What Is a CFOO? The CFOO Role

The C-suite table has become a little smaller at growing organizations where the CFO and the chief COO roles have merged into a single, high-powered executive: the chief financial and operating officer, or CFOO. Tasked with the broad responsibilities of both domains, the CFOO is a trusted advisor to the CEO and a pivotal leader in improving business performance. It takes a special person to fulfill the CFOO role, so let’s examine their responsibilities and qualifications, the advantages of blending two roles, and what keeps these executives up at night.

What Is a CFOO?

A CFOO is a senior executive with the combined responsibilities of a CFO and a COO. This hybrid role oversees both the financial management and the operational activities of an organization.

The CFOO position has emerged as companies look for ways to break down departmental silos and better align their money management with how they run their business. This approach is especially valuable for fast-growing midsize companies, where financial decisions and operational activities are closely intertwined. Instead of having two separate executives who need to constantly coordinate, the CFOO brings a unified perspective to financial planning, resource allocation, and operating efficiency.

Key Takeaways

• A CFOO combines the traditionally separate roles of CFO and COO into a single executive position.
• Successful CFOOs need a rare combination of financial expertise and operational knowledge, along with exceptional leadership skills.
• Organizations with CFOOs can benefit from faster, better aligned decision-making and greater agility.
• CFOOs with integrated technology solutions, such as an ERP system that provides comprehensive visibility of financial and operational data, are often the most successful.

CFOOs Explained

The CFOO function represents a return to a more integrated leadership approach that was common before corporate structures and “CXO” titles became highly specialized. In many ways, this CFO-COO combination acknowledges that financial and operational decisions are two sides of the same coin—both ultimately focused on creating value and sustaining growth.

In practice, the CFOO retains all the customary financial responsibilities of a CFO, similar to those of a financial controller, and adds operating responsibilities that vary significantly by industry. For example, in manufacturing or product-based businesses, the CFOO might also oversee everything from supply chain management to distribution logistics, inventory control, and production operations. In technology companies, operational duties might extend to HR, legal, and employment- and industry-specific compliance. In professional service organizations, the operational side encompasses project delivery, resource utilization, service quality, and business development.

However, one commonality shared by all organization types is that the CFOO serves as a strategic partner to the CEO, providing integrated insights that connect financial discipline with operational execution.

What makes the dual role notable is how it formalizes a trend that has been developing for years. Many CFOs have already evolved beyond pure financial oversight as strategic advisors, technology champions, and operational influencers with substantial business impact. Indeed, the line between an expanded CFO role and a formal CFOO can be blurry; the key distinction lies in explicit accountability and organizational structure. Although today’s CFOs certainly influence operational choices, the CFOO holds formal authority and direct responsibility for this domain. This isn’t simply a finance executive with operational insight or an operations leader with business acumen, either—it’s a deliberate fusion of these functions under one person who’s equally accountable for success in both areas.

This structured integration creates a fundamentally different approach to leadership that affects everything from decision-making processes to how teams throughout the organization collaborate.

How Common Are CFOOs?

Without question, separate, traditional CFO and COO titles remain more common across the board. However, though exact numbers are difficult to pin down, the CFOO position has gained significant traction in small to midsize companies, startups, private equity-backed organizations, and any organization looking to keep its executive team agile. It’s also common for organizations to temporarily adopt the CFOO model during periods of transition or restructuring.

The Role of a CFOO

A CFOO needs to excel in juggling two demanding areas. On the financial side, they’re overseeing the entire finance function and financial operations. This includes accounting, financial planning and analysis, overseeing budgeting, financial reporting and compliance, investor relations, performance analysis, and risk management. CFOOs are also responsible for preparing and analyzing financial statements and serving as the primary financial spokesperson to the CEO, board of directors, and external stakeholders, guiding businesses through the prism of maintaining fiscal health.

Operationally, the CFOO is charged with overseeing the day-to-day mechanics of how the business runs, identifying and mitigating operating risks, and improving process efficiency. The CFOO also steers functional innovation for the areas under their purview, often including chief procurement officer functions involving supply chain management, production, IT systems, facilities, and HR.

In addition, the CFOO holds the important leadership responsibility of managing both finance and operations teams, whose staffs comprise diverse employees with different backgrounds, priorities, working styles, and schedules.

A typical day for a CFOO might include analyzing key performance indicators (KPIs), meeting with department heads to discuss productivity or workflow enhancements, participating in investor calls, and collaborating with the CEO and other members of the executive leadership team on long-range planning.

CFOO Skills and Qualifications

This full-time, critical position demands a rare blend of financial expertise and operational acumen. Successful candidates usually hold at least a bachelor’s degree in business, often complemented by an MBA degree or CPA license to deepen their expertise. They possess substantial experience—generally, more than a decade in senior financial and operational positions—along with strong industry knowledge. On the financial side, they must demonstrate mastery in such areas as advanced financial modeling, accounting, capital planning, investor relations, retirement plan management, and risk management. Operationally, they need to excel in the specific areas they oversee and be adept at leading process improvement, technology implementation, and performance management.

Beyond technical expertise, CFOOs must be able to shift seamlessly between strategic vision and day-to-day execution. This dual focus often positions them as key drivers of organizational transformation, with strong change-management capabilities. In addition to excellent analytical and problem-solving skills, ideal candidates need to be exceptional leaders who can guide their teams. They also need to exhibit clear communication skills to convey complex financial and operational concepts to diverse stakeholders and possess outstanding time-management abilities in order to balance competing priorities.

Advantages of CFOOs

Organizations that employ a CFOO often experience several significant benefits that improve their financial performance and operational efficiency. Advantages stem from the integrated leadership approach this role brings to the organization:

• Streamlined leadership: The CFOO position eliminates the customary silos between finance and operations, creating a more cohesive approach to business management. It reduces redundancies in reporting structures and fosters stronger collaboration among departments that would otherwise operate on their own.
• Faster decision-making: Approvals and implementation are accelerated since financial and operational decisions flow through a single executive. That means companies avoid the delays that can occur when multiple leaders need to coordinate or reach consensus before moving forward with initiatives.
• Cost efficiency: Employing one executive instead of two can save a significant amount of money, when salary, bonuses, travel and entertainment expenses, and employee benefits are factored in. Indirect savings can also be obtained from the elimination of double computers, cell phones, office space, and administrative support. These funds can be redirected or dropped to the bottom line.
• Stronger strategic alignment: The CFOO makes sure that financial strategies directly support operational goals and that operating plans reflect fiscal realities. This alignment means resource allocation will be based consistently on the company’s most critical operational priorities.
• Clearer accountability: Companies establish a greater level of accountability for business results when they have one executive responsible for two areas. This clarity prevents finger-pointing occurring between the respective departments and creates a single point of responsibility for the company’s financial and operational success.
• Adaptability: Organizations with CFOOs can respond more quickly to market changes because financial and operational adjustments now happen simultaneously. It also permits faster course corrections when business conditions shift, since the same leader who is setting and monitoring KPIs will be the one to immediately implement operational changes to address them or to capture emerging opportunities.

Challenges CFOOs Face

The CFOO function comes with a range of inherent challenges, many of which center around the familiar triad of people, process, and technology. With the right support system in place—namely, an integrated ERP system that connects financial and operational data and automates routine processes across departments to maximize the effectiveness of this combined position—businesses will be well positioned to overcome the potential pitfalls:

• Balancing strategic and operational roles: CFOOs must constantly shift between high-level strategic planning and detailed day-to-day execution across multiple functions. This requires exceptional versatility, which can prove difficult should the CFOO become bogged down in financial minutiae or operational firefighting at the expense of broader long-term priorities. The sheer breadth of responsibilities can also lead to work overload and potential burnout, particularly during high-pressure periods, such as the accounting close or operational crises.
• Data integration and visibility: Unlike separated CFO and COO functions, where each leader focuses on their own metrics, the CFOO has to connect the dots between both sides. This responsibility can be exceptionally cumbersome if they’re working with fragmented systems that silo information and block clear, real-time visibility into how operational decisions affect financial results and vice versa.
• Cross-functional alignment: The CFOO bridges traditionally separate departments with different priorities, success metrics, and staff. Finance teams tend to focus on accuracy, compliance, and cost control, while operations teams prioritize efficiency, quality, innovation, and customer satisfaction. Aligning these perspectives demands exceptional leadership skills and the ability to respect the distinct contributions of each function.
• Talent retention and workforce productivity: Finding an external executive with expertise in both finance and operations can be tough; most candidates possess deeper experience in one area while having only surface-level knowledge of the other; this also makes it harder to train and nurture internal talent for succession planning. From a practical perspective, if a CFOO leaves, companies ultimately have to replace two critical positions at once, which can create real organizational disruption. Additionally, CFOOs need to be able to effectively lead diverse teams composed of people with differing professional backgrounds and approaches.
• Cost optimization vs. growth investment: CFOOs determine when to prioritize cost-cutting measures to improve margins and when to invest in operational capabilities to drive expansion. The tension between balancing fiscal discipline with operational growth initiatives can become particularly acute during economic uncertainty, when the CFOO is forced to make difficult choices about resource allocation that affect both financial and operational domains.
• Cash flow and liquidity management: CFOOs must make sure the business has enough cash on hand to meet demands for inventory, equipment, and other resources. This entails sophisticated forecasting that considers cash flow constraints and the operational needs that fuel growth to maintain liquidity without slowing down the business.
• Technology modernization and digital transformation: CFOOs have to evaluate technology investments simultaneously through financial and operational lenses, always balancing cost and ROI with functionality and implementation. As the company grows, a CFOO also faces increased urgency to build a digital strategy that supports financial reporting and operational efficiency, all while managing limited resources and competing priorities.
• Regulatory compliance and risk management: The CFOO is called upon to oversee compliance with diverse regulatory frameworks—such as SEC regulations, GAAP compliance, tax laws for financial reporting, industry-specific regulations, safety standards, and environmental compliance for operations—a responsibility that would otherwise be divided between two C-suite executives. However, by combining the roles, the natural checks and balances that typically exist when these functions operate separately can be weakened. Plus, the consolidation of authority in one individual can increase the risk of governance gaps if proper controls aren’t established.
• Environmental social and governance (ESG) and sustainability reporting: ESG considerations remain a concern for many stakeholders. It’s up to the CFOO to develop an integrated approach that satisfies both financial reporting requirements and operational implementation. The challenge lies in quantifying the financial impact of sustainability initiatives while simultaneously overseeing their operational execution. To do so, CFOOs will have to establish new processes and metrics that bridge financial reporting with operational performance indicators, creating greater complexity in an already demanding role.
• Economic and geopolitical volatility: CFOOs have to navigate external market uncertainties, yet maintain operational stability. Their unique position mandates development of complex contingency plans to address financial risks, such as currency fluctuations and interest rate changes, as well as operational challenges, such as supply chain disruptions or labor shortages, at the same time.

Manage End-To-End Business Processes With NetSuite

For organizations considering a CFOO leadership model, NetSuite ERP directly addresses the core challenges these executives face by providing a unified database for both financial and operational data. The cloud-based platform offers role-based dashboards that allow CFOOs to customize their view by presenting financial KPIs and operational metrics on a single screen. Automated workflows for approvals and reporting significantly lighten the administrative workload of this dual responsibility. Other modules, for order management, inventory control, and supply chain, among others, give CFOOs immediate sightlines into operational metrics that reinforce financial outcomes.

In particular, the NetSuite Financial Management module delivers real-time visibility into accounting, revenue management, billing, and financial planning operations. CFOOs can monitor cash flow, track business performance, and generate compliance-ready financial statements without leaving the same system that manages their operational responsibilities. It also provides a host of built-in controls to help maintain proper governance under consolidated leadership.

The CFOO is emerging as a powerful leadership role, an asset especially for fast-growing midsize companies. These multifaceted executives bridge the gap between traditional finance and operations, serving as valuable co-pilots to CEOs. Although this combined position requires specialized talent and comprehensive support systems to manage the two domains effectively, the benefits of enhanced strategic alignment and faster decision-making can deliver substantial value.

CFOO FAQs

What does CFOO stand for?

CFOO stands for chief financial and operating officer. It is a senior executive position that combines the traditional responsibilities of a chief financial officer and chief operating officer.

Is a CFO higher than a COO?

Both positions typically report directly to the CEO, but they represent different but equally important areas of responsibility. The relative standing of the CFO and COO can vary by organization, usually depending on the company’s specific business model and industry—some companies prioritize financial leadership, while others place greater emphasis on operational expertise.

What is the title for combined CFO and COO?

When an organization combines the CFO and COO roles into a single position, the title used is chief financial and operating officer, or CFOO for short. In organizations where the designation is not part of the C-suite, the title used is vice president/director of finance and operations.

Can you combine COO and CFO?

Yes, organizations can combine the COO and CFO responsibilities into a single position, called a chief financial and operating officer, or CFOO. This combined role may be a good fit operationally, depending on an organization’s size, complexity, and leadership needs.