The Crist Associates annual research study examines the volatility of movement at the CEO, COO and CFO levels of the top U.S. public companies. The sample group includes companies listed on the 2006 Fortune 500, S&P 500, or both – a total of 658 companies.

Some key findings related to CFOs include:

- Projections suggest that CFO volatility continues to outpace that of the CEO.

- When a CEO is hired from the outside, a new CFO is named within a year over 50% of the time; when the CEO is named from the inside, a new CFO is named within a year over 40% of the time.

- There has been a dramatic increase in the number of companies going outside for a new CFO.

-  Over 50% of CFO external hires come from a different industry – indicating that fiancé is a skill that transfers readily from industry to industry

Read the full report here.

Read the report on audit committee chairs here.

Crist Associates (www.cristassociates.com) is a national executive search firm, which conducts 30 searches per year. It focuses exclusively on C-Level projects, with a particular strength in recruiting public company CFOs.