Want a top FD job? Be a top FC

Just back from the FDs' Forum, Richmond Events' annual finance function fest aboard the cruise ship Oriana. The unoffocial theme this year seemed to be personal and career development, testament to my long-held assertion that from the management accountant to chairman of the audit committee, finance executives now need to have great communication, delegation and interpersonal skills if they're to succeed.

Unsuprisingly, the sessions focused on careers got a great turnout from the assembled FD and FC delegates. (And the fact that there were a fair number of FCs, but the suppliers on board were also delighted, is testament to the purchasing power now held by numner twos, I think...) One speaker was asked about how an established FD might go about engineering a step up to the big leagues (FTSE 350). It's tough if you haven't built a career in that sort of organisation, but the best advice was to take a number two slot in them and work up from there - even if the title is theoretically a step down.

Well, it looks like good advice: over at FTSE 100 oil and gas play, Jann Brown, the group financial controller, has been announced as Kevin Hart's replacement as FD. (Hart is off to be a CEO at a smaller company.) That shows what we've always said here: that the FC role is no longer a pure-play number cruncher. Like the FD role a few years ago, it's been shifted into a more strategic, advisory role. And that's true in all sizes of company, not just the FTSE power-players. Bored FD of a static company? Find yourself a broad FC role in a bigger, but growing, business - and if you get your first taste of private equity experience that way, you're adding a crucial component to your CV for when that PE-backed FD role comes around.

But note also: "Elsewhere, Simon Thomson, the commercial manager, has been appointed legal and commercial director." Which, I think, suggests that companies are more willing now to share out some of the roles that got dumped on the FD in the past (such as legal). And that means an FC with strong communications skills and a strategic mindset will find the transition to the top finance role even easier.