How much detail should a CFO CV go into on transactions?

Enough that a search consultant or PE Operating Partner can sense-check your involvement, without giving up commercially sensitive detail. Name the deal type, the value, your role and the outcome. 'Led sell-side process for £210m carve-out, signed within 11 months and delivered an enterprise value 1.4x EBITDA above entry plan' is right. Naming the buyer is fine if the deal is in the public domain. Do not list every legal entity, every bank in the syndicate or the post-deal earn-out terms — that detail belongs in interview.

Do I need to list every qualification and CPD?

Lead with the headline qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CFA) next to your name. Below your education section, a single line covering relevant memberships (FCA, member of the IoD, NED qualifications) is enough. Do not list every CPD module or PE-Operating-Partner masterclass; it pads the CV without adding signal. The exception is if you are moving into a specialist sector — for example, FCA-regulated firms place real weight on Approved Person status and SMCR experience, so name those explicitly.

Should I include NED roles?

Yes, in their own section near the bottom. NED experience (especially Audit Chair or Risk Chair roles) is a strong signal for CFO candidates above £150k and essential for Group CFO and PLC roles. List the company, sector, your role on the Board (Chair, Audit Chair, NED), the time period and a one-line description of the business. Avoid listing charity trusteeships unless they are at significant scale or directly relevant; a small-charity trustee role at the bottom of a CFO CV adds little.

CV Example · Senior Leadership · UK 2026

CFO CV Example UK

CFO is one of the few UK roles where the CV is the easy part — the chemistry with the CEO and Chair is what closes the deal. But you still have to clear the gate, and a poorly structured CFO CV will not. Lead with the company scale you have run finance for (revenue, headcount, jurisdictions), the transactions you have completed (M&A, fundraising, IPO), and the qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CFA). Search committees and PE Operating Partners read fast; they want to see a numbers-led document with no marketing fluff. Treat your CV like a Board pack: clean, hierarchical, fact-driven.

By Alex · 12-year UK recruiter · Updated April 2026

Example header

Mark Davies FCA · CFO · 18 years · London

Personal statement / Professional summary

ACA-qualified CFO with 18 years of finance leadership, currently CFO of a £140m revenue PE-backed software business preparing for sale in 2027. Own Finance, Legal and IT (combined headcount 38) and report into the CEO and a Bridgepoint-led Board. Have completed two bolt-on acquisitions worth a combined £62m and refinanced the senior debt facility in 2025. Took EBITDA margin from 18% to 27% over three years through a combination of pricing, cost-base restructuring and offshoring. Looking for a CFO role at a £200m-£500m PE-backed business with a clear exit pathway, or a Group CFO role in a listed mid-cap.

Bullet point examples

Strong bullets follow the same shape: action verb, specific scope, quantified outcome. Use these as patterns, not as copy-paste templates — the numbers must be your own.

Scale and scope

CFO of a £140m revenue, £38m EBITDA software business with operations in the UK, Germany and the US; report into the CEO and a Bridgepoint-led Board.
Own Finance, Legal and IT functions with a combined headcount of 38 and a £6.4m annual functional budget.

Transactions

Led the 2025 refinancing of a £85m senior debt facility, reducing blended cost of debt from 9.2% to 6.8% and extending tenor by three years.
Completed two bolt-on acquisitions in 2024-25 worth a combined £62m, including running the diligence workstream, the SPA negotiation and 100-day integration plans.

Performance and margin

Lifted EBITDA margin from 18% to 27% over three years through pricing reset (worth +5pts), GTM efficiency programme (+3pts) and SG&A restructuring (+1pt).
Re-engineered the cash-conversion cycle from 51 days to 18 days by overhauling collections and re-negotiating the top 20 supplier contracts.

Board and reporting

Present at every Board and Investment Committee (8 per year) on financial performance, KPIs, and strategic options; lead two annual planning workshops with the Exec.
Rebuilt the monthly Board pack from a 64-page document into a 18-page strategic dashboard now adopted as the standard format across two Bridgepoint portfolio companies.

Audit, tax and controls

Clean audit opinion in each of the last 4 years (KPMG); zero material weaknesses raised in the most recent ITGC review.
Led the migration from NetSuite to Workday Adaptive Planning across three jurisdictions, delivering on time and 6% under a £840k budget.

Skills section — what to list

Mirror the skills exactly as they appear in target job ads. The ATS reads this section literally — synonyms hurt match scores.

ACA / ACCA / CIMA qualifiedPE-backed business leadershipM&A (buy-side and sell-side)Debt refinancing and capital structureIPO readiness and listed reportingThree-statement modellingFP&A and integrated planningTreasury and cash managementUK GAAP, IFRS and US GAAPTax structuring (corporate, transfer pricing, R&D)Audit Committee partnershipERP implementation (NetSuite, Workday, Oracle)ESG and sustainability reporting (CSRD)Investor relationsBoard and Chair partnership

CFO-specific CV mistakes that get you binned

× Listing every monthly close and reconciliation task — those are FC duties, not CFO ones. Lead with strategic outcomes.
× Vague company-scale data — 'large software business' is useless. Revenue, EBITDA, headcount, jurisdictions in the first paragraph.
× Hiding the funding context — PE-backed, VC-backed, family-owned, listed and PLC roles are different jobs. Be explicit.
× Forgetting to name the Chair or PE house if it is recognisable — search committees pattern-match on those names.
× Skipping qualification letters — ACA, FCA, ACCA all carry weight in the UK and should be next to your name.

Common questions

How much detail should a CFO CV go into on transactions?: Enough that a search consultant or PE Operating Partner can sense-check your involvement, without giving up commercially sensitive detail. Name the deal type, the value, your role and the outcome. 'Led sell-side process for £210m carve-out, signed within 11 months and delivered an enterprise value 1.4x EBITDA above entry plan' is right. Naming the buyer is fine if the deal is in the public domain. Do not list every legal entity, every bank in the syndicate or the post-deal earn-out terms — that detail belongs in interview.
Do I need to list every qualification and CPD?: Lead with the headline qualification (ACA, ACCA, CIMA, CFA) next to your name. Below your education section, a single line covering relevant memberships (FCA, member of the IoD, NED qualifications) is enough. Do not list every CPD module or PE-Operating-Partner masterclass; it pads the CV without adding signal. The exception is if you are moving into a specialist sector — for example, FCA-regulated firms place real weight on Approved Person status and SMCR experience, so name those explicitly.
Should I include NED roles?: Yes, in their own section near the bottom. NED experience (especially Audit Chair or Risk Chair roles) is a strong signal for CFO candidates above £150k and essential for Group CFO and PLC roles. List the company, sector, your role on the Board (Chair, Audit Chair, NED), the time period and a one-line description of the business. Avoid listing charity trusteeships unless they are at significant scale or directly relevant; a small-charity trustee role at the bottom of a CFO CV adds little.