In this course, you will learn the key principles of CFO leadership. The class will apply the foundations learned from prior finance and accounting classes and will put students in the shoes of CFOs navigating complex, high-stakes situations. This class is for future CFOs and everyone who will work with CFOs - CEOs, senior executives, venture and private equity investors, board members, bankers, auditors, and regulators. The course covers the multiple aspects of the CFO role, including building a finance team, overseeing the financial systems and personnel, budgeting, and financial reporting. The course also covers key decisions of the CFO, including making investment decisions, responding to business and macroeconomic crises, capital raising decisions, and interacting with shareholders, analysts, and activists. The teaching team, which includes former CFOs and an Accounting professor, will guide interactive discussion with CFO guest speakers from approximately GSBGID 15 different companies; past guests include the CFOs of Meta, AirBnB, Meta, Walmart, Apple, and Costco. CFOs from an additional GSBGID 25 companies have also agreed to speak with student teams for the final case study project. Grading consists of three in-class quantitative workshop activities (GSBGID 30%), one quantitative individual exercise (GSBGID 15%), final case study project (GSBGID 30%), and class participation and attendance (GSBGID 25%).
3 units · GSB Letter Graded
In this course, you will learn the key principles of CFO leadership. The class will apply the foundations learned from prior finance and accounting classes and will put students in the shoes of CFOs navigating complex, high-stakes situations. This class is for future CFOs and everyone who will work with CFOs - CEOs, senior executives, venture and private equity investors, board members, bankers, auditors, and regulators. The course covers the multiple aspects of the CFO role, including building a finance team, overseeing the financial systems and personnel, budgeting, and financial reporting. The course also covers key decisions of the CFO, including making investment decisions, responding to business and macroeconomic crises, capital raising decisions, and interacting with shareholders, analysts, and activists. The teaching team, which includes former CFOs and an Accounting professor, will guide interactive discussion with CFO guest speakers from approximately 15 different companies; past guests include the CFOs of Meta, AirBnB, Meta, Walmart, Apple, and Costco. CFOs from an additional 25 companies have also agreed to speak with student teams for the final case study project. Grading consists of three in-class quantitative workshop activities (30%), one quantitative individual exercise (15%), final case study project (30%), and class participation and attendance (25%).
Offered in Spring 2026 at Stanford University.