Nine Things to Ask Your Future Boss, the CEO

6. What are the company's top business goals, what's the strategy to achieve them, and how are you adjusting your strategy in light of current market conditions? And related to that: Who are your major competitors, why, and what is your organization's competitive advantage?
These questions are designed to test the CEO's business acumen. How well does the CEO understand his or her own business and business environment, and how well can the company compete? You should know the basic answers to these questions going into the interview; you don't want the CEO to think you didn't do your homework. So it's best to preface the question with a statement indicating that you know the basics but would like a more in-depth discussion.

7. How many new SKUs (stock-keeping units) have you launched in the past year or two, and what new stuff in the pipeline?
This question gets to the pace of change and innovation in a company and in fact whether the company genuinely embraces change, says Schiff. (SKUs are common in consumer-product companies, but the concept can be applied to other companies by asking: How many new clients/customers have been acquired? How much key-client attrition have you experienced? Is the quality of client/customer improving?)

8. What are board and investor meetings like? Smooth sailing, or rough? And what pressures do you face from major shareholders?
The answer, Liu says, probes a major issue that CFOs face: the pressure to use accounting gimmicks in financial reports to make a company's earnings and overall financial picture look better than they really are. "The more intense the climate, the more pressure there is to cook the books," she says.

9. May I speak with the former CFO?
How else will you really find out where the bodies are buried?

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