the new road to CFO.

how today’s top finance execs are earning their

seat at the top and achieving success.

move up in the world.®

 the new road to CFO.
how today’s top finance execs are earning their
seat at the top and achieving success.

The role of chief financial officer (CFO) has expanded significantly in the past
decade with the advent of heightened scrutiny in an intense regulatory environment.
CFOs now have more responsibility and attention paid to them than ever before,
in large part due to the implementation of Sarbanes-Oxley. As a result, the staffing
professionals at Ajilon Finance have observed that the role of CFO has become
more strategic and also, more competitive.

Today’s CFO has evolved from chief financial officer to chief “business strategy”
officer. They have moved beyond crunching the numbers and now must be
capable of advising their management teams and boards on what the numbers
truly mean, as well as analyze and articulate the impact of financial and strategic
business decisions.

This evolution means the road to becoming a CFO has changed and so has
the criterion for success. Today, CFOs must be able to go beyond the traditional
set of responsibilities and into managing a variety of business operations including
finance, IT, procurement and HR . In our conversations with companies staffing
their finance teams, we’ve found as they rapidly grow and evolve, the desire
for specialist CFOs has increased.

The following report explores this evolution, based on our experience working
with CFOs and the companies who hire and manage them, and also provides a
first-hand look of how others have achieved success as finance chiefs in the current
environment. For those of you who aspire to become CFOs, we hope this will
provide some helpful insight into different ways to achieve your goal. For senior
executives we believe the insights that follow will enable you to work more
effectively, and better hire, retain and manage CFOs in your organization.

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 the traditional path vs. the new road.
There is no longer a clear path to securing the top finance job. Traditionally, CFOs
came from senior management positions at top public accounting firms or worked
their way up from starting in finance (controller or treasurer) with one company.

treasurer controller partner, CPA firm

responsible for the a company’s managing partner

collection, maintenance, chief accountant; who has a role and stake
investment, and also called comptroller in the operational and
disbursement of funds strategic direction
of the firm

a
x v
CFO

MBAs are
displacing CPAs Today, with the expanded role of finance chiefs and the increased demand for specialist
on the career track to CFOs (those who have a specific area of expertise such as M&A, turnarounds, etc.), many
becoming chief financial are coming from various disciplines and taking more individualized approaches to securing
the top finance job. Companies are constantly seeking out finance talent that can help the
officer. A study by
company during various points of its growth. Key skills in high demand at companies large
Deloitte Consulting shows
and small, and in various stages of their lifecycle include: securing private equity, spinning
that chief executives off a division, managing mergers and acquisitions, raising public capital or ensuring
prefer CFOs to have Sarbanes-Oxley regulation compliance.
advanced management
The traditional path to becoming a CFO has become somewhat outdated. With this shift,
degrees rather than
aspiring CFOs need to think more broadly and more competitively about their career track.
accounting licenses. Although experience at a Big-Four public accounting firm or as a controller or treasurer is still
extremely valuable, to compete in today’s marketplace aspiring CFOs should look to bring
more to the table and determine the best ways to differentiate themselves in an increasingly
competitive market.

“You can’t rely on just knowing the ABCs of accounting,”

explains Diane Albergo, manager of member career services at the
Financial Executives International (FEI), a membership organization for
CFOs and senior financial executives. “You need a strong business sense.”

— JOURNAL OF ACCOUNTANCY, “WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BECOME A CFO?” CAROL LIPPERT GRAY

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 From our perspective, in today’s world, being a CFO means becoming your CEOs chief
of staff. CFOs should have a prominent role in strategic decision-making and be a trusted
advisor to the CEO. Also, given the important role boards play today, a CFO should have the
hard and soft skills necessary to know what the board is thinking, anticipate their inquiries
and help the CEO successfully navigate that territory to accomplish key business goals.
This requires a much greater depth of business knowledge, not just accounting acumen.

Today’s CFOs should look to demonstrate the following experience and traits
to make themselves valuable, marketable contenders for the top finance spot:

experience
» MBA in finance, CPA, CFA
» Business management
» Industry experience/knowledge
» Cross-functional/operational expertise
» Sarbanes-Oxley compliance management
» Offshore business operations management
» Clear understanding of FAS/GAAP principles

skills
» Strong leadership, strategic planning and thinking skills
» Understanding of complex financial concepts
» Excellent communications skills (including listening!)
» Negotiation skills
» Analytical skills
» Ability to balance both the short-term priorities and important long-term goals
» Ability to understand all parts of a business/industry
» Deliver meaningful financial management information for decision-making
» Understanding of non-financial areas of the business such as IT, HR and legal
» Understanding industry trends and market forces
» Sales and political skills
» Strong employee management experience

traits
» Honest, ethical, and possessing a high degree of integrity
» Trustworthy and dependable
» A balance of toughness and openness
» Attention to detail
» Career-oriented with a desire to continue learning/
be educated on new techniques, standards, etc.
» Self-confidence

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 how they made it.
5 questions for Mike Porcelain, CFO
Q1 Would you say you became a CFO
through a “traditional” or “non-traditional”
path?
Mike Porcelain, CFO A My career-track has been a mix of
traditional and non-traditional experience,
Comtech
all of which has helped me become a
Telecommunications CFO at a high-growth company. I started
(NasdaqNM: CMTL) my career at KPMG, which was back then,
Melville, NY one of the “Big Six” public accounting firms.
There, I gained experience with the audit
side of the business. After I spent a few years
learning SEC rules and GAAP accounting,
I moved on to PricewaterhouseCoopers
(PwC) because it offered me an opportunity
to work on the transactional side —
mergers and acquisitions.
After spending a few years with PwC,
I went on to work for a publicly traded
Fortune 500 technology company to gain
operational expertise. I then took all of my
experience to Comtech Telecommunications,
a mid-cap technology company where,
after three years of learning the business,
I became CFO. My Big Six and public
company experience both contributed
equally to my becoming a CFO.
Q2 At what point did you know you
wanted to be a CFO one day?
A Initially, I knew I wanted to take one of
two paths: 1) become a partner at a major
public accounting firm or 2) become a CFO.
After spending some time on the audit side
at KPMG, I realized I really wanted to pursue
a CFO role with a publicly traded company.
The first step in achieving this was to gain
some M&A and operational experience.
So the moves to PwC to do M&A work, and
then to a tech company for the operational
experience, were both intentional and
part of my plan to get on the CFO track.
Q3 What do you think has changed for
CFOs in the past decade?
A Most certainly, the regulatory environment
has changed, impacting CFOs and other
finance professionals significantly. Regulations
have become much, much more stringent
making our jobs more intense, and often-
times more difficult. In recent years, I’ve also
observed that there has been an unnecessary
fear among accounting professionals caused
by this shift. Only now, years after SOX
was passed, is it beginning to neutralize.
I also see more pressure on companies —
and thus their CFOs — to make acquisitions
that provide immediate payback on a
cash flow basis. Shareholders want to
see accretiveness right away and have
a payback within five years on acquisitions.
It has become much more difficult to “sell”
a longer-term strategic deal or strategy than
it was in the past. Just look at Time Warner
Cable’s acquisition of AOL. It’s a long-term
strategic play, yet Richard Parsons (CEO
of Time Warner) is catching a lot of heat
from the investment community and the
media. Yet, years from now, many of the
skeptics may be looking back and say,
“Keeping AOL and Time Warner together
was the smartest thing Parsons ever did.”
Q4 Do you think it is more or less
challenging to become a CFO today?
A It’s definitely more challenging.
Companies and corporate boards are
somewhat more nervous about bringing
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 in CFOs from the outside because they may Q5 What advice do you have for today’s
not be able to judge — first hand — the level aspiring CFOs?
of integrity that the candidate has or the
A Pay attention to everything. Continue
level of experience. I think it’s a much more
to learn as much as you can about
rigorous process to become a CFO than ever
regulations, your industry, your company,
before. I think it will become very difficult for
and its competitors. (The SEC Institute
people without actual CFO experience and
offers great programs to keep you up
a track record to come in from the outside.
to date!)
For me, starting my CFO track at my current
Build a team of good mentors, peers and
company as the Vice President of Finance
direct reports. Without a team you have
for five years before being promoted to the
nothing. This is not a job you can do alone.
position was extremely helpful. In those five
It is invaluable to have good mentors you
years I was able to learn the company, the
can turn to for advice, peers you can run
business, build relationships and establish
things by and work effectively with, and
myself as a credible, ethical and responsible
direct reports you trust.
financial professional. It’s very important
to establish credibility and relationships Trust your gut. If you sense there might
in this job. be a problem with something or someone,
trust your instincts and do whatever it
is you need to do to check it out. It’s all
a part of the job.

“I’d say you have to be careful not to get too focused on any one aspect
of the job. Don’t be the acquisition guy, or the IT guy, or the compliance guy.
And don’t be overly preoccupied with saving money.

Four years from now, when you ask who the really great CFOs are,
it will be the ones who kept their eye on shareholder value.
And that requires a broad orientation.”

— ANDY BRYANT, CFO, INTEL

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 how they made it.
5 questions for Adrian Schmotolocha, CFO
Q1 Would you say you became a CFO
through a “traditional” or “non-traditional”
path?
Adrian A I took a non-traditional path to CFO,
Schmotolocha, CFO having started my career on the business
development side, and earning an MBA
Professional
versus a CPA. Working with start-up
Building Maintenance
companies I learned how to build businesses.
(PBM) Corp. I noticed I always had our finance exec with
Burbank, CA me, and thought to myself — I need to be
able to understand, analyze and strategize
with financial data if I want to get anything
done. If you can’t map financial data to
operations, it’s difficult to push business
strategy forward. So, I started on the path
of a more finance-focused career.
Q2 At what point did you know you
wanted to be a CFO one day?
A One of the start-ups I worked for was
a telecommunications company. When
the industry crash hit in 2001, I decided
I wanted to turn companies around. That’s
what excited me — the challenge of turning
a company around successfully. Then, the
opportunity came at my current company
to help grow a small business into something
greater as the CFO. My financial acumen,
business development and M&A experience
could help this company achieve its goals.
I took the job without hesitation.
Q3 What do you think has changed
for CFOs in the past decade?
A Gone are the days of being just an
accountant or tax pro. CFOs today must
possess sales skills. You have to be able
to understand, articulate and sell the
company vision — and have the financial
models to back it up.
CFOs today are relied upon to empower
the CEOs vision, but also to ground it.
One must be a visionary themselves to look
at things differently, see how you can make
things happen — and to look beyond just
the raw numbers. How could this strategy
work? If we made it work, what are the
potential outcomes?
I also think CFOs today should have M&A
experience given the environment we’re
in, especially at smaller companies. That
is the key to high growth. If you don’t take
advantage of those opportunities, someone
else will and take your market share.
Q4 Do you think it is more or less
challenging to become a CFO today?
A I don’t think it’s any more challenging
to be a CFO today. However, I do think
a different type of individual will rise
to the top. Companies now want someone
who meets new marketplace demands —
an MBA to help you think outside of the
box, someone who knows how to build
relationships and credibility with investors,
financiers, brokers, the board and members
of management.
Q5 What advice do you have for today’s
aspiring CFOs?
A Avoid having tunnel vision. You must be
flexible and aggressive, on top of the ball —
all the time. If you’re only thinking about
cutting costs, you’ll miss opportunities
to help grow your company.
Constantly look at who's out there
(e.g., investors) and build relationships with
them. Establish credibility, a reputation
for yourself and your company —
prove that you get it, and can deliver!