According to a recent report by Business Talent Group (BTG), the demand for interim CFOs has risen by 103 percent since last year, CFO magazine reported. BTG is a firm that places interim executives with large companies.

CFO attributes this sharp increase to a high rate of turnover among finance officers, noting that 21 percent of all CFOs left their jobs in 2021. The report also found that the demand for interim controllers has increased even more, by 233 percent, year over year. It also noted that 43 percent of interim requests at all levels originate from needs within finance departments— an increase of 71 percent, year over year.

In addition, CFO magazine cited a study by analytics company Datarails that found that the average tenure for a CFO was just 3.51 years, a rate significantly lower than that of other executives.

According to CFO, BTG’s  report found that organizations need interim CFOs to complete specific tasks before the arrival of permanent CFOs. The organizations assign interim CFOs duties such “filling a sudden absence and leading through a major transformation” and overseeing “staff layoffs while leading finance operations, cost-benefit analysis modeling, and annual budgeting.”

CFO reported that survey respondents in nearly all the industries that BTG surveyed had an interim CFO role with specific tasks for completion. Those industries were consumer goods;  energy, sustainability and clean tech; financial services; health care; industrial goods and services; insurance; life science; nonprofit and government; private equity; professional services; retail; and technology. Firming up the CFO role was a priority for companies in all those industries  in order to achieve success. The survey also found that in private equity, where talent retention is deemed especially vital, interim leadership efforts made up 62 percent of projects..

The report found that 44 percent of the projects led by CEOs and presidents were focused on interim leadership positions. In nonprofits and government entities, 37 percent of search efforts went toward interim leadership needed to fulfill traditional finance duties such as finance operations, cost-benefit analysis modeling and annual budgeting.