Aglance through the recruitment pages shows the degree to which employers are recognising the importance of personal qualities in addition to technical accounting skills. Dynamic, ambitious, collaborative, confident, strength of character #x2013; these are just some of the attributes called for in recent job advertisements for finance managers, controllers and directors.

Yet the leadership qualities prized by employers large and small are not easily uncovered, making the job of nurturing tomorrow’s chief financial officers that much trickier and, for would-be finance chiefs, standing out from a highly competitive crowd requires careful plotting.