Here a chief, there a chief: The rise of the CFO in the American firm

Abstract

This article examines the rise of the chief financial officer (CFO) position among American firms during the period 1963-2000. Building on event-history models of CFO adoptions among a sample of some 400 large corporations, this analysis documents two stages in the diffusion of the CFO model that occurred prior to its ultimate embodiment of the shareholder-value ideal. The CFO function originated as part of the conglomerate ideal to handle the funding of diversifying acquisitions. In response to an ambiguous regulatory change in accounting rules in 1979, which threatened to reduce reported earnings further at a time when corporate earnings already were under great strain, corporate leaders and finance professionals reconstructed the CFO as a solution. The CFO's popularity quickly surged as a result, and the role kept expanding in the following years to focus on managing shareholders and stock prices.