Career Development of CFOs in Japan

Focusing on the Job Change Experiences

Abstract

Traditionally, Japanese companies have selected senior executives from managers who had joined the firm as freshmen and worked there ever since. Today, however, Japanese companies face difficulties brought on by the population decline and the fourth industrial revolution, and some have started filling their senior ranks with so-called “professional managers” whose careers entailed progressively responsible positions with a series of companies. Increasing numbers of foreign-affiliated companies and publically traded start-ups have made professional managers more commonplace. As in the United States, a career as a professional manager seems to be emerging in Japan. This study aims to examine the career development of professional managers focusing on chief financial officers (CFOs) and especially their behavior with relation to their job changes. Data were gathered through semi-structured interviews with eight participants who had served as CFOs and were analyzed using the Modified Grounded Theory Approach. Findings revealed that CFOs’ job changes are supported by three common factors: (1) development of a long-term strategy to survive the uncertainties of a career not assured by a single company; (2) establishment of the job change process as a routine pattern; and (3) utilization of the characteristics of accounting as a common base among the career community.