Russell Reynolds Associates' Global CFO Turnover Index 2025 recorded 49 CFO appointments across the ASX 200 in 2025, the highest level in 7 years. That was up from 36 in 2024, a 36% year-on-year increase. Women accounted for 26% of those appointments, a new high. Globally, CFO appointments hit a 7-year high of 316 in 2025, and Russell Reynolds attributes the surge to "intensifying expectations on CFOs to deliver growth and performance under activist scrutiny" alongside "increasing references to role fatigue and burnout."

For FMCG, food and beverage and fresh produce businesses, that turnover is now showing up in the sector directly.

The FMCG examples are stacking up

In May 2026, Inghams Group announced Grant Douglas as its incoming Chief Financial Officer, with Gary Mallett stepping down at the end of September after 7 years in the seat. In August 2025, Endeavour Group's CFO Katie Beattie was elevated to interim CEO and Group Deputy CFO Tali Ross moved into the CFO role on an interim basis. Both are large, listed FMCG and beverage businesses moving senior finance talent at speed.

For mid-tier FMCG suppliers, the pressure flows downward. When ASX-listed FMCG businesses reset their finance leadership, the talent pool feeding mid-tier hiring shifts with them.

The CFO role has been quietly redefined

The job description for an Australian FMCG CFO has changed materially in the past 18 months. 4 regulatory shifts now sit directly on the finance leader's desk.

Mandatory climate-related financial disclosure:
AASB S2 commenced for Group 1 entities on 1 January 2025. Mid-market businesses follow from 1 July 2026 and a third tier from 1 July 2027. The Group 1 threshold roughly equates to ASX 200 firms, and climate-related risks, governance, strategy and metrics now form part of the annual financial report lodged with ASIC.

Wage theft is now a criminal offence: The Fair Work Act amendments commenced on 1 January 2025. Intentional underpayment of wages, super, redundancy, leave loading, allowances or penalty rates carries individual prison sentences of up to 10 years and corporate fines of up to $8.25 million.

Payday super starts on 1 July 2026: Under the new Australian Taxation Office regime, super guarantee must be paid at the same time as salary, with super funds receiving contributions within 7 business days of payday. The Small Business Superannuation Clearing House closes. Payroll, treasury and finance systems need to be redesigned ahead of the start date.

The Mandatory Food and Grocery Code of Conduct: The code commenced on 1 April 2025, with maximum penalties of $10 million or 10% of annual turnover per contravention. Pricing transparency, supplier contract reviews, ACCC reporting obligations and dispute resolution mechanisms now sit alongside the traditional CFO workload.

Each one of these changes touches the finance function. The CFO is now expected to lead on climate disclosure, sign off on wage compliance, redesign payroll systems for payday super, and stand behind pricing and supplier contract decisions that carry direct ACCC exposure. None of these were on the CFO position description in 2023.

The compliance load isn't priced in

The AICD Director Sentiment Index for the second half of 2025 found 75% of directors expect compliance burdens to increase in 2026. 67% say regulatory and compliance requirements are actively constraining productivity. 35% rank regulatory red tape among the top economic challenges facing Australian business.

PwC's 29th Global CEO Survey, which polled 108 Australian CEOs in late 2025, found Australian CEO confidence in economic growth has surged to 58%, up from 35% the year before. But the top concern was whether they are transforming their business fast enough to keep up with technological change, and a significant share are apprehensive about whether they're doing enough to ensure long-term viability.

In FMCG specifically, the financial picture isn't easing the pressure. The Australian Food and Grocery Council's State of the Industry data for 2023/24, released in 2025, shows the sector reached $173 billion in turnover, but operating profit in the sector fell 7% to $7.2 billion, with operating costs outpacing wholesale price gains for the first time in a decade.

That's the environment the FMCG CFO is operating in. Margin compression, expanded regulatory obligations, ACCC enforcement activity, climate disclosure, wage theft criminal liability, and a transformation agenda that increasingly runs through the finance function.

What the data tells us about why CFOs leave

Russell Reynolds' research attributes elevated turnover to "outsized mandates" placed on finance chiefs beyond traditional finance, investor activism, sustained volatility and transformation demands, all contributing to role fatigue. The firm specifically references CFO retirements rising sharply across Asia Pacific, with new appointees increasingly coming from external hires rather than internal succession.

In my experience, the FMCG CFOs who leave at the 18 to 24 month mark aren't leaving because they've been outbid. They're leaving because the role they were hired into and the role they ended up doing aren't the same job.

Three patterns recur:

The scope keeps expanding without redesign:

Treasury, compliance, ESG, M&A, transformation and investor relations all flow through the CFO. The team underneath hasn't grown. The board's expectation has.

The decision authority hasn't kept pace:

CFOs are accountable for outcomes they can't fully control. When the commercial strategy is set elsewhere and the CFO is asked to defend the numbers, the role becomes reactive.

Private equity and offshore roles look better:

Russell Reynolds notes the growing influence of private capital in Australia has expanded portfolio-company opportunities. For some CFOs, that becomes "a more appealing proposition than the short-term orientation of public markets and the lower risk tolerance many boards face."

What boards should do before the next CFO hire

The next FMCG CFO hire shouldn't begin with the salary band. It should begin with the role definition.

A board running a CFO search in 2026 should be able to answer 4 questions before the search starts.

1. What specifically does this CFO need to lead in the next 24 months? Climate disclosure preparation, payday super implementation or Grocery Code negotiation? M&A integration? Capital structure reset? If the answer is all of it, the role needs to be split or the support structure needs to be redesigned.

2. Where will the decision authority sit? If commercial pricing decisions sit with the CEO and the CFO is being asked to model them after the fact, the role is structurally reactive. That's a 2-year role, not a 5-year role.

3. What does the finance team underneath the CFO look like? The compliance and reporting load described above can't sit on a CFO alone. A Head of Tax, Head of Treasury, Head of Internal Audit and Financial Controller with real seniority and capability are now standard for a mid-tier FMCG business.

4. How will success be measured? Bonus structures tied solely to EBITDA ((Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization) outcomes don't reflect the work the modern FMCG CFO is actually doing. Compliance, governance and transformation outcomes need their own weight.

ACSI's June 2025 review of CEO pay in ASX 200 companies found median realised pay for ASX 100 CEOs rose 7.4% to $4.15 million in FY24, and the ASX 101 to 200 CEO median rose 11.1% to $2.17 million. Bonuses in the ASX 200 are now paid at a median of 66% of maximum. Pay is rising. Performance reward is being delivered. Retention isn't following.

The succession question

A 36% year-on-year increase in CFO appointments across the ASX 200 tells boards something specific. There isn't enough time for a CFO to build a successor. By the time the incoming CFO has settled into the business, the predecessor's bench is already 18 months stale. Cross-training, internal development and succession planning collapse when the seat keeps turning over.



For mid-tier FMCG businesses, that's a structural risk. The CFO role is too central to leave exposed to a 90-day backfill cycle.

Boards that want to break the pattern need to do 3 things. Define the role for what it actually is in 2026. Resource it properly. Pay for the scope, not the title. The businesses that get this right will retain finance leaders through full transformation cycles. The ones that don't will keep paying the cost of the revolving door.

ELR Executive is a specialist executive search firm focused exclusively on FMCG, food and beverage manufacturing, and fresh produce. If you’re making a senior leadership decision and want clarity on what capability your business needs, a conversation with John Elliott is a good place to start.