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The Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of a company or public agency is the corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of the business or agency. This officer is also responsible for financial planning and record-keeping, as well as financial reporting to higher management. (In recent years, however, the role has expanded to encompass communicating financial performance and forecasts to the analyst community.) The title is equivalent to finance director, commonly seen in the United Kingdom. The CFO typically reports to the Chief Executive Officer, and is frequently a member of the board of directors.

 A UK Finance Director is commonly a Chartered Accountant (CA/ACA) or Chartered Certified Accountant (ACCA/FCCA) or Chartered Management Accountant (ACMA/FCMA), and in several financially well-developed countries or regions including Hong Kong, many finance directors are qualified accountants. It has, however, become commonplace for non-accountants to become CFOs in the United States. Indeed, many CFOs have an MBA but no qualified accountancy qualification such as CPA. This has been criticised in some quarters as a contributory factor to the wave of accounting scandals seen in the US in 2002. The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 aims to address this by requiring at least one member of the company's Audit Committee to hold an accounting or finance qualification. The act makes it more likely, therefore, that the US business world will see a trend towards Chief Financial Officers possessing a U.S. accountancy qualification - CPA and/or overseas accountancy qualification (i.e. ACCA/CA).
If the role of CFO is compared with that of CEO, i.e. as strategic business partner and with obligation of statutory duties under SEC and Sarbanes-Oxley Act, both can be seen as distinct and equal-ranking top executive posts.
Many CFOs without formal credentials still have a thorough understanding of finance and a knowledge of problem solving through quantification.
Public agencies and government organizations throughout the world have financial directors and other leading officers responsible for financial management within their organizations. Many are equivalent in the scope of their responsibilities to CFOs.

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