Job moves account for just half of CFO turnover.

• Author: Marshall, Jeffrey
• Position: CAREERS - Chief financial officers

Fifty percent of the CFOs who left companies did so for reasons other than finding another job. Those included inability to fit culturally into the organization, the increasingly stressful demands of the position and lack of current knowledge related to Sarbanes-Oxley, according to a survey by Right Management.

CFOs lasted in their positions for more than five years at 48 percent of the 191 organizations surveyed. However, CFOs stayed in their jobs for less than three years at 25 percent of companies. It typically takes between three and five months to replace a departing chief financial executive, according to the survey.

Respondents included primarily human resource managers and executives at mid-sized to large organizations in all industries.

"Many CFOs had the same 'cultural fit' problems that are a leading cause of executive failure--their management styles and ways of doing their jobs did not fit in with the prevailing organizational culture," said Doug Matthews, president and chief operating officer for Right Management, which calls itself "a provider of integrated consulting solutions across the employment lifecycle."

Then, of course, there is Sarbanes-Oxley. "The strains that Sarbanes-Oxley placed on the job are still present. Some...