No official file counts chief financial officers, so a CFO list is sized from companies. The Census Bureau counted 21,041 US firms with 500 or more employees and 93,341 with 100 to 499 in 2022 (Statistics of U.S. Businesses, released April 2025). Below 100 staff, the top finance person often carries another title.
The CFO count, from the nearest official figures
| What is counted | Number | Unit | Source and date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Firms with 500 or more employees | 21,041 | firms | Census Bureau, Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022, released 10 April 2025 |
| Firms with 100 to 499 employees | 93,341 | firms | same tables |
| Firms with receipts of 100 million dollars or more | 35,420 | firms | same program, table by receipts size |
| Financial managers | 841,710 | wage and salary jobs | BLS, OEWS profile 11-3031, May 2025 estimates |
| Chief executives | 204,350 | wage and salary jobs | BLS, OEWS profile 11-1011, May 2025 estimates |
| Federal agencies with a CFO set by law | 24 | agencies | GAO-20-566, August 2020 |
| Chief financial officers | not published | people | no public register exists |
These rows do not measure the same thing. The firm counts size companies two ways, by staff and by revenue, and a firm can pass one test and fail the other. The 841,710 financial managers are jobs, not companies: the occupation holds controllers, treasurers and the managers of finance departments and branch offices, several per large employer, and 113,190 of them work in banking and credit alone.
The CFO title is not even clearly inside that figure. The Labor Department's O*NET database lists Chief Financial Officer among the titles reported by chief executives, occupation 11-1011, not by financial managers. One public number is too wide, the other is the wrong box. We publish no count of our own here: ours is made on your target, during the call.
Who counts as a CFO, and who does not
- In: chief financial officer; finance director or VP finance when nobody above them runs finance; head of finance where the company uses that title.
- In, under a legal name: for companies that report to the SEC, the Commission requires the principal financial officer to certify each quarterly and annual report (Release 33-8124, 29 August 2002). That signer is the CFO for a list, whatever the business card says.
- Edge, the controller: inside a group, the controller reports to the CFO. In a company of 80, the controller may be the top finance person. Say whether you accept controllers when no CFO exists.
- Edge, the subsidiary: a group with thirty subsidiaries can have one group CFO and up to thirty local finance directors. Decide whether you sell to the group or to each unit.
- Edge, the rented CFO: some companies hire a part-time CFO from an accounting firm. BLS counts 59,650 financial managers in accounting, tax preparation, bookkeeping and payroll services; they are paid by the service firm, not by the client.
- Out: bookkeepers, outside accountants, and the founder who does the books, unless you say otherwise.
- Public sector: the CFO Act of 1990, as amended, set a CFO position in each of the 24 CFO Act agencies. States, counties and school districts tend to use other titles, such as treasurer, comptroller or finance director.
Other executive roles, and the titles usually accepted for each, are listed in the role index.
Where CFO names are published
| Source | What it gives | What it does not give |
|---|---|---|
| Census, Statistics of U.S. Businesses | firms by number of employees and by revenue, nationally and by state | a single name |
| BLS, OEWS | finance management jobs by industry, state and metro area | employers, names |
| SEC filings | the officers who sign and certify the reports of SEC-reporting companies | private companies, which file nothing there |
| Company websites | leadership pages at mid-size and large firms | a direct phone line; the page is often older than the team |
| Professional profiles | the person, the title, the employer | a phone number, most of the time |
| Federal agency sites | the statutory CFOs of the 24 agencies | state and local finance heads |
Our method, in five lines
- We take the companies that match your target: industry, state, size if it matters to you.
- In each one, we look for the top finance title you accept, in your order of preference.
- We confirm the person still holds that seat.
- We find the phone number that gets to them, and their work email if they have one.
- A line that fails a check is not delivered.
Every step is set out in the full method.
The work, counted in actions
Take every US firm with 100 or more employees: 21,041 plus 93,341, so 114,382 firms (Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022).
- 114,382 company checks: still trading, still that size, not a subsidiary of a group already on the list.
- 114,382 searches for the top finance title. Where none turns up, a second search for the fallback you accept, such as controller.
- One check per name found, to confirm the person has not left.
- One phone search per confirmed person, then one email search.
- If you also want the 35,420 firms with 100 million dollars or more in receipts, one matching check per firm, to remove those already on the staff-size list.
Nothing in that list is difficult. It is long, and every name that moves sends you back to step one for that company.
Where CFO lists go wrong
The title does not tell you the level
A VP finance in a company of 4,000 sits under the CFO. A CFO in a company of 25 may be a part-time controller with a bigger title. If the level matters to you, write it next to the titles: CFO or finance director, companies of 200 to 2,000 staff. If it does not, leave it out and the list stays wider.
One person, several companies
A rented CFO works for several clients from one accounting firm. Built without care, the file carries the same person and the same phone number under several company names. Decide before the build whether that person is one line or one per client.
Adding industry rows counts groups twice
In the Census tables, a firm is the set of establishments a company owns in one industry and one area (SUSB glossary). A group active in three industries appears in three industry rows, with one CFO. To size a target across industries, use the all-industries total rather than a sum of industry lines.
What Premium Data delivers on a CFO list
- A person line carries the name, the title, the company, a phone number that reaches that person, and the work email when it exists. A company line carries the company, its address, its main phone number and its website.
- The day you order is the day your file is built, from the target as you wrote it.
- Three checks on each line: the company, the person, and that person's presence in the job today.
- Billing covers only the lines delivered with a phone number, and it never goes past your ceiling.
- Lines shown to be wrong are refunded at their price, if the proof (a call recording, a hard bounce or a public profile) arrives within thirty days of delivery.
- Counting your target costs nothing: it takes a 30 minute call, and before paying you ring one of its lines together with us.
Before you dial, the United States rules page covers business calls and commercial email.
In short: the CFO numbers to quote
- On 3 October 2026, the latest Census business tables (Statistics of U.S. Businesses 2022, released 10 April 2025) counted 21,041 US firms with 500 or more employees and 93,341 with 100 to 499.
- BLS estimated 841,710 financial manager jobs in the United States in May 2025, an occupation that also holds controllers and treasurers (OEWS 11-3031, read 3 October 2026).
- The CFO Act of 1990, as amended, set a CFO position in each of the 24 CFO Act agencies of the federal government (GAO-20-566, August 2020).