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Less skilled
• Is unfamiliar with financial terms.

• Is unclear about the cause-and-effect relationships among different business functions and overall
financial performance.

• Pays little attention to financial impact when drawing conclusions.

Talented
• Transforms financial information into business intelligence through analysis and integration of
quantitative and qualitative information.
• Identifies and monitors key financial indicators to gauge performance, identify trends, and suggest
strategies that can impact results.

Overused skill
• Uses financial indicators as the only decision criteria, leading to an unbalanced view of organizational
performance that is narrowly focused on financial outcomes.
• May sacrifice long-term business objectives for short-term financial gains.

Some possible causes of lower skill
Causes help explain why a person may have trouble with Financial acumen. When seeking to increase
skill, it’s helpful to consider how these might play out in certain situations. And remember that all of these
can be addressed if you are motivated to do so.

• Overwhelmed by data.
• Not curious.
• Ignores financial information.

• Doesn’t think strategically.
• Lacks basic financial skills.
• Unaware of how finance drives the business.
• Makes emotional decisions.

• Leaves finance to others.
• Doesn’t dig for root causes.

Did you know?

Developing financial acumen early in your career works in your favor, especially if your goal is to attain
the top job at an organization. Roughly 30% of Fortune 500 CEOs spent the first few years of their
careers developing a strong foundation in finance. But that doesn’t mean financial acumen alone will get
you to the head of the table. Of those Fortune 500 CEOs who started early in finance, only 5% were
promoted directly from CFO positions. Most of them came from broader COO or president positions. So,

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