Half of all finance employees lack commitment to their current jobs, and the ones who are most likely to leave are the ones already meeting or exceeding expectations, including nearly one in three rated as high performers. At the same time, the vast majority of CFOs whom CEB surveyed as part of our Finance Talent research are already unhappy with the mix of finance talent at their disposal. They need to start doing a lot more to retain their best employees.

These are among the key take-aways from a recent CEB survey of nearly 700 finance managers at more than 75 companies around the world. We found dissatisfaction at both the employee and the executive level. More than one-third of finance employees said they are actively planning to leave their current jobs within a year. And more than two-thirds of those employees are either meeting or exceeding expectations, so the turnover will likely create headaches for their CFOs. (See Figures 1 and 2, below.)

The challenges will extend beyond short-term disruptions in workflow. High-performing employees typically have valuable institutional knowledge and maintain strong professional connections. They are often critical to revenue generation or product development, as well, so replacing them may be difficult. Plus, turnover among finance's high performers can present a serious risk to succession planning. As the CFO is increasingly viewed as a CEO in waiting, so finance staff is becoming an important component of companies' talent pipeline.