CIOs: Reporting To A CFO Isn't Necessarily All That Bad!
Heller Search Associates, Wednesday, December 6,2023
A CIO's reporting relationship is widely considered to be a direct reflection of their ability to influence the business strategies of their companies. A CIO may report to a Chief Operations Officer or a Chief Administrative Officer or a Chief Technology Officer, but most commonly they report to either a CEO or CFO.
A CEO reporting relationship is allegedly a symbol of political power and a clear indication that the IT function has attained a 'seat at the table' where company strategies are debated and decided. This is not just fanciful CIO hearsay. Gartner Research fully subscribes to this point of view. Gartner conducts annual surveys of CIO reporting relationships with the clear implication that a CEO boss is to be preferred over all other options.
In the real world, however, a CEO reporting relationship may not translate into true political clout. I know of a CIO-CEO reporting relationship in which the CIO is allocated 30 minutes each month for a one-on-one conversation with his boss, boss' schedule permitting. I personally worked in a company in which the CEO never convened an executive team meeting. He worked exclusively with our CFO and Chief Strategy Officer, conversed frequently with Board members and major investors, and spent the remainder of his time traveling internationally. Bottom line: a CEO reporting relationship and true organizational clout are not synonymous.