CFO turnovers hit seven-year high amid burnout, heavier workloads

Dive Brief:

The number of new CFO appointments worldwide hit a seven-year high of 316 in 2025, jumping 10% year-over-year. The churn among Standard & Poor’s 500 index companies rose 19% to 106 over the same period, according to the Global CFO Turnover Index 2025 Report released Wednesday by executive search firm Russell Reynolds Associates.
The report attributed the persistent rise in turnovers largely to mounting workloads and “outsized mandates” placed on finance chiefs beyond traditional finance. Also, leadership shakeups are increasing as either boards and investors push for replacements when they disagree with CFOs.
“As expectations rise, CFO transitions become more common, either because boards and investors demand a CFO who can keep pace, and who they can be confident in, or because CFOs opt out via retirement or for a new opportunity,” the report states.

Dive Insight:

Last year’s volatile geopolitical climate and quickening advancement in technology may have played a part in the rising churn. Performance pressure on CFOs and accelerated external agendas also often led to leadership changes, according to the report.

“As organizations navigated the implications of tariffs, AI, and other fast-evolving issues, CEOs and boards were looking at whether their CFOs could clearly articulate the path forward to investors and the board,” Jim Lawson, global co-leader of Russell Reynolds’ financial officers practice, said in statement included in the report.

Retirements were also a key driver. CFOs opting to leave the role or head to a board-only position, comprised 60% of the departures last year, a seven-year-high and an increase from 55% in 2024.

“As the pace of change accelerated — both in the external landscape and the CFO role itself — many longstanding CFOs are opting to retire,” the report states, noting that Russell Reynolds is hearing “increasing references to role fatigue and burnout.”

The report did not deliver good news for those looking for increased representation of women in the CFO seat. Women accounted for 21% of incoming CFOs last year compared with 26% in 2024.

However, the report said year-to-year shifts in the level of women named CFOS sometimes are influenced by the percentage of women in top leadership in the industries that are hiring.

The analysis was based on companies represented by 13 global stock indexes including the S&P 500, the FTSE 100 and the Nikkei 225.