The recruitment landscape in early 2025 has revealed an interesting evolution in one of the most critical C-suite roles. We’re witnessing a significant renaissance of the CFOO (Chief Financial and Operations Officer)—a role becoming increasingly prevalent across New Zealand businesses.
More than just numbers
The modern CFO has steadily expanded beyond the traditional finance remit. Today’s financial leaders are expected to be significantly more than “the numbers person.” They’re strategic advisors, technology champions, and increasingly, operational leaders with substantial business impact.
This expansion isn’t entirely new—in many ways, it represents a return to broader financial leadership roles common decades ago, before hyper-specialisation became the norm. What’s different now is the deliberate fusion of finance and operations under a single leader, creating a genuine business co-pilot to the CEO.
What does the “O” actually mean?
The operational aspect of the CFOO role varies significantly by industry:
- In product or manufacturing businesses, operations might encompass supply chain management, distribution networks, inventory control, and facilities management
- For technology companies, the operational remit often extends to traditional back-office functions including HR, legal, compliance, and company secretarial responsibilities
- Within professional services organisations, the CFOO position emerges as a true co-pilot to the CEO, with broader business strategy and execution responsibilities
The commercial impact
For those stepping into or already in these expanded roles, the CFOO position offers substantially greater opportunity to drive commercial outcomes. No longer confined to reporting and compliance, these leaders can directly influence business performance across multiple dimensions.
However, this expanded remit comes with its own set of challenges. The most successful CFOOs we’ve observed share two critical success factors:
- Elite finance teams.
If you’re taking on operational responsibilities, your finance function must be exceptionally strong. Without high-performing direct reports who can maintain financial excellence, you’ll inevitably be pulled back into day-to-day finance issues rather than leveraging your operational influence. This requires deliberate succession planning, training, and development. - Clear operational boundaries.
Even with the expanded remit, successful CFOOs establish clear parameters around which operational elements they own versus merely influence. This clarity prevents role confusion and ensures accountability remains properly distributed across the leadership team.
We anticipate we are only going to see growth in the CFOO role. Economic uncertainty continues to drive organisations toward leadership models that combine financial discipline with operational effectiveness. The CFOO represents a pragmatic approach to achieving both without expanding the C-suite headcount.
For finance leaders aspiring to broader impact, developing operational knowledge alongside financial expertise will become increasingly valuable.
If you are a CFOO or looking for one, give me a call. I would love to chat and hear your perspective.
Chris Cooper
Manager – Accounting Permanent
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E. chrisc@huntercampbell.co.nz
M. 021 197 4491
