The challenges facing the Chief Financial Officer

Yes. We recruit the Chief Financial Officer and their inner circle. Deputy Chief Financial Officer, heads of controlling, treasurers, heads of accounting, consolidation managers, M&A profiles. The soundness of a finance function rests as much on these roles as on its leader, and assessing them calls for the same rigour, at their own level of responsibility. We look for a finance function that speaks to the board, the banks and the investors, not only one that produces accurate figures. Our clients also include investment funds and their portfolio companies. Recruiting a portfolio company Chief Financial Officer has its own specifics, reporting cadence, value creation, exit horizon, the triangular relationship between the fund, the managing director and finance. Our scoping takes them in from the first conversation, because these contexts are not recruited for like a listed group.

Along the lines of specialist executive search. A fixed fee or a percentage of the annual remuneration for the role, invoiced in three instalments (at launch, on presentation of the shortlist, on signature). Fees are set out in writing before the mandate, with no hidden extras. The in-depth assessment, the personality tests, the cross-checked references and the integration follow-up are all included. Transparency applies to the rules, confidentiality to the amounts. A failed hire on a finance function costs a great deal more. A weakened year-end close, a banking relationship to rebuild, the fresh start. Our fees are measured against what they prevent. The detail of our rules, guarantee and off-limits included, is set down in black and white on our method page.

Six months of replacement guarantee, written into every mandate. If the candidate recruited leaves the role during that period, we take the assignment back on with no new fees. The conditions, including termination at the employer's initiative, appear in black and white in the mandate. In sixteen years, that clause has been invoked only twice, in both cases for personal reasons on the candidate's side, never for an error of judgement. That solidity owes nothing to chance. It rests on the initial scoping, the in-depth assessment and the cross-checked references that precede every presentation, then on the integration follow-up that continues for a year after signature. The guarantee protects your decision. Our method makes sure it almost never has to.