Job Description Template: Chief Financial Officer
A Chief Financial Officer oversees financial planning, reporting, and compliance for your organisation. This template guides Swiss employers through defining CFO responsibilities, technical competencies, and compensation—whether you're seeking full-time leadership or scaling finance operations.
A CFO manages financial strategy, internal controls, and external reporting. In a Swiss SME, this role bridges accounting operations, investor relations, tax compliance, and board-level advice. The CFO typically reports to the founder or CEO and may oversee a team of accountants, controllers, or finance analysts.
Use this template to articulate your specific context: Are you formalising finance leadership for the first time? Replacing an outgoing CFO? Growing your team? Adapt each section to reflect your company size, canton, and growth stage.
About the Role: What a CFO Does
The CFO is your organisation's financial steward. They build and maintain accounting systems, ensure compliance with Swiss law (including tax and corporate reporting), and provide decision-makers with financial insight. In smaller firms, the CFO may also handle HR payroll, banking relationships, and statutory audits.
Write here: Describe your company's annual turnover, number of employees, and main business. Explain whether this is a new role or a replacement. Note if the CFO will manage direct reports or work solo.
- Financial planning and budgeting
- Statutory reporting and regulatory compliance (Swiss Code of Obligations, cantonal requirements)
- Oversight of accounting systems and internal controls
- Tax planning and liaison with external auditors
- Cash-flow management and banking relationships
- Board and shareholder reporting
Responsibilities & Day-to-Day
Tailor these to your business. A SaaS startup's CFO might focus on burn rate and fundraising. A manufacturing firm's CFO might emphasise supply-chain cost control and VAT compliance. A services company might need strong project costing.
Note whether this person will manage payroll, interface with a shared service centre, or work alongside an external accounting firm. Clarity here reduces friction in hiring and onboarding.
- Month-end close: invoice reconciliation, general ledger review, provision management
- Tax compliance: VAT returns, corporate income tax filings, Quellensteuer (withholding tax) management, AHV/ALI contributions
- Annual statutory audit liaison: preparing schedules, responding to auditor queries
- Cash forecasting and working-capital optimisation
- Team management (if applicable): hiring, training, and performance of accounting staff
- Strategic reporting to the board or founder: variance analysis, KPIs, forward-looking commentary
Requirements: Must-Haves & Nice-to-Haves
Must-haves are non-negotiable: Swiss tax and accounting knowledge, professional certification (CPA, Treuhand-Diplom, or equivalent), and fluency in the working language of your company and canton.
Nice-to-haves might include industry experience, multilingual ability, ERP software expertise, or experience managing larger teams. Be honest: if English matters, say so; if German is essential, state it clearly.
- Professional qualification: Swiss accounting diploma, CPA/CIA, or equivalent recognised certification
- Minimum 5–10 years' finance or accounting experience in a Swiss context (adjust to your firm size)
- Fluent in [German/French/Italian] and English (name your specific requirement)
- Strong knowledge of Swiss tax law, VAT, payroll, and corporate governance
- Proficiency with accounting software [name your system: SAP, Sage, Exact, BuchhaltungsCloud, or similar]
- Leadership and communication skills; comfort presenting financial results to non-finance stakeholders
Frequently asked questions
- Should I name a specific canton or city in the job ad?
- Yes. Swiss job seekers expect to know the workplace location. List the canton and city (e.g. 'Zurich, ZH' or 'Geneva, GE'). If remote work is an option, mention it explicitly. Employer branding and local tax transparency depend on clarity here.
- What should I include in the compensation section?
- Offer a transparent range in CHF, expressed as annual gross salary. Add Pensum percentage (e.g. 100%, or 80% if part-time). Mention standard benefits: holiday days (20+ is typical), 13. Monatslohn (13th-month bonus, common in CH), pension contributions (BVG minimum 8–10%), and any health or mobility benefits. Legal note: confirm cantonal minimums and any GAV (collective labour agreement) that applies to your industry.
- How do I handle language requirements professionally?
- List language needs in the requirements section, not the intro. Be specific: 'Fluent German (working level) and conversational English' is clearer than 'Good language skills'. Avoid gatekeeping unnecessarily—if one language is truly essential, say so; otherwise, invite candidates to demonstrate capability.
General information for Swiss employers, not legal advice. Have a lawyer confirm anything with legal consequences.