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According to the Q3 2025 Global CFO Turnover Index, global CFO turnover is at a seven-year high among the world’s top listed organizations, driven by higher retirement rates and CEO turnover. However, in ASEAN, CFO turnover remained steady for listed organizations. But that stability masks a more urgent reality unfolding beneath the surface.
We sat down with RRA leadership advisor, Lin Liu who leads our Financial Officers Practice in Singapore and Southeast Asia, to understand what's happening across the wider market right now—and what three things every organizations should be doing today to ensure they have the right CFO-in-waiting ready to step up and hit the ground running tomorrow.
While CFO turnover for listed organizations across ASEAN has remained steady over the last year, demand for experienced CFOs beyond the large, listed organizations is surging. There’s been a significant spike in demand for experienced CFOs across privately-owned, family-owned—and especially, PE-backed portfolio businesses.
What’s driving this demand? First, as interest rates begin to decline, PE-backed businesses are under pressure to value create, exit and redeploy capital, fast. These organizations need to grow through M&A, reach scale, and execute an IPO or trade sale. Many organizations prefer a CFO with experience to lead them through that journey.
Second, five years on from COVID, many businesses—including public listed organizations—are reaching a critical refinancing stage in their cycle. They need a CFO who can successfully lead that process and secure favorable terms. In many cases, having the right CFO proves even more critical than the CEO.
While demand for experienced CFOs may be rising, the pool of experienced CFOs isn’t large enough to satisfy the demand. “There’s a genuine shortage of seasoned CFOs across Asia, reflecting the region’s market structure — fewer globally headquartered companies, a high prevalence of family-led or privately held businesses in parts of Southeast Asia, and generally less exposure to international capital markets. As a result, there are fewer finance leaders with the full breadth of strategic, investor-facing, and cross-border experience seen in more mature U.S. and European markets. Hence, we’re seeing a growing focus on internal development over external hires, ” said Lin.
This scarcity is pushing more organizations toward internal development over external hires. While this shift may be partly borne out of necessity, having an internal CFO can have its advantages.
In Lin’s words, “a CFO who knows the business, understands the market, has deep ecosystem relationships, and has weathered multiple cycles brings advantages compared to that of an external candidate.”
But here's the challenge: developing internal talent take times—sometimes years. It needs to be planned deliberately, underscoring the need for organizations to take a pro-active, long-term approach to CFO succession planning, rather than waiting until the current CFO announces they’re leaving.
In light of these challenges, how can organizations ensure they’ve planned for the right CFO when the time comes?
Before you can develop or hire the right CFO, you need alignment on what "right" means for your organization. One of the first steps in a robust succession plan is agreeing on the success profile for your future CFO. As Lin says, “there needs to be alignment between the board, HR, and CEO on what ‘good’ looks like, and what the KPIs are. It’s important that everyone is on the same page.”
Remember, your next CFO will likely need different skills and experience than the current one. Consider where your business might be a few years from now and be prepared to adapt as the market evolves. For example, technological expertise—such as AI and digital transformation capabilities—will likely become increasingly important.
Yet while digital fluency matters, having the right mindset is even more critical. Look for senior leaders who demonstrate strong leadership skills, growth orientation, learning agility, and genuine curiosity—those with these foundational strengths are best equipped to guide transformation without sacrificing the human-first aspects that make their organizations unique. The ideal CFO success profile is iterative and should be reviewed on a regular basis.
With experienced CFOs in high demand and short supply, developing your internal pipeline becomes even more important. The first step is assessing the top candidates against the success profile. Once you’ve identified any gaps, you can create individual development plans, which will need to be monitored regularly.
Rotate high-potential finance leaders through crucial experiences—leading business units, M&A transaction exposure, driving investor relations, and taking on P&L responsibility. This builds the business acumen and strategic thinking that distinguish exceptional CFOs from good ones.
Finally, when developing internal candidates for that coveted CFO role, let them know they’re in the running. Consistently recognizing, empowering, and coaching leaders is critical for their retention, especially in a fiercely competitive market.
While ideally, organizations want two to three internal successors, sometimes bench strength isn’t as robust as desired. In that case, assessing whether you have the runway to develop those gaps on your team immediately or whether you must hire externally is paramount.
If you need to hire externally, expand your search parameters . Consider candidates from adjacent industries who bring fresh perspectives. Look at finance leaders who have successfully navigated similar challenges, even if they haven't held the CFO title. In a constrained talent market, flexibility in your candidate profile can uncover exceptional leaders others have overlooked.
The CFO role has never been more critical or more challenging to fill. The most common pitfall we observe when it comes to CFO succession? Waiting until it’s too late.
Given the structural shortage of seasoned CFOs across Asia, companies in APAC should begin CFO succession planning much earlier — ideally three to five years in advance — by rotating high-potential finance leaders across functions, business units, and geographies, and giving them early exposure to M&A, capital markets, and investor relations. While many Asian finance leaders possess strong technical and operational expertise, fewer have developed the cross-border, investor-facing, and strategic capabilities common among their Western counterparts. The priority, therefore, is to broaden their experience base — cultivating CFOs who can combine global financial fluency with a nuanced understanding of local ownership models, family-led governance, and the diverse regulatory and market environments that define the region.
Lin Liu is a member of Russell Reynolds Associates’ Financial sector. She is based in Singapore.
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