To identify potential readiness gaps that high-performing finance leaders may face in rising to the CFO role, Deloitte’s US CFO Program conducted 236 interviews between 2024 and 2025 with senior finance leaders across industries, including many from large, complex organizations. Overall, CFOs told us that, when evaluating potential successors, in most cases, the technical qualifications were there. What was often missing was the signal that these candidates were ready to lead across the organization.

These readiness gaps showed up as perception or confidence gaps. The CEO, board, and the executive team had trouble seeing the candidate as an enterprise partner, not just a top functional performer.

Understanding them—and taking steps to overcome them—can help aspiring CFOs gain the experiences and exposure they will need to become CFO-ready. It can also help sitting CFOs and the executive team more effectively coach, sponsor, and assess successors.

1. Their communication skills and everyday presence aren’t developed enough to inspire confidence among stakeholders

2. They’re respected—but not influential enough to be sought out to shape decisions

3. They don’t have enough operational experience and exposure to show they can run the business, not just finance

4. They haven’t delegated enough work to develop their teams and scale their leadership impact

5.  They’re delivering results, but they’re not serving as strategic leaders across the organization

The full report, with helpful actions, can be found here.