Finance Leadership

A strong resume tells you a lot about a finance leader. You see the companies they’ve worked for, the positions they’ve held, the size of the teams they’ve managed, and whether they have experience in a private equity-backed business.

But a resume doesn’t tell you everything. It doesn’t always show how someone responds when the business misses its forecast, how they communicate difficult news to the board, or whether they are building a finance team that supports the next stage of growth.

For private equity firms and their portfolio companies, those things matter. The right CFO or Controller needs the technical experience to do the job, but they also need to understand the pace and expectations that come with a PE-backed business.
In a 2026 Heidrick & Struggles report, 41% of PE executives said the quality, retention, and continuity of senior portfolio company leadership would be a significant challenge in the year ahead.

That is why evaluating finance leadership should go beyond the resume.

Can The Finance Leaders Explain the Story Behind the Numbers?

A finance leader needs to know the numbers, that is expected, but the bigger question is what they do with that information.

If EBITDA is below plan, can they explain what is driving the miss? Are they able to separate a short-term issue from something that could become a bigger problem? More importantly, can they explain what management plans to do about it?

This becomes especially important in the boardroom. The board doesn’t need someone to simply walk through numbers that everyone already sees in the reporting package. They need finance leadership that gives those numbers context and helps turn them into useful information. This is something that is difficult to see on a resume.

During the interview process, its helpful to ask candidates about a time when results didn’t match expectations. How did they figure out what was happening? How did they explain it to the CEO and board? What happened next?

Their answer tells you much more about how they think and communicate than another bullet point about financial reporting.

Ask About What Didn’t Go as Planned

Most resumes are built around accomplishments like successful acquisition, ERP implementation, improved forecasting, faster close or business growth.

What they don’t usually show are the situations that didn’t go as planned. Those experiences are just as important when evaluating finance leadership. Maybe an acquisition took longer to integrate than expected. A forecast missed significantly or a system implementation ran into problems. Or what if the CFO had to tell the board that the company wasn’t going to hit its plan.

Those situations give you an opportunity to understand how someone leads when things become difficult. Ask what happened, but also ask what they did about it.

Did they communicate the problem early? Did they take responsibility for their part in it? How did they work with the CEO and the rest of the management team? What would they do differently today?

For a PE-backed company, where the timeline is often shorter and there is greater pressure to deliver against the investment thesis, how someone handles a difficult situation is just as important as how they handle success.

Look at How They Work With the CEO and Board

The relationship between a finance leader, CEO, board, and PE sponsor is an important one. A CFO needs to be a partner to the CEO while also giving the board and sponsor a clear view of what is happening inside the business.

Most of the time, those goals are aligned. But there are times when the CFO needs to have a difficult conversation, question an assumption, or explain why the business may not hit a target. That requires more than technical finance experience.

When evaluating a candidate, look at how they have handled those relationships in previous roles. Have they presented directly to boards? How involved were they with the PE sponsor? Were they part of strategic decisions, or were they mainly responsible for preparing the information used to make them?

There is a difference. A finance leader who has been close to those decisions is usually able to give specific examples of how they worked with other leaders, where they pushed back, and how they helped the business make a better decision.

Find Out If The Finance Leader Has Built a Team, Not Just Managed One

A candidate may have managed a large finance organization, but that doesn’t necessarily tell you what they did with it. For a PE-backed company, the finance team often needs to change as the business grows.

A company preparing for acquisitions may need different experience than one focused on organic growth. A business with weak forecasting may need to strengthen FP&A. A Controller who was right for the company several years ago may not have the experience needed as reporting becomes more complex. A strong finance leader needs to recognize those gaps and know what to do about them. That doesn’t always mean replacing people.

Sometimes it means developing the people already there. Other times it means changing responsibilities, adding a permanent position, or bringing in contract or interim support during a busy period.

When evaluating a finance leader, ask what the finance team looked like when they arrived and what it looked like when they left. Who did they hire? Who did they develop? What gaps did they find? How did they decide which positions the business actually needed?

Those answers show whether someone has experience building a finance function or has mainly managed one that was already in place.

Don’t Overlook the Fit With the Environment

A candidate can be a very successful CFO and still not be the right CFO for every company. That is especially true in private equity.

PE-backed businesses often operate with shorter timelines, changing priorities, and high expectations around reporting and value creation. The finance team may also be smaller than what a candidate is used to, which requires the CFO to stay closer to the details.

Some leaders enjoy that environment while others may be more successful in a larger organization with more established processes and resources. Neither is necessarily better.

The important part is understanding which environment allows that person to perform at their best and whether it matches what the portfolio company actually needs. That is difficult to understand from a resume alone.

Final Thoughts

A resume is still an important part of evaluating finance leadership. Experience matters, especially when hiring someone who will have a major role in the direction of the business. But the resume should be the beginning of the conversation, not the end of it.

For private equity firms and portfolio companies, the better questions are often about what someone has actually experienced, how they think, how they communicate with the board and CEO, and whether they know how to build the finance team the business need next.

At Torrey & Gray, we work with private equity firms and portfolio companies to find experienced CFOs, Controllers, FP&A leaders, and other accounting and finance professionals. We take the time to understand not only what experience a position requires, but also what the business is trying to accomplish and the type of person who helps get it there.

That includes permanent hires as well as contract and interim professionals when the business needs additional support.

Because finding the right finance leader isn’t just about finding someone who looks right on paper. It is about finding someone who is right for where the business is going.