THE ability to dissect accounts and crunch financial data appear to be must-have traits in the climb up to CEO-hood. In fact, it explains the growing trend of finance chiefs stepping straight into the top job and the rising number of accountant CEOs.
“In global companies these days, the chief financial officer is the de facto deputy CEO ... they’re the ones the CEOs turn to when the chips come down. So it’s natural that CFOs are potential CEO candidates,” says Datuk Johan Raslan, executive chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers Malaysia (PwC).