--- title: Goodbye “bean counter,” hello “future CEO” — Why the CFO is the new rock star of American business description: Blog Post | Goodbye “bean counter,” hello “future CEO” | Competitive data is making CFOs the new rock stars of American business image: https://www.peerviewdata.com/hubfs/Blog_Images/New_CFO.png --- [![](https://www.peerviewdata.com/hs-fs/hubfs/PD%20logo_horiz_gradient.png?width=182&height=80&name=PD%20logo_horiz_gradient.png)](https://www.peerviewdata.com/) # Peerview Data Insights ## Goodbye “bean counter,” hello “future CEO” — Why the CFO is the new rock star of American business by [Kirk Enright](https://www.peerviewdata.com/old-blog/author/kirk-enright), on Sep 3, 2015 9:30:00 AM - Dull. - Boring. - Afraid of change. - Afraid of risk. - Set-in-their-ways. - Uninspiring. For the longest time, you could pretty much describe any CFO with a word or two from that list. Not anymore. *![CFO Rock Star](https://www.peerviewdata.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Blog_Images/New_CFO.png?width=175&name=New_CFO.png "CFO Rock Star")* Increasingly, CFOs — *especially those making a name for themselves* — are redefining their role, moving beyond traditional responsibilities like number-crunching and bill-paying to set and control strategy. Why? This quote [in The Los Angeles Times](http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-on-leadership-cfo-20150825-story.html) from Sergio Monsalve, a partner with Norwest Venture Partners, neatly sums it up: > "The world is moving to caring a lot about two things: money and data," Monsalve says. "There's only one person in the company who touches both in an intimate way, and that happens to be the CFO.” Surprising? No. As more and more of everything a company does gets measured, it makes sense to turn to the person most comfortable with ratios and returns. ![Peerview_Data_Sample_3](https://www.peerviewdata.com/hs-fs/hubfs/SAMPLE_REPORT_IMAGES/Peerview_Data_Sample_3.png?width=450&name=Peerview_Data_Sample_3.png) There is a downside to all this, however: competition. According to executive search firm [Heidrick & Struggles](http://www.heidrick.com/Knowledge-Center), a company’s top accountant or controller is no longer a shoe-in for the CFO job.  Increasingly, that role is being filled by somebody from operations, strategy or general management. (Though apparently not HR or Marketing, at least for now, probably because those jobs haven’t historically been numbers-driven — *there’s a reason they say **“I know half our advertising budget is wasted, but I don’t know which half”** and **“I know how many employees we have, but I have no idea how many of them actually work here.”***) This means that those who hold the CFO position now, or aspire to hold it in the future, need to continue to expand their reach, gathering data and offering informed insights into everything that impacts a company’s growth, value and profitability.  _____________________________ ***How do you compare?*** ***Our Strategic Management & Planning tool can show you how you're doing and where you should be doing better. *** → Request a demo: [![Demo](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/457584/40fd1418-ebc2-4fb3-8744-76dc9934e907.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/457584/40fd1418-ebc2-4fb3-8744-76dc9934e907) → Sign up for a trial account — *$799 plus a one-time $395 set-up fee.* [![Sign Up](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/457584/2ce98fcb-02a6-4f0a-b4d8-f940e6efc4c5.png)](https://cta-redirect.hubspot.com/cta/redirect/457584/2ce98fcb-02a6-4f0a-b4d8-f940e6efc4c5)   ![Peerview_Data_BV_20_Online](https://www.peerviewdata.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Peerview_Data_BV_20_Online.png?width=230&name=Peerview_Data_BV_20_Online.png)   _____________________________ Topics: [Money](https://www.peerviewdata.com/old-blog/topic/money) [Planning & Forecasting](https://www.peerviewdata.com/old-blog/topic/planning-forecasting) [Competitive Analytics](https://www.peerviewdata.com/old-blog/topic/competitive-analytics) [Business Performance](https://www.peerviewdata.com/old-blog/topic/business-performance) [Small Business](https://www.peerviewdata.com/old-blog/topic/small-business) [Business Intelligence](https://www.peerviewdata.com/old-blog/topic/business-intelligence) [Analytics](https://www.peerviewdata.com/old-blog/topic/analytics) [Data](https://www.peerviewdata.com/old-blog/topic/data) - 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