Frequently asked questions from ambitious finance professionals
At some point, many finance professionals feel they have “outgrown” their current role, but find it difficult to clearly define why. Often, it comes down to a combination of factors: your work becomes more predictable and less challenging, you are no longer developing new skills, and you feel you could be making a greater impact. At the same time, opportunities for growth within your current organisation may be limited.
A next step does not always have to be a promotion. In many cases, the biggest development comes from moving into a different environment, where you gain new exposure and challenge yourself in new ways.
At LEMON, we help you clarify this. Together, we assess whether it is the right time to move and, more importantly, what the right next step looks like given your situation and ambitions.
There is no universal roadmap. The right path depends on what you want to do, the type of organisation you want to work in, and where you ultimately want to go. Do you aspire to become a CFO in a scale-up or in a large corporate? Do you want to drive impact through M&A and growth, or focus on building a stable and well-structured finance organisation? These choices shape the steps you should take today.
At LEMON, we are happy to think along with you, without obligation. We ask the right questions to help you move forward, even if you are not yet entirely sure what you want. Especially in that phase, a conversation can be highly valuable.
With 4 to 7 years of experience, you are in a phase where you have built a solid foundation, often as a Business Controller, Financial Controller, auditor within a Big 4 firm, or consultant in Transaction Services. At this stage, the question is usually not whether you should take the next step, but rather which direction you choose consciously.
Logical next steps often include roles with greater impact and responsibility, such as a Senior Business Controller or Finance Business Partner position, a Finance Manager role with team responsibility, or a role closer to strategy, for example in M&A, FP&A or corporate development. It can also be highly valuable to move into a different environment, such as transitioning from a corporate to a scale-up or a Private Equity backed company, to gain broader exposure.
What we often see at LEMON is that this is a crucial moment to choose not just the next job title, but the right environment for accelerated development. At this stage, you start to differentiate yourself not just as someone who is strong in finance, but as someone who is truly relevant to the business.
Many finance professionals with a background in audit or accounting reach the same decision point after around five years: do I stay within the Big 4, or do I move into an in-house role?
Logical next steps often include roles such as Financial or Corporate Controller, Reporting Manager, Business Controller or a Finance Manager position. In smaller organisations, this can even be a Head of Finance role. The most suitable next step depends largely on what you are looking for in your further development.
If you enjoy working closely with the business and want to influence decision-making, a move into Business Control is often a natural choice. If, on the other hand, you want to deepen your technical foundation and develop further in areas such as reporting, accounting and governance, a step towards Financial or Corporate Control may be more appropriate. If you are looking for a broader role with more dynamics and responsibility, a position within a scale-up or Private Equity backed mid-market company can be particularly interesting, as it often provides faster exposure to different parts of the organisation.
What makes this choice more complex is that it is not just about the job title, but primarily about the environment, the phase of the company and the people you work with. In practice, we see that this is a defining moment in your career: your first step outside of accountancy often shapes the direction you take in the years that follow.
With 4–7 years of experience, you typically already have an initial sense of where your strengths lie and what gives you energy. The next step is to make this more explicit and intentional, so you can make choices that align with the direction you want to pursue.
It helps to look beyond job titles and focus on the actual content of a role and the type of exposure you want to build. Do you want to work closely with the business and actively contribute to decision-making, or do you see your strength more in building structure, reporting and control? Are you looking to develop deep expertise within a specific domain, or do you prefer a broader role where you are exposed to multiple aspects of finance?
An important part of this consideration is also the type of topics you want to be exposed to. In some environments, you will gain faster exposure to CFO-relevant areas such as M&A, tax, treasury and financing, while in other roles the focus may be more on reporting, control and process optimisation. In addition, the level of involvement in strategic projects can differ significantly between organisations. Think of projects such as acquisitions, integrations, business cases, pricing decisions or transformation initiatives. These types of experiences often make a meaningful difference in your long-term development.
The phase of the organisation also plays a key role. In a scale-up or Private Equity backed environment, you are often closer to growth, change and topics such as buy & build strategies, while in a more mature organisation or corporate setting, you are more likely to deal with complexity, governance and scale. Neither environment is inherently better — what matters is which phase and dynamic best fit your personality and ambitions.
At this stage of your career, the differences between environments become increasingly defining. The same role, such as a controller position, can vary significantly in content depending on the context in which you operate.
At LEMON, we help you gain clarity on this. Not just based on your CV, but by looking together at your ambitions, your personality and the direction in which you want to develop.
There is no single “better” option, only what fits you best at this stage of your career and aligns with your long-term ambition as a finance professional.
A corporate environment typically offers more structure, clearly defined processes and a higher degree of specialisation. You often work within larger teams and complex organisational structures, allowing you to develop depth within a specific area of finance, such as reporting, control, tax or treasury. In addition, you gain exposure to scale and governance, which provides valuable experience in operating within more layered and regulated environments.
A scale-up or Private Equity backed business, on the other hand, is characterised by greater dynamics and change. In this environment, you are often given responsibility more quickly and your role tends to be broader, allowing you to gain exposure across multiple parts of the business. You work closer to management, are more frequently involved in strategic topics and can directly see the impact of your work. This typically results in a steeper learning curve, but also requires a higher degree of autonomy and flexibility.
The right choice depends largely on your personality, ambition and preferred way of developing. Do you want to build a strong technical foundation and depth within a structured environment, or are you looking for a role where you can take on responsibility more quickly and have a more direct impact on the business?
It is important to realise that the same job title can mean very different things depending on the environment. The context in which you work largely determines what you learn and how quickly you develop.
At LEMON, we help you make this decision consciously. Not just based on the role itself, but by looking at the environment, the phase of the company and your personal development path — so you don’t just take the next step, but the right step.
Although both roles are part of the same finance function, they differ fundamentally in focus, responsibilities and positioning within the organisation.
A Financial Controller primarily focuses on the reliability and quality of the financial backbone. This includes financial reporting, monthly and annual closings, internal controls, compliance and ensuring a solid accounting foundation. The level of complexity in this role can vary significantly depending on the organisation. In more complex environments, this may involve consolidation challenges, intercompany structures, valuations, depreciation and purchase price allocations (PPA).
In addition, the role often provides exposure to technically interesting projects, such as the integration of acquisitions, IFRS implementations, system implementations and the automation of core finance processes, for example through Robotics or AI. As such, the role is not only focused on the past and present, but also on improving and future-proofing the finance function.
A Business Controller, by contrast, is more focused on the future and the business. In this role, the emphasis lies on financial planning, analysis and supporting decision-making. You work closely with management and play a crucial role in underpinning strategic decisions, for example by building business cases, performing scenario analyses and providing insight into the financial impact of choices related to pricing, investments, growth or operational performance.
The role is less about producing numbers and more about interpreting them and translating them into actionable insights and strategy.
In practice, the distinction between these roles is not always black and white and varies by organisation. In a scale-up or Private Equity backed environment, the roles are often more combined, with controllers responsible for both reporting and business partnering. In larger corporates, the roles are typically more clearly separated and specialised.
For finance professionals who aim to grow into a CFO role over time, it is valuable to gain experience in both domains. Combining a strong foundation in reporting and control with experience in business partnering and strategic decision-making creates a more well-rounded profile and a deeper understanding of how finance truly adds value to an organisation.
With 4–7 years of experience, your career path becomes more visible and timing becomes increasingly important.
In practice, the goal is to stay long enough to make a real impact, but not so long that your development starts to plateau. This means that within your role, you have taken on responsibility — for example by leading projects, improving processes or actively managing stakeholders. At the same time, you want to be able to demonstrate that you have added value and developed new skills that you can carry forward into your next role.
We often see that finance professionals at this stage have already taken on additional responsibilities, been involved in projects or even made an internal move. At the same time, there can be a point where the role increasingly consists of “running the business”, with less room to learn new things or continue developing, and without a clear prospect of change.
In our experience, this stage is less about how long you have been somewhere and more about what you have done and learned. Have you challenged yourself, built relevant exposure and actively invested in your development? That ultimately determines whether you are ready for the next step.
Absolutely — and this is exactly the stage where it becomes relevant to think about this consciously.
With 4–7 years of experience, you are in a phase where you have built a solid foundation, but your future direction is still strongly influenced by the choices you make today. Many CFOs say in hindsight that they would have made more deliberate choices during this period — not necessarily faster, but more consciously in terms of environment, exposure and content.
In some cases, you may already take on full responsibility at this stage, for example as a Head of Finance in a VC-backed scale-up or a smaller organisation. These are often roles where you learn quickly, as you have a broad scope and operate close to the business and management.
In most cases, however, the focus is on deliberately building the right experience towards a future CFO role. This means critically assessing the type of exposure you gain in your role. Think of areas such as business partnering, performance management, financing, M&A, tax, treasury and strategic decision-making. Involvement in projects such as acquisitions, financing processes, transformations or building financial structures is often highly relevant.
In addition, the type of organisation and the dynamics in which you operate play an important role. Working in a scale-up or Private Equity backed environment typically provides a different type of experience compared to a role within a corporate or a more mature organisation. None of these paths is inherently better, but they do lead to different types of CFO profiles.
What is important to realise is that at this stage, you are not just choosing your next role, but a direction. The combination of environment, content and exposure ultimately determines how well prepared you are to step into a CFO role later on.
The role of the CFO has evolved significantly in recent years. It is no longer just about the numbers, but about the ability to connect finance with the business and to guide decision-making.
If you aim to become a CFO in the future, it is important not only to build a strong financial foundation, but also to consciously develop yourself across several additional areas.
First and foremost, this starts with a broad and solid finance foundation. Think of reporting, control, planning and analysis. These fundamentals ensure that you understand the numbers and can rely on your own judgement. At the same time, it is important to look beyond your own specialism and build exposure to other areas such as tax, treasury and performance management, so you develop a broader perspective.
Strategic thinking is also increasingly important. You need to understand how a business creates value and how finance contributes to decisions around growth, pricing, investments and performance. This is developed by actively engaging with the business and being involved in strategic topics, rather than only producing reports.
Communication and influencing skills play a key role in this. As a CFO, you must be able to translate complex financial information into clear insights that are relevant for stakeholders without a finance background. This is a skill you should develop early on, by making yourself visible and actively participating in discussions.
Leadership is not something you develop once you become a CFO, but rather in the years leading up to it. It often starts with leading projects or supporting colleagues, and gradually develops into taking responsibility for teams and decision-making.
In addition, exposure to corporate finance and M&A is an important differentiator. Experience with financing processes, acquisitions, due diligence or investor discussions provides insight into how businesses grow and are funded, and prepares you for the broader responsibilities of a CFO.
Finally, data and technology are becoming increasingly important. You do not need to be a specialist, but you do need to understand how systems, data and dashboards support the finance function and how they enable better decision-making.
What we often see at LEMON is that the difference does not lie in one specific skill, but in the combination of experiences you build and the choices you make in your roles and environment. By approaching this consciously at an early stage, you significantly increase your chances of being ready for a CFO role over time.
That depends largely on the type of CFO you ultimately want to become and the kind of organisation you see yourself operating in over the long term.
If you aim to become a CFO within a scale-up or Private Equity backed business, it is valuable to gain experience early on in a dynamic, high-growth environment. In these types of organisations, you are often given responsibility more quickly, work closer to management and are more likely to be involved in strategic topics such as growth, M&A, financing and performance management. The learning curve is typically steep, as your role is broader and you gain exposure across multiple parts of the business.
If, on the other hand, you aim to become a CFO within a larger corporate, the focus is often more on developing depth. This includes building strong expertise within a specific finance discipline such as reporting, control, FP&A, tax or treasury, and learning how to operate within complex organisational structures with multiple layers, governance and an international context. In this environment, you develop a different type of expertise that is highly relevant for CFO roles in larger organisations.
What is important to realise is that at this stage, you are not only choosing a role, but also the type of experience and exposure you build. The environment largely determines the topics you work on, the responsibilities you are given and how quickly you develop towards a CFO profile.
At LEMON, we help you make this decision consciously. Not just based on the job title, but by looking at the content of the role, the phase of the company and your personal ambition and profile. Because two roles with the same title can deliver completely different outcomes in practice.
Accelerating your path to a CFO role is rarely about one specific step, but rather about the choices you make in the breadth of your development and how actively you position yourself within an organisation.
An important first step is to develop yourself into a true business partner. This means not only reporting, but actively engaging with management and the CEO. By contributing to decisions, priorities and strategic direction, you build not only content knowledge, but also visibility and trust.
A significant part of your development comes from the exposure you build outside your “core” finance responsibilities. Involvement in processes such as acquisitions, financing, transformations or setting up new structures provides experience that is directly relevant for a future CFO role. These are often the moments where you learn how decision-making truly works and where you differentiate yourself from peers with a similar background.
Leadership is also something you develop consciously, often earlier than you expect. It starts with taking ownership of projects or leading a workstream, and gradually evolves into managing teams and taking responsibility for outcomes. At this stage of your career, it is about demonstrating that you are not only strong technically, but also capable of providing direction.
Equally important is the environment in which you operate. The pace at which you develop and the topics you are exposed to are strongly influenced by the organisational context. In a dynamic setting, such as a scale-up or Private Equity backed company, you often gain earlier exposure to strategic and financial topics relevant to a CFO role. In other environments, you may develop more depth. The key is to consciously choose a setting that aligns with your ambition.
Finally, your network plays a crucial role. Many CFO opportunities are not driven purely by public vacancies, but arise through relationships and established credibility. By actively investing in your network — both within the finance community and through specialised firms such as LEMON and LIME — you increase your visibility and access to opportunities. We often see this as a decisive factor in how and when individuals make the transition to a CFO role.
What we often observe at LEMON is that finance professionals who progress more quickly are not necessarily “better”, but more deliberate in the choices they make regarding their development, their environment and the exposure they build.
Salaries for finance professionals at this stage of their career depend largely on the role, the complexity of the organisation and the environment in which you operate. Based on our experience at LEMON and market data, base salaries typically range between approximately €70,000 and €100,000.
What is important to realise is that salary at this stage is not determined solely by years of experience, but primarily by the content of your role, the impact you make and the level of responsibility you carry. If you would like to understand how your profile compares to the market, we are happy to think along with you at LEMON, without obligation.
The demand for strong finance professionals with 4–7 years of experience remains high. Organisations are actively looking for senior Business Controllers, Financial Controllers and Head of Finance profiles who are not only strong on the numbers, but can also operate independently, understand the business and contribute to decision-making.
At the same time, the market at this stage is less straightforward than it may seem. There is a large number of opportunities available, but the differences in content, scope and development potential are significant. Job titles often say little about what a role actually entails or what you will learn. Two positions with the same title can differ substantially in terms of exposure, responsibilities and long-term growth.
We also see that organisations are becoming increasingly specific in the profiles they look for, depending on their phase and dynamics. A scale-up or Private Equity backed company typically looks for a different type of finance professional than a corporate or a more mature organisation. This means that the “best” role is not necessarily the most visible or obvious one, but the one that best aligns with your profile and ambitions.
That is why working with a specialised search firm can be valuable. Not only to access relevant opportunities, but more importantly to help you navigate the market and identify which roles truly fit your development. At LEMON, we are continuously in contact with both organisations and finance professionals, giving us strong insight into market dynamics and which choices tend to deliver the most value over time.
If you are unsure whether it is the right moment to make a move, or simply want to better understand what is possible, we are happy to think along with you and provide insight into the market, different types of roles and your options.
Determining the right next step starts with a clear understanding of yourself and your development direction. What do you want to learn at this stage of your career? In what type of organisation do you perform best? And which roles or environments align with your long-term ambitions?
In practice, we often see that finance professionals base their decisions on job titles or vacancy descriptions, while these typically provide only a limited view of what a role actually involves. The context — such as the phase of the company, the dynamics of the organisation and the level of exposure to topics like business partnering, M&A, financing or strategic decision-making — largely determines what you will learn and how quickly you will develop.
It is also important to critically assess the scope of a role. Will you have the opportunity to contribute to management decisions? Will you be involved in projects beyond your core responsibilities? And will you build experience that is relevant to your longer-term direction, for example towards a CFO role?
At LEMON, we help you gain clarity on this. We look beyond your CV and focus on your ambitions, personality and development path. Based on that, we help you navigate the wide range of opportunities and identify which choices are most valuable in the long term. This ensures that you not only take a next step, but the right one.
At this stage of your career, many finance roles are still visible online, but the sheer volume of opportunities can make it difficult to see the wood for the trees. Job titles often provide limited insight into the actual content of a role, the context of the organisation or the development potential. As a result, it is not always easy to determine which opportunity truly fits you best.
In addition, many organisations deliberately work with specialised search firms to identify and select the right candidates. Especially for roles with greater impact, growth potential or a specific context, companies often choose to run part of the process through a trusted partner.
This means it is important not only to apply for roles, but also to actively invest in your network. Maintaining relationships with former colleagues, university peers and managers, and having ongoing conversations about the market, helps you stay informed. At the same time, a specialised firm can help you navigate the market and better understand which roles truly align with your profile, ambitions and development path.
At LEMON, we work closely with a broad network of commercial organisations and support them in hiring ambitious finance professionals. This allows us not only to connect you to relevant opportunities, but also to advise you on which choices will be most beneficial for your long-term career.
