In 2022, CFOs at top U.S. companies headed for the doors. Twitter, Moderna, Bed Bath and Beyond, GameStop, Dollar Tree, and many other businesses saw turbulent changes in their top financial positions. According to a CFO retention and turnover study done by Datarails, this represents the continuation of a longstanding trend.

The Datarails study reveals that, from 2016 to 2021, CFOs had the lowest level of job security among all C-suite executives. This finding is based on corporate filings for 2,056 companies in the United States.

CFOs at the biggest U.S. companies lasted an average of only 3.51 years in that post, compared with:

• CEOs—3.89 years
• General counsel—4.50 years
• Chief marketing officers—4.63 years
• Chief technology officers (recording the highest staying power)—4.64 years

Of the 2,000-plus companies studied, 56 percent experienced at least one CFO turnover in the five-year span, and 16 percent experienced more than one turnover in the CFO position. At least 87 of the 2,056 companies analyzed saw a high-profile CFO shakeup.