Companies are getting younger at the checkbook right when the checks are getting bigger.
A record wave of CFOs is heading for the exit, and boards are handing the checkbook to the youngest finance chiefs in a decade.
New CFOs now average 48.2 years old, down from 51.9 in 2025. Turnover is tracking 18.3%, the highest since the pandemic. New CEOs? 53.5 and rising.… pic.twitter.com/dgTTNPsNeK
— Kurt S. Altrichter, CRPS® (@kurtsaltrichter) August 31, 2026
CFO turnover projected to hit 18.3%
Crist Kolder’s midyear report covers 665 Fortune 500 and S&P 500 companies. Turnover is projected at 18.3%, compared with 18.2% in 2020 and 19.3% in 2019. The 10-year average is 16%. New CFOs are averaging about 48 years old, down from 52 last year.
New CFOs are the youngest cohort since 2016
The average age of newly appointed CFOs dropped to 48.2 from 51.9. That makes this the youngest incoming CFO group in roughly a decade.