What transfers from banking, and what does not
The transferable half is genuinely valuable. Capital raising, M&A process management, valuation, board-grade modelling and the ability to hold a room full of investors are all core CFO work, and most people who come up through commercial accounting learn them late and incompletely. If your business is heading towards a raise, an acquisition or a listing, a banker background is a real asset.
The half that does not transfer is the half you will be tested on. A CFO owns a month-end close, a statutory audit, a payroll run, a tax position, an ERP that keeps falling over, and a team of people who have to be managed rather than staffed onto a deal. None of that appears on a deal sheet. Hiring boards know it, which is why the question in every process is not whether you can model, but whether you have ever carried an operating function.
| What banking gives you | What you still have to prove | |
|---|---|---|
| Capital and transactions | Raising, M&A, valuation, investor rooms | Nothing. This is the strongest part of the profile and the reason capital-event businesses will look at you at all. |
| Reporting and close | Modelling and analysis, from the outside | That you have owned a month-end close, a statutory audit and a set of accounts somebody else signed off on. |
| Systems and process | Little to no exposure | ERP, payroll, billing and the unglamorous plumbing a CFO inherits. Usually the first thing a founder asks about. |
| Leading a team | Deal teams, staffed and temporary | Hiring, developing and retaining a permanent function through a bad quarter. Different skill, and it is the one that ends CFO tenures. |
The stepping-stone roles that actually work
The reliable route into a CFO seat from banking is one operating role in between. In the Australian market that usually means VP or Head of Strategic Finance, Head of FP&A, or a corporate development seat with a genuine planning remit attached. Each of them lets you keep using the transaction muscle while you build the operating record you are missing.
Take the operating role seriously as a career step rather than as a holding pattern. Getting into a commercial role earlier is not a loss; it is a trade-off that accumulates experience you will need later.[1] The people who struggle are the ones who treat the in-between role as a two-year formality and never actually take ownership of a close, a forecast that they are held to, or a team.
If you are weighing which executive seat you actually want, I break down what each C-suite role owns and how the CFO seat differs here.
Which Australian companies hire ex-bankers
The honest answer is: businesses where the next twelve months are dominated by a capital event. Australian VC-backed scale-ups heading into a Series C or a pre-IPO raise, and private equity portfolio companies with a defined exit horizon, are where an ex-banker CFO profile competes best. For Series C and pre-IPO CFO roles the market expects IPO, M&A or significant secondary experience, and pays $350-500K+ plus equity, often weighted more to equity than cash.[2]
Where the profile competes worst is the first CFO hire at a business that has never had one. That seat is mostly infrastructure: reporting frameworks, compliance structures and the systems the business will fundraise and scale on.[3] A founder filling that role wants somebody who has built it before, not somebody who has advised on it. Worth knowing before you spend six months applying into the wrong half of the market.
One more thing to price in. The path into M&A and corporate advisory is competitive on the way in,[4] and the path out of it into an operating seat is competitive too. You are usually competing against a Financial Controller who has already run the function. Expect the process to be longer than you think.
How to position a deal-sheet CV for an operating role
The single biggest mistake is submitting a transaction list. A deal sheet tells a hiring manager what you were in the room for, not what you owned. Rewrite it around outcomes inside businesses.
The structure that works is the one I recommend for any client-facing CV. For each significant engagement, give the industry, the revenue scale, whether the business was listed or unlisted, then three to five points of the most noteworthy work, naming specific reporting standards or frameworks where you touched them.[5] That converts a deal list into evidence of commercial and technical range, which is what an operating hiring manager is reading for.
Then be explicit about the gap rather than hiding it. Saying plainly that you have not owned a month-end close, and that this is exactly why you are targeting a Head of Strategic Finance role next, reads as self-aware. Pretending the gap does not exist reads as someone who has not understood the job.
If you are comparing the pay drop or step up against your current banking package, the Australian CFO salary bands are set out here here.
Common questions
Can you go straight from investment banking to CFO?
It happens, but it is the exception rather than the route to plan for. Direct moves tend to occur where the business is dominated by a capital event, such as a pre-IPO raise or a private equity exit, and the board is explicitly buying transaction capability. In most other cases the hiring process will compare you against a Financial Controller or Head of Finance who has already owned a close, a team and an audit, and that comparison is hard to win without an operating role in between.
What roles bridge investment banking and a CFO seat?
VP or Head of Strategic Finance, Head of FP&A, and corporate development roles that carry a real planning remit are the usual bridges. They let you keep using modelling and transaction skills while building the operating record you are missing. The important thing is to genuinely own something in that role, a forecast you are held to, a close, or a team, rather than treating it as a two-year formality on the way to a title.
Which companies in Australia hire ex-bankers as CFOs?
Mostly VC-backed scale-ups heading into a Series C or pre-IPO raise, and private equity portfolio businesses with a defined exit horizon. At that level the market expects IPO, M&A or significant secondary experience and pays $350-500K+ plus equity, often weighted more to equity than cash. The weakest fit is a first CFO hire at a business that has never had one, because that role is mainly about building reporting frameworks, compliance structures and systems from scratch.
How should an investment banker rewrite their CV for a CFO role?
Stop presenting a deal sheet. For each significant engagement, set out the industry, the revenue scale, whether the business was listed or unlisted, then three to five points of the most noteworthy work, naming specific accounting standards or reporting frameworks where you touched them. That reframes transactions as evidence of commercial and technical range. Be explicit about what you have not owned, such as a month-end close, and say what role you are targeting to close that gap.
References
- Tom Hunter on career sequencing: getting into a commercial role earlier in a finance career is not a loss but a trade-off that accumulates valuable experience.
- Story Recruitment 2026 Australian salary data: a Series C+ or pre-IPO CFO commands $350-500K+ plus equity, with remuneration often weighted more to equity than cash, and the market expects IPO, M&A or significant secondary transaction experience.
- Tom Hunter on the first finance hire: this person is not a bookkeeper, they build the foundational infrastructure the business grows on, including reporting frameworks, compliance structures and systems for fundraising, acquisition and scaling.
- Tom Hunter, on The CFO Track: the path into M&A or corporate advisory is pretty competitive.
- Tom Hunter's CV guidance for client-facing finance professionals: for each key client, outline the industry, revenue and listed or unlisted status, then three to five points of the most noteworthy work including the specific accounting standards or reporting frameworks involved.