Questions to Ask Your CFO in a Town Hall
Questions for employees who want to understand the company's finances well enough to plan their own work, phrased so a CFO can answer them in public, with notes on the answers to watch for.
The questions
Open any question for the note
In plain terms, are we profitable, and if not, when is the plan for us to be?
Why ask it
Start here, because everything else depends on the answer. Notice whether the reply uses a defined term such as operating income or a softer one such as contribution margin, since the softer measure is often chosen when the headline number is negative.
How much runway do we have at the current burn rate?
Why ask it
In a private company this is the number that determines hiring, layoffs and how much risk leadership can take. A refusal to say is itself informative; a figure under eighteen months usually means fundraising is already underway.
Which two or three numbers do you look at first each week?
Why ask it
Tells you what the finance function actually optimizes for, which often differs from the metrics on your own team's dashboard. If your work does not connect to any of them, that gap is worth raising with your manager.
Where did we miss the plan last quarter, and what did we do about it?
Why ask it
Asks for a variance and a response rather than a result. A CFO who can describe both is running the budget actively; one who explains the miss entirely through external conditions is describing a forecast nobody adjusted.
How much of our revenue comes from our largest customers?
Why ask it
Concentration is a risk employees rarely hear about. If a handful of accounts carry most of the revenue, that explains a great deal about which teams get resourced and why certain customers are handled carefully.
What is the single largest line of cost after payroll?
Why ask it
Directs attention to where savings will realistically be found, which is often cloud spend, real estate, or vendor software. It also tells you which department is about to be asked for a plan.
What are the biggest items we spend money on that you're least sure are worth it?
Why ask it
A more answerable version of asking what is about to be cut. Expect hedging, but the categories mentioned are usually the ones already under review.
How does a budget request from a team actually get approved?
Why ask it
Ask for the path and the calendar: who reviews, what evidence is expected, and when the window opens. Most requests fail on timing rather than merit, and this is the answer you can use immediately.
What has to be true for hiring to open up again?
Why ask it
Converts a date question the CFO cannot answer into a conditions question they can. If no conditions can be stated, headcount is being decided month to month, which is worth knowing before you plan a year of work.
How do you decide between hiring people, buying software, and using contractors?
Why ask it
Reveals the internal accounting logic behind decisions that feel arbitrary on the ground, including how capitalized and operating costs are treated differently. It often explains why a tool is approved and a role is not.
How do you set the bonus pool, and what would move it up or down?
Why ask it
Ask about the mechanism rather than this year's number so it stays answerable in public. Look for whether it is formulaic or discretionary, because that determines how much your own performance can affect it.
How should we read our compensation bands against the market?
Why ask it
A public question about policy, not about your salary. Useful answers name the benchmark data used and the percentile targeted; anything vaguer suggests bands are set by negotiation rather than by policy.
What is our approach to pricing, and when did we last change prices?
Why ask it
Pricing is usually the fastest lever on margin and the one employees hear least about. The timing of the last change tells you whether pricing is managed deliberately or only revisited under pressure.
How much debt do we carry, and what do the covenants require of us?
Why ask it
Covenants can quietly constrain hiring, acquisitions and capital spending regardless of how well the business is doing. If the answer is technical, it is fair to ask which decisions they restrict in practice.
Which assumption in this year's forecast are you least comfortable with?
Why ask it
CFOs will usually answer this honestly because it protects them if the number moves. The assumption they name is the one most likely to trigger a mid-year change of plan.
How do we decide whether a project delivered what it promised?
Why ask it
Ask whether anyone revisits the business case after the fact. In many companies nobody does, and hearing that said out loud changes how much weight you give to projected returns in the next planning round.
What financial information can you share with us that you currently don't?
Why ask it
A quiet way of asking whether the limits on disclosure are legal, competitive or cultural. Answers about market sensitivity are legitimate; answers about people misunderstanding the numbers say something about how leadership sees the staff.
What is the cost of a decision most of us make every day without thinking about it?
Why ask it
Gets you something specific and actionable, whether that is a discount approval, an expedited shipment, or a support escalation. It is also the rare finance answer employees can act on the same week.
If we hit a bad quarter, what is the order in which we'd cut?
Why ask it
Nobody enjoys this question, which is why the answer matters. A stated sequence, discretionary spend first, then contractors, then headcount, tells you a great deal more than a reassurance that no cuts are planned.
What do you wish the rest of us understood about how the money works here?
Why ask it
Reliably produces the clearest explanation of the session, because the CFO chooses the topic. It also tends to surface the misconception they spend the most time correcting privately.
Asking a CFO in public
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Preparation that pays off
Read what is already published
If your company is public, the last earnings release and the risk factors section of the annual filing answer most basic questions and give you the company's own language. Asking something already disclosed wastes your slot.
Use the terms the finance team uses
Ask about gross margin, burn, or annual recurring revenue rather than 'how we are doing.' Precise questions get precise answers and are much harder to deflect with a summary.
Know what cannot be said
In a public company, anything material and unreleased will not be discussed, and pushing on it puts the CFO in a genuinely difficult position. Ask about policy, process and history instead of forward numbers.
Submit in advance where you can
Finance sessions usually take pre-submitted questions so figures can be checked before the meeting. A question sent the day before is far more likely to get a substantive answer than one raised from the floor.
Reading the answer
Watch which measure gets substituted
A question about profit answered with revenue growth, or about cash answered with bookings, is a substitution. It is not dishonest, but it tells you which number the company would rather discuss.
Separate the plan from the forecast
The plan is what was committed at the start of the year; the forecast is what finance now expects. When a CFO says the year is on track, it is worth asking which of the two they mean.
Note what is not being repeated
A metric that featured every quarter and then disappears has usually gone the wrong way. Keeping your own short record across sessions makes this obvious.
What tends to go wrong
Asking about your own pay in front of everyone
It cannot be answered and it puts the CFO in an awkward spot, which is remembered. Ask about how bands and pools are set, then take your own case to your manager or HR.
Treating a refusal as evasion
Some questions genuinely cannot be answered before an earnings date or a funding close. A CFO who explains why is being straight with you, and pressing anyway costs you credibility.
Asking a question with a built-in accusation
Questions implying waste or bad faith get a defensive answer and nothing else. The same information usually comes out if you ask how a decision was made rather than why it was allowed.
Not following the thread
The most valuable finance answers arrive in follow-ups. If your question gets a partial answer, ask the finance business partner for your area afterwards rather than waiting a quarter.