They're responsible for keeping the finance function running, while also shaping the narrative behind the numbers that drive decisions at the highest level. They're the person the CFO or Finance Director relies on when answers are needed at speed, and often the one who takes the heat when mistakes are made.
To explore what the role demands today, how it’s evolved and what it takes to excel, we drew on insights from our Future Finance Leaders programme and two specialists: John O'Connor, Director at executive search firm Synchronicity Group, who has been placing senior finance leaders for 25 years, and Simon Littlewood, CEO of Estu, a specialist learning provider in innovation and transformation.
How is the role of the financial controller changing?
The FC role has always demanded precision under pressure. What's changed in many businesses is the breadth of skills needed to succeed.
John O’Connor sees it clearly. "Historically, a business looking for a good financial controller would really home in on the technical aspects. Good financial reporting, good statutory accounting skills and ability. Those are still part of the core requirements. But in the last few years, there's been a much greater focus on whether the person can genuinely partner with the business. Can they work with non-finance areas? Are they commercially minded? It’s not enough to be technical.”
There are several drivers behind the shift. A challenging economic climate means businesses are doing more with less. ROI is tracked more tightly than ever, and finance leaders can no longer focus solely on protecting the business; there needs to be a focus on value creation too.
At the same time, the role has been shaped by a rise of data and systems that don’t sit neatly within finance's walls. "The data coming through a business and a finance team has got applications far beyond finance," O'Connor notes – and with that comes an expectation that finance will interpret it, not just report on it from a distance.
This adds up to a role that is broader, more exposed, and often more demanding than it was even five years ago.
Five tensions at the heart of the role
Our Future Finance Leaders programme helps those in the #2 role in Finance (most often the Financial Controller) to plug any gaps in their skills, awareness, or confidence before transitioning to the #1 role in Finance. It also offers a confidential space for Ffinancial Ccontrollers to share the pressures they’re facing. The same tensions come up time and again across sectors and markets.
1. Balancing speed, integrity, and morale
The FC's job entails providing leadership with answers at speed without compromising the controls that make those answers credible – while also managing the morale of the team delivering the numbers.
Financial controllers who get this wrong fall into one of two traps: those who slow everything down in pursuit of perfection, and those who move so fast that rigour slips. Even those who navigate that balance well can find themselves burning through the goodwill of their team, treating every ‘urgent request’ as a reason to push harder rather than as a prompt to question whether the underlying processes are sustainable.
Changing that starts with a conversation many FCs don’t lead. What level of confidence does each decision need? How is 'urgent' defined? And what needs to change so the team isn't absorbing too much pressure every time?
When those expectations are set proactively in advance, you protect the integrity of the numbers, the people producing them, and instil greater confidence. Never lose sight of the fact that the FC will always be closer to the Operational Delivery and Business Protection quadrants of the CFO Scorecard than the CFO is themselves.
2. Automation versus oversight
Most finance functions are still in the early stages of understanding what AI can do for them, and what it could cost them if things go wrong.
While it is on almost every CFO's agenda, they aren't always the ones close to the day-to-day who can identify the best use cases and spot every potential risk.
“Part of every single interview process now for senior-level roles – FC and above, not just CFO – involves questions along the lines of: how are you incorporating AI into your current finance team and your role? In the areas that you use it, how? In the areas you're not using it, why not and where is human oversight still critical?”, O’Connor says.
While the exact degree of autonomy and influence you can demonstrate in this space will vary across businesses, FCs who offer a clear point of view on where AI could create more capacity – and are willing to proactively propose pilots and frame the governance questions – will be better positioned.
3. Balancing transformation with business as usual
Finance functions are undergoing more change than at any point in recent memory. This isn’t just about AI; “the businesses I work with face an external landscape that's changing rapidly”, notes O’Connor, “how customers behave, what they spend, supply chain pressures. They need someone who can be agile”.
The FCs who approach this effectively don't treat transformation as something happening around them. They view it as a valuable opportunity available to them: a reason to think more commercially, build relationships outside finance, and demonstrate the kind of leadership that the next step demands.
As Simon Littlewood, CEO of Estu, puts it: "You can't do transformation in isolation. What does that transformation mean in terms of governance? What does it mean in terms of things like data? How does that relate to our IT strategy? How does that link into AI? There's an increased emphasis on collaboration."
Transformation is an almost inescapable part of a CFO’s role – so no surprise perhaps that FCs are getting more heavily involved and looking for ways to demonstrate their leadership and skill in this area.
4. The numbers versus the narrative
Finance is expected to go beyond the ‘what’ of the numbers, to the ‘so what?’ and ‘now what?’. That shift from reporting on the numbers to interpretation, challenge and direction is what holds many technically strong finance professionals back.
“More often than not now”, O’Connor says, “I get requests from clients asking if people have had FP&A experience, or systems implementation, or broader change experience. Someone who can help the business look forwards, not just backwards. The finance team is more like a six-lane motorway, and businesses need somebody who can move across those lanes as and when required”.
To be able to shape the narrative, you need to have sought out opportunities to get closer to the decisions that matter – volunteer to be in the room, not just in the pack. Share your recommendation, not just your analysis, and ask for regular feedback on how it's landing. This is a skill that takes iteration, and what resonates with the CFO won't always land the same way with commercial or operations teams.
5. Firefighting versus personal development
When the business is under financial pressure, the FC absorbs much of the impact – fielding demands from above while keeping the team focused below. To manage this effectively, you need to be confident in distinguishing between a genuine emergency and what can wait.
That requires a degree of ‘productive selfishness’: the deliberate decision to carve out space for your own development even when the inbox is full and the business is pulling in every direction. It also means delegating consistently enough that the space exists; not as a one-off when capacity runs out, but as a standing discipline.
A good mentor can provide both the perspective and the accountability to make this stick. As O'Connor comments: "strong candidates have someone who has already told them what they're good at, but who is also honest on what they needed to work on and holds them accountable to it. I stay in touch with candidates I've placed, checking in on how they're getting on, whether the role they were promised is materialising, and what feedback they're getting. Whoever it is, it’s always valuable to have someone outside of your day-to-day world to speak to.”
How the strongest Financial Controllers tackle these differently
Almost all of these tensions will be more feasible to manage if you're a strong communicator and influencer.
O'Connor puts it plainly. "The ability to influence outside of your immediate area is one of the top things I’m seeing employers look for. How do you convince people who aren't buying it that this is the right thing to do?"
Tackling the tensions also requires headspace, and the right team around you – which, particularly in today’s fast-paced environment, means FCs also need to be thinking differently about they lead. "The questions I'm seeing in interviews aren't just about how many people you manage on paper; they're about how you can show you’ve genuinely developed your people and how you manage the pressure on them," O'Connor says.
Proactive curiosity is another differentiator. The FCs who are best positioned to progress into a CFO role are those who consistently push to be in the right rooms and find ways to get closer to the board and the commercial realities of the business. In an environment where market conditions may have limited the natural opportunities for that kind of development, those who make it happen anyway are the ones who will stand out.
But taking on these opportunities only works if you have trust in your team. "A key leadership requirement is the ability to create and lead teams with the skills required to be adaptable and confident with change," says Simon Littlewood. "Leading doesn't mean having all the answers. You need to have the systems and processes in place so that those answers are coming to you."
An honest self-assessment for FCs looking to step up
The key takeaway is clear: to excel in the role, technical excellence is no longer enough. "The classic track is FC, Head of Finance, Finance Director, CFO – and that's still the most common route," says O'Connor. "But there’s no getting around the increasing expectation to demonstrate what else you have done beyond the core technical part of the role."
Have you shaped a pricing strategy, not just reported on it? Led a systems change, not just survived one? Influenced high-impact decisions?
Based on the gaps we most commonly see through our Future Finance Leaders programme, here's a practical checklist to assess yourself against. Tick each one off mentally only when you can back it up with a real example – ones you would feel confident to articulate in an interview process. The ones you can’t say “yes” to? That's your development agenda for the next six months. And remember, not everyone wants to be a CFO nor does everyone in Finance suit the role of CFO.
Checklist
- Do you actively and regularly reassess what only you can do, and delegate what you're holding onto out of habit or comfort rather than necessity?
- Does your experience extend beyond group reporting and the monthly close, into areas like FP&A, treasury, tax, or systems and transformation? If not, which areas are you actively creating opportunities to build experience in?
- Have you spent meaningful time working directly with non-finance parts of the business in the last 6-12 months: commercial, operations, sales, HR?
- Do you proactively, regularly protect time for your own development?
- Would you be able to describe a time you changed the direction of an important business decision by influencing people who had no obligation to listen to you?
- Do you have a considered point of view on where AI could create capacity in your finance function, and have you raised it proactively?
- Could you point to something concrete you've done in the last quarter to develop your team – not just keep the engine running, but genuinely stretch and develop them?
- Do you have someone outside your day-to-day world – a mentor, a former CFO, a trusted peer – who will tell you honestly where your gaps are and hold you to close them?
- Does the person you report into know your career ambitions, and have you had a real conversation in the last six months about what you need to do to get there?