Who should make a home for innovation? According to Andrew, it should be the CFOs who, at highly innovative companies, tend to operate more like venture capitalists anyway. "They are the people that can find the money and they understand risk and return," he says. "CFOs are the closest to understanding the growth gap a company is facing."

While Andrew is not suggesting that CFOs need to lead the innovation parade, he suggests that they should not be seen as lying down in the road in front of it. CFOs have a disproportionately large role in the innovation debate, Andrew says. "If CFOs actually come out and say, 'Innovation and growth are really important, and I'm going to help,' theirs become very powerful voices because they are so often heard on the other side of the argument."

Innovation may be an ongoing concern, but in the three years of the study, Andrew says senior execs have yet to take any meaningful action to help it thrive.

Finance Hiring Rises

While the pressures from compliance have put a strain on resources at companies' finance and accounting operations for the last several years, CFOs are now saying that the growth in business volume is becoming a more significant factor in decisions to increase hiring.

At least that is what a recent Robert Half Hiring Index is reporting. According to the survey of 1,400 CFOs at companies with 20 or more employees, expectations are for increases in hiring in both finance and accounting during the second quarter of 2007. Administered between December 27, 2006 and January 12, 2007, 7% of CFOs participating said they planned to increase hiring in finance and accounting, while 2% planned to reduce staff size. That represents a 5% spread, which is 2% above the first quarter hiring index when the outlook was flat. Although the increase will eventually taper off, the new workforce will still be necessary to ensure that compliance is maintained.