans to do so. communicating across
Overall, FP&A and every channel (except
accounting are two out of broadcast email) more
the three areas that than CFOs at smaller
demand most of a new companies (with revenues
CFO’s time, as well as the less than $1 billion) do.
areas where CFOs made CFOs hired at companies
the most fundamental during or just after a
changes. CFOs hired during turnaround are much more
or after a turnaround are likely to report having used
more likely to report that ad hoc communications—
redesigning the finance probably a result of the
organization was crucial. fast pace and high

4
uncertainty common in
such situations. These
CFOs are also more likely
to have held in-person
meetings with the finance
staff.
Relatively few CFOs—just
over a quarter—report not
having enough resources
and support to make the
transition a success.
However, that figure rises
to a third among CFOs of
public companies.
CFOs who wanted more
help most often said they
would have liked three
things: better access to
internal information, more
time with the CEO or the
board, and the ability to
bring new people into the
finance organization. Also,
more than 60% of CFOs
overall report that they
would have liked to spend
more time with business
unit heads.
Of the two-thirds of
respondents who were
external candidates for the
CFO role, a majority report
that the major challenges
during the first 100 days
were building credibility
and understanding
processes.
SIX LESSONS
FOR THE FIRST
100 DAYS
5
by Rick Telberg/For the
Finance Executive
Finance executives are
increasingly finding
themselves in the middle
of corporate decision
making and responsibility.
For newly appointed CFOs
and finance managers,
success is no small feat-the
first 100 days are critical.
With the pressure on, new
finance managers want to
make their mark early,
and, according to the
McKinsey Quarterly survey
by global management
consulting firm McKinsey &
Company, there are some
activities that should make
nearly every finance
executive’s short list of
priorities.
One of the most critical
activities during an
executive’s first 100 days
is the gaining of and
understanding of what
drives his or her company’s
business, whether it be
how a company makes
money or its returns on
invested capital. At the
same time, a CFO must
also consider potential
ways to improve such
drivers.
2
In the survey, McKinsey critical that CFOs
asked established strengthen the core
executives about their first finance team and establish
100 days on the job, their a well-functioning finance
successes, failures and department, because
lessons learned. having disparate systems
and processes or unwieldy
LESSON NO. 1: GET TO organizational structures
KNOW THE BUSINESS can hamper a company’s
UNITS. Make them part of performance.
a strategy and value audit
by meeting with business According to those
unit leaders for information surveyed, during the first
on product lines and 100 days about three-
markets. quarters of the new finance
executives initiated, or
LESSON NO. 2: TALK developed a plan to
WITH CUSTOMERS, initiate, changes in the
INVESTORS AND THE department’s core
COMPANY’S activities. In their reviews,
PROFESSIONAL for example, finance
SERVICES PROVIDERS executives assessed the
FOR EXTERNAL reporting structure,
PERSPECTIVES. evaluated the fit and
capabilities of the finance
LESSON NO. 3: staffers and identified any
UNDERSTAND WHAT inefficiencies in the key
YOUR CEO WANTS systems.
FROM YOU. NEARLY four-
fifths of the finance The results: Finance
executives in the survey executives could gauge
said that their CEOs how much energy they
expected them to serve as would need to invest in the
active members of the finance organization during
senior management team, their first six to 12 months
contribute to the in their role and fix any
company’s performance problems that arise.
and make the finance
organization efficient. Furthermore, those finance
executives who joined a
LESSON NO. 4: KNOW company during or just
YOUR TEAM. It is also after a turnaround are

6
more likely to have been support and respect from
required to put in place a other corporate officers
formal plan of action. doesn’t always happen
overnight, but being able
LESSON NO. 5: GET A to understand where value
MENTOR. You’ll need a is created and to develop a
sounding board. Many strategy for influencing
finance executives-32 ongoing performance
percent, to be precise-said management will put you
they didn’t have a mentor. on the road to success
And 46 percent said that
the CEO was their mentor.
While having the guidance
of the CEO is undoubtedly
helpful, many respondents
said it was difficult
discussing some of the
challenges with the boss.
Newly appointed CFOs may
want to consider joining
roundtables or other
forums to build networks
and share ideas.

LESSON NO. 6: STAY

FOCUSED. McKinsey
suggests that newly
appointed finance
executives supplement
their day-to-day activities
with no more than three or
four major change
initiatives. Remain focused
on those initiatives and
repeat the message over
and over-internally to staff
and externally to
stakeholders.

There’s no doubt that, for a

newly appointed finance
executive, winning the