Top 10 Executive Courses for Chief Financial Officers

The Chief Financial Officer Programme at London Business School helps participants to build the skills and confidence they need to communicate financial acumen and collaborate across different functions. They also learn how to balance performance objectives with business strategy, as well as how to build and lead high-performing teams.

Harvard Business School runs the Succeeding as a Strategic CFO in Boston. The course helps participants to enhance their financial decision-making skills, as well as develop their leadership capabilities and strengthen their communication skills, in order to become a strategic partner to their CEO. They also expand their personal and professional networks.

In California, Stanford Graduate School of Business offers the Emerging CFO: Strategic Financial Leadership Program. The course blends financial expertise, strategic thinking and leadership skills to help participants make better decisions, build partnerships with key stakeholders, and develop a more effective leadership style.

The Latin American CFOs’ Executive Program is put on by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. Designed for Latin American financial executives, it helps participants to enrich, strengthen, and modernize their professional skills in order to improve organizational effectiveness. All course are presented in English with translations available in Spanish.

China Europe International Business School runs the Chief Financial Officer Programme, which is designed to help CFOs become major strategic partners, not just chief accountants. It does this by equipping them with the latest management theory and strategic thinking, with topics covering macroeconomic analysis, taxation management, leadership development and more.

In Finland, the Aalto CFO Program is designed for financial executives who wish to strengthen their role as a strategic business partner, while also gaining the latest perspectives on digitalizing the finance function. They take modules on business analytics, for example, while also developing key financial competencies to support business development.

The “Digital CFO” seminar at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany is an intensive, four-day program that is focused on creating the corporate finance function of the future. Professors and CFOs provide a holistic view of every dimension of the finance function’s operating model. Participants develop their own ‘digital roadmap’ to digitalization within their own organization.

In the Netherlands, Nyenrode business school runs the CFO Program. The course is delivered in collaboration with the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants, giving participants the opportunity to gain the CGMA designation for financial professionals. More broadly, participants will strengthen their leadership capabilities and learn how to communicate financial input more effectively.

The Indian School of Business offers a program called, Role of a CFO: Integrating Strategy and Finance. The program gives participants a strategic perspective on financial leadership, while also mastering the latest developments in corporate finance. The aim is to become indispensable to their organization, by developing broader business leadership capabilities.

The Asian Institute of Management, in the Philippines, runs the CFO Strategic Leadership Development Program, which is designed for financial executives responsible for developing and implementing strategy as part of their leadership roles. Participants will deepen their understanding of corporate strategy and boost their strategic thinking abilities.