When a business is under pressure, it is easy to focus on the wrong things when appointing a CFO.
People often reach for the safest CV. The biggest names, the strongest qualifications, the most years in the role. It feels like the responsible decision. In challenging situations, it is often the wrong one.
The seat we walked into
A privately backed industrial business. The previous CFO had left. Funding was tight. Investors were watching closely. The finance function itself was carrying issues that had been allowed to build over time.
This was not a business-as-usual CFO appointment. It was a role that came with significant pressure from day one.
The brief, on paper, was for a CFO. Strong technically, experienced in growth environments and capable of dealing with investors. All true. All necessary.
As we spent time with the CEO and Chair, it became clear that the brief they started with and the finance leader the business actually needed were not quite the same thing.
What actually mattered
The business didn’t need someone to tell it what the numbers were, it already had accountants. What it did not have was a partner. It needed someone who could help shape what happened next.
Someone who could have difficult conversations when the numbers weren’t where they needed to be. Someone who could sit in front of investors and communicate clearly and honestly. Someone who could provide stability to a finance team that had recently lost its leader. Someone who could make difficult decisions early, while there was still time for those decisions to make a difference.
That is not a technical question. It is a behavioural one.
The line that stuck with me
We placed the CFO. He did the job and a good deal more than that.
A few months later, the CEO said something I have not forgotten:
I hired him to be my partner in crime, not an accountant.
That comment captured the real challenge perfectly.
In situations like this, you are not simply appointing a CFO.
You are appointing judgement under pressure. You are appointing someone who can provide clarity when things are uncertain. You are appointing someone who behaves well when the pressure increases.
Why the CV does not tell you this
A CV tells you what someone has done. It does not tell you how they did it, or who they were while they were doing it.
It does not tell you whether they remain calm when investor conversations become difficult. Whether they bring a team with them or simply push harder. Whether they can become a genuine partner to a CEO carrying the same pressures, or simply another member of the leadership team reporting numbers upwards.
That is where we spend much of our time during an assessment process.
Behaviour under pressure. Decision-making. Leadership style. Cultural fit.
It takes longer. It is harder to do well. It is also one of the reasons our appointments tend to be successful.
The part larger firms miss
There is a difference in how we work that this client felt more than we ever explicitly discussed.
We stay involved from the first conversation through to the point where the individual is settled and delivering results.
We do not hand over a shortlist and disappear.
In situations like this, that matters because the risk is not finding a credible candidate. The risk sits in the first few months, when the wrong appointment starts firefighting and the right appointment starts stabilising.
At the same business, we subsequently placed a second senior finance leader. The same assessment approach. The same focus on behaviour and cultural fit.
Both appointments have been successful.
That is not luck. It is the process working as intended.
Before you make the appointment
If you are about to appoint a CFO into a business that is under pressure, the question is not who has the best CV.
The question is who will perform best when things become difficult.
Who will tell you the truth early.
Who will provide confidence to investors, colleagues and the wider leadership team.
Who your CEO would describe as a partner rather than simply a direct report.
That rarely appears on a job description.
It is the conversation worth having before the search begins.
We are here if you need us.
Frequently asked questions
What does TS Grale assess beyond a candidate’s CV?
Behaviour under pressure. How someone makes decisions when the numbers are challenging, whether they remain effective in difficult stakeholder conversations and whether their leadership style aligns with the needs of the business. Track record matters, but it is only part of the picture.
Should you appoint a CFO for technical capability or behaviour in a crisis?
Technical capability is essential. In businesses facing significant change or pressure, the difference between a successful appointment and an unsuccessful one is often behavioural. Judgement, resilience, communication and the ability to become a genuine partner to the CEO.
Why do executive search appointments fail in the first ninety days?
Usually because the brief solved the wrong problem or because the assessment focused too heavily on experience and not enough on behaviour, leadership style and cultural fit. The first ninety days are where an appointment either stabilises a business or becomes part of the problem.
