Job Placement · Executive & Director+ · Chief Financial Officer
BEG runs a milestone-fee, direct-hire search for chief financial officers, most often a CPA who has already led the specific event ahead, a raise, a sale, an audit clean-up or a first public filing, not a generalist controller. Fees are billed on search progress, not a single contingency payout, and BEG is not a staffing agency. Average fill time is 23 to 35 days with an 86 percent fill rate.
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TL;DR
A CFO search usually needs someone who has already done the exact event coming next. BEG runs a Tier VI, milestone-billed direct-hire search built around that event and the CPA credential, and says plainly where BEG’s fee runs above a straight contingency benchmark.
The Hiring Problem
Because the company usually wants a CFO who has already done the specific event ahead, a raise, a sale, an audit clean-up, and those candidates are retained for the same event wherever they already sit.
How the Search Runs
BEG runs four stages for a CFO search, and naming the specific event this hire needs to have already run happens before sourcing starts.
| Step | What it requires | Where it stalls |
|---|---|---|
| Name the event | Confirm the specific event ahead, a capital raise, a sale process, an audit clean-up or a first public filing, before writing the candidate profile. | A profile written around the CFO title alone, without the event, pulls controllers who have never run the actual process the company needs next. |
| Build the target list | Source CFOs and senior financial managers who have already led the same event elsewhere, using the 90th percentile financial manager band as the pay reference. | Candidates benchmarked to the all-industry financial manager median are priced below what someone who has actually run the event commands. |
| Vet for the controls and the audit committee relationship | Confirm each finalist has owned the balance sheet, controls and the relationship with auditors and an audit committee, not just reported into someone who did. | A strong controller who has never owned the audit committee relationship directly struggles the first time that relationship gets tested. |
| Close before their own event finishes | Time the outreach and the offer around when a targeted CFO’s current event is expected to close, not a generic notice period. | A CFO retained for their own pending event will not leave before it closes, so an offer timed against a generic notice period gets no response. |
This sequence is why naming the event first, not the title, is what moves a CFO search inside the 23 to 35 day average instead of drawing only controllers who have never run it.
Milestone Billing Against Contingency
BEG does not collect one commission on a start date for a CFO search. The fee is staged against the search’s own progress, while a contingency recruiter typically takes 20 to 25 percent of first year cash compensation the moment someone starts, a structure with no reason to hold out for a candidate who has actually run the specific event this seat needs next.
What This Search Costs Against Contingency
At the $166,570 all-industry financial manager median, a 20 percent contingency fee runs $33,314. BEG’s fee of $33,440 to $40,128, the Tier VI rate this seat borrows, starts $126 above that figure at the low end, so against this specific benchmark BEG runs dearer than a 20 percent contingency fee, not cheaper. Measured against the $323,270 90th percentile instead, the benchmark closer to where a CFO search actually sits, BEG is 52 to 62 percent of a $64,654 contingency fee, and against the $213,990 chief executive median, BEG is 78 to 94 percent of a $42,798 contingency fee.
Three Ways to Fill the Seat
A CFO seat can be filled three ways: BEG’s milestone-billed direct hire, a contingency recruiter, or a staffing agency for interim finance leadership. Only the first is built to find a candidate who has already run the specific event this seat needs next.
| Model | Who employs | How you pay | Right when |
|---|---|---|---|
| BEG direct-hire | Your company, starting day one | Staged milestone fees tied to the search’s progress | The company needs a CFO who has run this specific financial event before, not a generalist controller |
| Contingency search firm | Your company, starting day one | One commission, 20 to 25 percent of first year cash pay, collected on the start date | The event is routine enough that any qualified financial manager can be sourced quickly |
| Staffing or temp agency | The staffing agency itself, not you | An hourly bill rate that includes the agency’s markup | The finance function needs interim leadership through a transition, not a permanent CFO of record |
A CFO search that turns up only controllers has usually skipped naming the event; for the other two seats in this tier, see chief executive officer and chief operating officer, or the executive and director+ hub.
FAQ
BEG’s CFO searches close in 23 to 35 days on average, with an 86 percent fill rate across active searches. A search for a CFO who has already run a specific event, a raise or a sale, can extend past that window if the strongest candidate is still finishing that event elsewhere.
This seat borrows BEG’s Tier VI milestone fee, shown above, not a percentage commission. Against the all-industry financial manager median, BEG runs slightly dearer than a 20 percent contingency fee, about 126 dollars at the low end, but falls to 52 to 62 percent of contingency measured against the 90th percentile, where a CFO search actually sits.
It depends on the benchmark. Against the all-industry financial manager median, BEG is dearer than a 20 percent contingency fee. Against the 90th percentile financial manager pay band and the chief executive median, both closer to where an actual CFO search sits, BEG runs well under a 20 percent contingency fee instead.
Because the company usually wants someone who has already run the specific event ahead, and those candidates are retained for the same event wherever they currently sit. The search stalls between a controller who has never done it and a CFO who will not leave before their own event closes.
It is the one credential named for this seat. NASBA describes CPA licensure as passing the Uniform CPA Exam and meeting a state board of accountancy’s educational and experience standards, and BLS notes CPAs must be licensed by their state board, though not every CFO search requires one.
A CFO owns the balance sheet, the controls, the audited financial statements, the capital structure and the relationship with lenders, auditors and the audit committee. A controller, who typically reports to the CFO, oversees the accounting, audit and budget departments beneath that relationship, not the relationship itself.
BEG asks what specific event is coming next, a raise, a sale, an audit clean-up or a first public filing, since that event, not the CFO title alone, determines which candidates are actually qualified and where they are likely to be found.
Yes. Financial managers held 879,700 jobs in 2025, projected to grow 10 percent to 964,600 by 2035, adding about 65,600 openings a year. BLS notes experienced financial managers are the typical path to CFO, so the pool feeding this seat is growing even where the CFO title itself is not tracked separately.
Two more seats share this fee tier: see chief executive officer and chief operating officer, or the full executive and director+ hub.
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