CFO

Business & Finance abbreviation · Job Title

CFO
Stands forChief financial officer
CategoriesBusiness & Finance

CFO stands for Chief financial officer, a job title abbreviation.

Senior executive who runs a company's finances: accounting, financial reporting, budgeting, treasury, tax, investor relations and often strategy and M&A. The CFO usually reports to the CEO and works closely with the board's audit committee.

Example: The CFO told analysts the company expects free cash flow of about $1.2 billion this year.

Usage notes

Under Section 302 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, the CEO and CFO of a US public company must personally certify each annual and quarterly report. Smaller companies may have a controller instead, while startups often hire a part-time or "fractional" CFO. In the UK the role was traditionally titled finance director (FD), though CFO is now common there too.

More job title abbreviations

  • CAIO – Chief AI officer
  • CAO – Chief accounting officer
  • CBO – Chief business officer
  • CCO – Chief compliance officer
  • CDO – Chief data officer
  • CEO – Chief executive officer
  • CGO – Chief growth officer
  • CHRO – Chief human resources officer
  • CIO – Chief information officer
  • CISO – Chief information security officer
  • CLO – Chief learning officer
  • CMO – Chief marketing officer

See all 70 job title abbreviations →