This was inevitable: The era of the CFO as a strategic thinker and visionary may already be passing--and it may be due to SOX. A lot of CFOs seem to think that at a minimum, the job isn't much fun anymore. A survey by Russell Reynolds Associates has found high turnover among CFOs and comptrollers, at a time when many thought the pain of SOX implementations would be subsiding. The turnover may reflect active hiring, but the survey also notes that the job has simply gotten harder and more pigeon-holed. So the only conclusion is that the 1990s' CFO-as-much-more-than-bean-counter zeitgeist has passed. It seems that SOX has changed the game for financial executives, representing a lasting departure from the requirements and responsibilities that drew them to the job.

> Here's more on the Russell Reynolds survey [1].