CFO vs. Controller | What Are The Differences In Terms Of Tasks, Pay & Education

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Reaching a CFO position is a great goal to have if you are in Finance. CFO stands for Chief Financial Officer, which means you’ll be sitting with the executive team and making decisions that will impact the entire company.

My role however is a corporate controller, which means that the CFO is my boss and we have different job descriptions.

A friend of mine once told me that he thought a controller is a mini CFO, which was kind of a hilarious thought. But this got me wondering:

Do people really think that a controller is a mini version of a CFO?
What are the differences in the job description between a controller and a CFO?
Is becoming a controller a good stepping stone into getting a role as a CFO?
What is a typical career trajectory that leads to a CFO role?
What is the earning potential for both a controller and a CFO?

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All views expressed on my channel are mine alone. Not intended as financial or professional advice

[nz]

You are a treasure trove of information for a first generation college student like myself. I'm graduating in a three weeks and I realized I don't know how to best reach my future goals beyond college. Needless to say, your videos have cleared up so many questions. You are truly doing a great service with your content.

[gbrcllc]

Thank you for the video. I'm working on my Masters to one day be a CFO, hopefully. I love the Controller side but it has its limits. So basically controller is practice, cfo is theory. Lol

[lovettc-suiteconsulting]

I enjoyed your explanation of differences between CFO and Controller positions and know it's useful to many young companies. Another significant problem for young companies is that they are not sure if they need a CFO, COO, or CEO advisor in order to grow their business, and most need help in two or all three of these executive areas. I call them the "Three Pillars of Success" - 1. Vision/Strategic Planning; 2. Financial Strength/Accounting Systems; and, 3. Operations Efficiency. I offer a 3-In-1 fractional CFO, COO & CEO advisory service to Charlotte-based businesses, but my goal is to assist all entrepreneurs to understand the importance of these three executive functions, evaluate their business across the three pillars, and strengthen all three. I'll be adding detailed and instructional videos on this topic and hope to build a useful platform for entrepreneurs in the YouTube community. If you would watch my 2 minute video, I would love to get your feedback regarding the message and its usefulness to entrepreneurs. Keep up the good work!

[olivergilpin]

This was wonderfully concise and practical! Thanks a ton

[sigistoamon]

Thanks for making very clear what each role does and their expectations

[saddestdayever]

Hey, Bill! Great video! I always wondered the difference and this pretty much cleared it up as detailed as possible! Also, I appreciate you providing the funding stage of a company!

[extremeresponsibility]

With CEOs of private companies, there is a tremendous amount of role confusion between CFOs, controllers, and tax preparers.

We developed/employee Growth CFOs. Your video is on point. Thank you.

[misterj]

Love your channel. A couple things I think you missed about the CFO responsibilities are: the Treasury function/cash management, and internal audit (when applicable)

[JanetteValoisie]

I'm not in this industry, but I'm passionate about understanding how it works and the different acronyms and roles. You are doing an incredible job simplifying this for all of us. Thank you very much, and never stop sharing. Do you also have knowledge of venture capital and private equity?

[Haaaltarmaa]

Great information: very detailed, on point and educational. Thank you for putting it out here for us.

[hishamelghayati]

Very valuable short and to the point video. I like it. 👌Thank you!

[rizzaa]

Thanks a lot for your videos. I just got hired as a new controller in my new company. This is actually my first time as controller and also to manage people/Acctg Dept.. Hope you can also make videos for first time controllers 🙏🏼 thank you very much

[iamazalea]

Watching this before my financial controllership class. This is so helpful! Tysm!! 💓

[GaborCsirke]

Thank you! This gave me a good understanding of what my job as a controller would be! Thank you again!

[manoftomorrow]

This is a great video. I'm Chief Accountant and I'm looking to complete my Masters to move to a FC or CFO position in the next 3-5 years.

[MrTariqMalik]

You nailed it Bill....good simple explanations and good contents in this another simple way to put the difference is CFO is 'forward looking', where as Controller is typically 'Rear-view mirror thanks

[ruthvansandt]

That was helpful. I think I could be a controller if I wanted to stay in corporate America but I’ve also found so many issues with companies that care more about the bottom line than their people. And controllers who think the job means “to control” and change their processes and procedures so much it’s confusing.

[melissakhlif]

Your videos are super informative and helpful. Also helps me think of my talents I need to push when looking for jobs!

BTW, I love knowing what an oddball I am! Always at the top of my class, always promoted within first year at any company, but...
- BA Spanish
- MBA
- Accounting finance jobs
- entrepreneur during twenty year gap raising children and holding part time teaching jobs
- SEC but not big 6
- now am Controller of boutique law firm
-I LOVE audit, tax, financial strategy.
-Want to be financial business strategist!!

But very few people see my talent in my oddball resume. So I'll get my EA next.

[somaansa]

Thanks so much for sharing. I found this video very very very helpful! Short, straight to point and easy to understand. 👍

[bretoliver]

Thank you for the video. This really clear things up for me. 👍