In this course, you will learn the key principles of CFO leadership. The course is organized around two themes. The first, CFO Foundations, covers the key functions a CFO must manage, including FP&A, treasury, tax, international operations, corporate development, and business partnership, drawn from best practices of industry-leading firms. The second, CFO Applications, examines the critical moments that define a CFO's career: preparing a company for an IPO, managing through a crisis, navigating business model transformation, and allocating capital at scale. Most class sessions will include an interactive case study discussion with a CFO guest speaker; in 2026, these speakers included the CFOs of OpenAI, Apple, Meta, Airbnb, Pfizer, and Walmart, among others. In addition, all students will be matched with a prominent CFO for a 2:1 interview for their 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 course is organized around two themes. The first, CFO Foundations, covers the key functions a CFO must manage, including FP&A, treasury, tax, international operations, corporate development, and business partnership, drawn from best practices of industry-leading firms. The second, CFO Applications, examines the critical moments that define a CFO's career: preparing a company for an IPO, managing through a crisis, navigating business model transformation, and allocating capital at scale. Most class sessions will include an interactive case study discussion with a CFO guest speaker; in 2026, these speakers included the CFOs of OpenAI, Apple, Meta, Airbnb, Pfizer, and Walmart, among others. In addition, all students will be matched with a prominent CFO for a 2:1 interview for their 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 2027 at Stanford University.