CFO | Must have interview questions

Have you managed complex accounting / extra-accounting / legal issues?

What are you really good at, but never want to do anymore?

It's been 1 year you're with us. What impact on the business have you made in the year since you’ve joined?

How do you imagine a typical week with us?

How do you react to criticism? Tell us how it went the last time your boss disagreed with you.

How did you prepare for this interview?

Describe a time when you worked on a cross-team project. How did you prioritize tasks and what did you do to ensure everyone delivered on time?

Describe a suggestion you made to senior management in the past that benefited the organization eventually

Tell me about a time you strongly disagreed with your manager. What did you do to convince him or her that you were right? What ultimately happened?

Tell me about a time you really screwed something up. How did you handle it and how did you address the mistake?

Tell me about your ideal next role. What characteristics does it have from a responsibility, team, and company culture perspective? What characteristics does it not have?

What inspires you ? Do you love challenges ? What are your drivers?

When was the last time you changed your mind about something important?

What's one part of your previous company's culture that you hope to bring to your next one? What one part do you hope to not find?

What are your key strategic initiatives? Describe your most important contribution to your current/previous company.

Tell us about a professional situation that went wrong. What was it about? How would you do it today?

Among the people you've worked with, who do you admire and why?

What’s something great about your current or previous job? Why?

What motivates you to work?

What do you believe you can achieve with us personally or professionally that you can't anywhere else in the world?

Looking back on the last five years of your career, what’s the highlight? For the last few companies you've been at, take me through: (i) When you left, why did you leave? (ii) When you joined the next one, why did you choose it?

What are, in your opinion, the most important characteristics of [ROLE]?

Tell me how you contributed to the company’s success in your previous position

What do you think was key to your current/previous company’s success?

If you were to start your own business, what would it be? Why would you do that?

Give me an example of your investment strategy when funding departments during the annual budget cycle

What would you do if revenue forecasts for next year decreased?

What are the 2 metrics that a CFO must always follow?

Have you already implemented cash management tools ?

How do you motivate your team in stressful situations?

What types of people do you like to work with? What types of people are difficult for you to work with?

Do you have experience in team management?

How do you monitor the performance of individual team members?

How do you distinguish between Leadership and Management?

How and when do you inform your team about the results of your activities?

How do you set goals for your teams?

If there was a sudden decrease in the performance of a team member, how and when would you approach the individual?

Were you able to achieve/exceed the team's goals?

What's your take on management? How do you make the people you manage grow?

What recruitment process do you use to recruit [POSITION]? Describe it to us

Have you already deployed a technical topic / tool? (Specify the duration of the project, the decision process, the problems encountered, ...)

Do you already have processes in place? Give one or more examples.

Which monitoring tools do you prefer and why?

Would he/she fight against adversity, and make the right decisions?

What can he/she bring to this role that you’re certain other applicants can’t?

Explain the evolution of the product of your current/previous company. Give me an example of a landmark decision that was made in the product strategy and your opinion of that decision

What is a pricing or packaging decision that the company made and what was your view on that decision?

What questions do you ask yourself when planning strategy?

What are the three most important characteristics of this function? How would you stack rank yourself from strongest to least developed among these traits?

If you had to decide whether a possible investment is profitable, how would you do it?

What metrics do you regularly follow? What do they tell you about the health of the business?

How do you keep up to date with developments in your topics? Who are your peers?

Tell me about a time when you faced conflict with stakeholders. How did you resolve it?

Imagine yourself in three years. What do you hope will be different about you then compared to now?

What criteria do you use to evaluate sales skills?

What do you take into account when preparing your department’s budget?