I recently caught up with Korn Ferry International’s Chuck Eldridge and asked him to tell me what skills CFOs are looking for in their senior finance executives. He answered immediately, noting, “The hottest position today is financial planning and analysis.”

Eldridge knows more than a thing or two about corporate finance departments. A former auditing partner with Ernst & Young, Eldridge has spent nearly two decades with Korn/Ferry. He serves as a senior client partner operating in the global executive search and talent management firm’s Financial Officers Center of Expertise, based in Atlanta. Eldridge has authored a number of white papers, including “Navigating the Uncertain Road from Controller to CFO: The Leadership Imperative.”

“Companies have invested tens of millions of dollars in their back-office controllership function,” Eldridge continued. “Now, everybody is trying to figure out the same thing: Today is the 28th of January, and I know how much we sold yesterday on the 27th. But if I can figure out what we’re going to sell in March, I can truly pound my competitors.”

I asked Eldridge when the growing importance of FP&A skills first struck him. He replied by telling of an interesting conversation he had with current Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke about 3 years ago.

Back then, Duke was the CEO of the retailing giant’s international business, and he had called on Korn/Ferry for help in finding a controller for the international business unit.

“We were chatting in Mike’s office at 10 in the morning when one of his assistants walked in and placed an index card on his desk,” Eldridge recalled. “Mike picked up the card, raised his eyebrows and showed me a very large number. I asked him what it represented, and he told me that it reflected the company’s overseas sales the day before.”

I said, “Wow, that’s pretty fast,” and he explained that he could also tell me how many toothbrushes the company sold in Europe yesterday. In response, I asked him – only half-jokingly – why he needed me to help him find a controller if he already had those figures at his fingertips.

“Mike said, ‘I may be able to tell you how many toothbrushes we sold in Europe yesterday. But we want to get to the point where I can tell you today how many toothbrushes we will sell 45 to 60 days from now. If I figure that out, we can’t get beat.’”

That, Eldridge notes, was when the rising importance of FP&A skills really hit home for him. And, he concludes, the dialogue about the need for FP&A talent has only grown more intense since then. ###