The spotlight is shining bright on leaders who can bring in-demand skills and expertise to support companies fighting for financial know-how, according to a CFO Dive review of Business Talent Group’s 2023 High End Independent Talent Report.
With the report showing an increase in demand for interim leaders overall of 116% in the past 12 months—and requests for on-demand finance chiefs in particular spiking by 103% YoY—CFO Dive turned to BTG’s Chief Innovation Officer, Sandra Pinnavaia, for help explaining this rising trend. In addition to ongoing economic uncertainty and the growing complexities of the CFO role, Pinnavaia said the increase is partly due to growing awareness among business leaders about the availability of short-term expertise.
“Companies, as they get more comfortable and aware of the fact that there is this on-demand talent world, it allows them to contemplate different kinds of changes and uses than before,” Pinnavaia said. “So I do think there’s an underlying driver here, that is in a sense, supply creates demand.”
Other notable findings in the finance function include that interim CFOs made up half of all interim C-suite requests and that companies are specifically searching for financial leadership skilled in financial controls, accounting and audit, with demand rising 76% YoY.
