01

Q1 CFO turnover reaches new high.

In Q1 2025, 95 CFOs were appointed, just above last year’s Q1 high of 89 appointments. This elevated CFO turnover is driven by a particularly active S&P 500, and ASX 200, which both reached seven-year highs. It's also likely caused by increased retirement rates and record high CEO turnover in 2024. There have also been some industry fluctuations impacting turnover—the financial services industry recorded a seven-year high of 24 appointments in Q1 2025.

02

Certain industries record a spike in women CFO appointments.

In Q1 2025, the proportion of CFOs appointed who were women decreased slightly year-over-year from 26% in Q1 2024 to 23% in Q1 2025.

However, in the consumer and financial services industries, the proportion of women CFO appointments is much higher. In Q1 2025, 35% of consumer and 42% of financial services incoming CFOs were women, which has increased from 13% and 35% respectively since Q1 2024.

While in some industries the percentage of women appointed to the CFO role is increasing, it’s critical that organizations continue to build robust and diverse internal pipelines and invest in structured sponsorship programs that target underrepresented groups.

03

CFOs tenures are decreasing.

The average CFO tenure in Q1 2025 is 5.8 years, slightly below the six-year, full year average of 6.2 years. One potential driver of this is increased CFO retirement rates. In Q1 2025, 60% of outgoing CFOs retired or moved to board roles exclusively, up slightly from last year’s retirement rate of 56%.

CFOs approaching retirement may not seek another CFO role due to factors like burnout, financial security, or simply deciding that retirement seems the more attractive option. Instead, many are leveraging their finance expertise in various board roles.

04

Over half of CFO appointments are internal.

In Q1 2025, 58% of global incoming CFOs were appointed internally, on par with Q1 2024. This aligns with the trend that the first quarter of each year tends to have a higher percentage of CFO succession plans coming to fruition.

Certain indices are more successful at promoting internal CFO talent than others. The Nifty 50 and Hang Seng’s CFO appointments were almost exclusively internal, but in more Western indices, there is more reliance on external appointments.

For those externally appointed, experienced CFOs are increasingly favoured. Q1 2025 recorded the highest percentage of external experienced CFO hires at 80%, on par with 2021, as some organizations continue to navigate complex economic markets and succession plans fail to materialize.

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