Chief Financial Officers face critical challenges when stepping into a new role, requiring strategic approaches to establish credibility, build key relationships, and drive financial performance.

From developing a focused first 90-day plan and fostering strong executive partnerships with CEOs, CTOs, CHROs, COOs, and commercial leaders to implementing comprehensive financial performance assessment frameworks and identifying quick wins, new CFOs must leverage their strategic planning abilities, financial acumen, and leadership experience to successfully navigate the transition period and create lasting value for their organizations.

First 90 Days Strategy

The first 90 days as a new CFO are critical for establishing credibility and setting the foundation for long-term success. A strategic approach during this period should focus on three key priorities: understanding financial performance, building relationships, and developing a vision for the future. Begin by taking in the big picture—analyze financial statements, identify strengths and weaknesses, and assess any operational challenges that might impact performance. Simultaneously, prioritize relationship-building with your CEO, finance team, department heads, and key stakeholders to understand the company culture and align financial goals with the organization's strategic direction.

Don't try to change everything immediately; instead, listen, observe, and triage. Focus on stabilizing the foundation by reviewing accounting practices, financial reporting, and cleaning up reports to ensure accuracy. Categorize initiatives by impact and urgency, addressing critical risks first such as cash flow management and compliance issues. Remember that this initial period isn't about proving you're the smartest person in the room but setting the stage to become the most valuable contributor to the organization's success. The financial strategy you build now will determine whether the company scales efficiently or struggles with operational bottlenecks in the future.

Building Executive Relationships

Building strong executive relationships is essential for CFO success, particularly with the CEO and board of directors. A powerful CEO-CFO partnership enhances decision-making and financial management across the organization. This relationship should be built on mutual trust and respect, with both executives valuing each other's expertise while maintaining transparent communication through regular financial reviews and strategy sessions.

To strengthen executive relationships, CFOs should:

Communicate proactively and transparently with the board
Practice relationship mapping, categorizing work notes by individuals rather than topics
Ask more questions and express genuine interest in others' perspectives
Enter meetings with an open mind, ready to have viewpoints challenged
Avoid taking disagreements personally while seeking compromise
Align with the CEO's strategic vision while providing financial insights that shape decisions
Collaborate on significant initiatives that require both strategic and financial expertise
Schedule regular relationship health check-ins to address evolving issues

Financial Performance Assessment

Financial performance assessment is a critical responsibility for CFOs, requiring analysis of key metrics that reveal the company's financial health and operational efficiency. Effective assessment typically employs multiple analytical techniques including horizontal analysis, which tracks performance over time to identify trends and patterns, and vertical analysis, which examines relationships between different financial elements within the same period. These approaches help CFOs develop comprehensive insights into the organization's financial trajectory.

Key performance metrics that CFOs should monitor include:

Liquidity measures such as current ratio (current assets/current liabilities) and quick ratio ((current assets-inventory)/current liabilities), which assess the company's ability to meet short-term obligations
Profitability indicators like gross profit margin and net profit margin, which evaluate revenue generation efficiency
Leverage metrics including debt-to-equity ratio and financial leverage, which measure financial risk and capital structure
Efficiency ratios such as inventory turnover, which reveals how effectively the company manages its resources
Cash flow analysis, which examines the organization's ability to generate and manage cash

Quick Wins Identification

Identifying quick wins early in your CFO tenure builds credibility and momentum for larger transformations. Start by conducting a comprehensive review of what delivers immediate value to the organization—audit priorities, strengths, and weaknesses to uncover actions that are both achievable and meaningful. Focus on specific areas where immediate impact is possible, such as streamlining month-end close processes, addressing cash flow optimization, or fixing broken financial models.

Effective quick wins should be categorized strategically:

Build Trust: Schedule one-on-ones with leadership to understand priorities and pain points
Financial Visibility: Create simple dashboards showing cash health and runway
Internal Controls: Review and tighten approval workflows and access rights
Reporting Improvements: Standardize monthly reporting and make data more visual
Process Optimization: Automate routine tasks like reconciliations to reduce close time
Cost Efficiency: Identify immediate cost savings opportunities or revenue enhancements

When prioritizing, focus on high-impact, high-urgency initiatives first, followed by delivering visible improvements that require minimal effort but produce noticeable results. These early successes will help mobilize the organization while generating immediate benefits for your finance transformation journey.

Stakeholder Mapping Exercise

Stakeholder mapping is a critical exercise for new CFOs to identify, analyze, and prioritize key individuals who influence or are affected by financial decisions. Begin by establishing the purpose of your mapping exercise and identifying all potential stakeholders, including internal teams (finance, operations, IT) and external parties (investors, regulators, suppliers). Then analyze each stakeholder's level of influence and interest, plotting them on a matrix to determine appropriate engagement strategies—from "manage closely" for high power/high interest stakeholders to "monitor" for those with lower involvement.

Develop tailored engagement approaches based on stakeholder positioning:

Create specific communication plans for each stakeholder category
Determine optimal communication frequency and channels for different groups
Identify each stakeholder's interests, goals, and potential concerns
Establish relationship-building priorities based on stakeholder influence
Revisit and update your stakeholder map regularly as relationships evolve

This systematic approach ensures you're investing appropriate time and resources with the right people, building strategic alliances that support your financial initiatives while managing potential resistance to change.

Cross-Functional Leadership Alliances

Cross-functional leadership alliances are vital for CFO success, extending influence beyond finance to drive organizational excellence. By collaborating with other department leaders, CFOs gain broader perspectives that lead to faster decision-making, better implementation of finance initiatives, and more honest feedback about financial processes. The most strategic partnership is often the "three-legged stool" of CEO-CFO-CHRO, which enables businesses to align workforce planning with financial strategy while creating a more agile organization.

To build effective cross-functional relationships, CFOs should:

Develop personal connections with department heads to establish trust and open communication channels
Clearly communicate how financial decisions support broader business objectives to break down information silos
Partner with HR to strengthen company culture and guide diversity initiatives that impact financial performance
Collaborate with IT teams to implement technologies that enhance financial reporting and cross-departmental transparency
Leverage their unique "wide-angle lens" on the business to facilitate strategic conversations across functions
Foster a culture of openness that encourages knowledge sharing and cross-functional teamwork

CEO Partnership Essentials

A successful CFO-CEO relationship is built on mutual trust, transparent communication, and strategic alignment. This partnership forms the cornerstone of organizational success, with studies showing that companies with strong CEO-CFO relationships demonstrate better operating performance and stronger balance sheets. The relationship requires both executives to understand their complementary roles—the CEO driving vision and strategy while the CFO provides financial expertise and risk assessment.

To cultivate an effective working relationship with your CEO:

Establish open and honest communication channels with regular structured meetings
Create a shared vision that aligns financial strategy with organizational goals
Build credibility by consistently demonstrating financial competence
Be comfortable bringing difficult issues to the table—98% of CFOs with "very strong" CEO relationships do this
Participate actively in strategic decision-making processes beyond finance
Maintain flexibility as business conditions change
Practice collaborative decision-making, particularly for major financial initiatives
Demonstrate absolute reliability in providing clear, accurate financial insights

CHRO Alliance Dynamics

The CFO-CHRO partnership represents a powerful alliance that bridges financial strategy with human capital management. This collaboration is increasingly critical as human capital costs typically represent a company's largest expense. When these two executives work in tandem, they create a synergy that transforms talent strategy from a balancing act into a well-coordinated dance that drives business performance.

To cultivate an effective CFO-CHRO partnership:

Maintain open communication channels to align on business priorities and prevent conflicting actions
Co-evangelize each other's initiatives, recognizing how HR programs impact financial outcomes and vice versa
Leverage technology and data analytics to demonstrate connections between people investments and bottom-line results
Collaborate on strategic workforce planning to prepare for both growth and contraction scenarios
Develop mutual understanding of each other's domains—CHROs should grasp financial metrics while CFOs recognize how talent investments drive long-term success
Participate in joint leadership retreats and mentorship programs to break down silos and foster trust
Form a "three-legged stool" with the CEO to align workforce planning with financial strategy for greater organizational agility

COO Partnership Strategies

The CFO-COO partnership represents a critical alliance that breaks down traditional silos between finance and operations, driving both innovation and financial health. When this relationship works effectively, the CFO's teams become deeply involved in operations while operational teams maintain relentless focus on the company's financial wellbeing and the cost implications of their actions. This collaboration enables strategic resource deployment for growth initiatives such as global expansion, partner ecosystem development, and ESG reporting solutions.

To strengthen the CFO-COO partnership:

Establish continuous engagement through regular cross-functional meetings where finance updates are prioritized on operational agendas
Embed financial planning analysts directly within business units to understand their activities and metrics
Collaborate on strategic decisions like SaaS purchases, where the COO focuses on business requirements while the CFO analyzes investment considerations
Create shared governance frameworks for technology investments that balance operational needs with financial prudence
Develop mutual understanding of each other's domains to foster trust and transparency, even if personal friendship isn't necessary
Participate jointly in key management committees that impact both financial and operational outcomes

Strategic Impact Realized

The journey from new CFO to strategic business leader requires mastering multiple roles beyond traditional financial stewardship. Today's CFOs must function as strategists, innovators, and cross-functional collaborators, navigating economic uncertainty while driving organizational growth. Successful CFOs adopt a chess master mentality—thinking several moves ahead while balancing immediate priorities with long-term vision. They embrace innovation by encouraging creative problem-solving and learning from other industries to unlock new opportunities.

As the finance function continues evolving, CFOs face critical challenges including talent retention, strategic cost management, and digital transformation. The most effective CFOs develop a strategic mindset that anticipates market shifts while maintaining adaptability in the face of change. By cultivating strong executive relationships, implementing robust financial assessment frameworks, and building cross-functional alliances, new CFOs can successfully transition from financial operators to true strategic partners who shape their organization's future and create lasting value.

Sources:

McKinsey & Company – “The new CFO mandate: Prioritize, transform, and collaborate”
Harvard Business Review – “The New CFO Mandate”
Deloitte – “The CFO’s first 90 days: Setting the foundation for success”
Gartner – “How CFOs Can Build Stronger Relationships With CEOs, Boards and Executives”
Gartner – “How CFOs Can Build Stronger Relationships With the CEO”
McKinsey & Company – “How CFOs can build stronger relationships with CEOs and boards”
Gartner – “How CFOs Can Build Cross-Functional Relationships”
McKinsey & Company – “The new CFO–CHRO partnership”
Gartner – “How CFOs Can Build a Strong Partnership With the CHRO”
Gartner – “How CFOs Can Build a Strong Partnership With the CTO”
McKinsey & Company – “The CFO and the commercial leader: A new partnership for growth”
Gartner – “How CFOs Can Build a Strong Partnership With the COO”
Gartner – “Stakeholder Mapping: A Guide for CFOs”
Investopedia – “Financial Performance Metrics”
Investopedia – “Financial Ratio Analysis”
Harvard Business Review – “The New CFO Mandate”
Deloitte – “The CFO’s first 90 days: Setting the foundation for success”

New CFO