Whether it’s job experience, education, native country, or length of tenure, finance chiefs have a smorgasbord of backgrounds. For example, which MBA program has produced the most sitting CFOs of large companies? To test your knowledge of such facts about finance chiefs at Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies, take our quiz.
1. What role did the most CFOs (27%) have in their immediately prior position?
A. Controller
B. Divisional president
C. CFO
D. COO
2. Which sector has the greatest percentage of CEOs (28%) who were formerly CFOs?
A. Technology
B. Consumer products
C. Industrial
D. Financial services
3. In which sector do CFOs have the longest average tenure (5.9 years)?
A. Energy
B. Financial Services
C. Retail
D. Health care
4. Which Big Four public accounting firm formerly employed the most current CFOs (66)?
A. Deloitte
B. Ernst & Young
C. KPMG
D. PricewaterhouseCoopers
5. What percentage of CFOs have investment banking experience?
A. 12%
B. 6%
C. 9%
D. 15%
6. After the United States, which is the most-common native country for a CFO (15)?
A. United Kingdom
B. Canada
C. India
D. Australia
7. From schools belonging to which college athletic conference do the most CFOs (80) have undergraduate degrees?
A. Big 12
B. Big Ten
C. Ivy League
D. Atlantic Coast
8. From which school’s MBA program do the most CFOs (45) have degrees?
A. University of Chicago
B. University of Pennsylvania
C. Harvard University
D. Stanford University
Answers: 1-B; 2-D; 3-C; 4-D; 5-A; 6-B; 7-B; 8-A
Data is as of Aug. 1. Source: Crist Kolder Associates dataset of 673 CFOs at either Fortune 500 or S&P 500 companies.