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Finance and accounting leadership sits at the center of every major business decision. The person in that seat either gives ownership clear visibility into the business, or they don’t. There is very little middle ground.
A CFO, Controller, VP of Finance, or Director of Accounting is not just a technical role. It is a trust role. The person you put in that seat will know more about your business than almost anyone else in it. They will influence how you price, how you borrow, how you plan, and how you protect what you have built.
Finding someone with the right technical credentials is only the beginning. Finding someone whose judgment you can trust, who communicates clearly with ownership, and who can lead a team while managing the numbers, that is the harder part. It is also the part that job boards and contingency recruiting firms are not built to solve.
RFT Search Group conducts retained executive search for business owners who need to get this hire right. We have placed finance and accounting leaders across manufacturing, distribution, professional services, and other owner-operated businesses throughout Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio.
Why Finance Executive Search Is Different
Most roles have one or two dimensions that make them difficult to fill. Finance leadership has several working at once.
The Technical Bar Is High and Non-Negotiable
CPA credentials, GAAP fluency, systems experience, and industry-specific accounting knowledge are table stakes. A candidate missing any of these creates risk the moment they are in the seat. Screening for genuine technical depth requires more than reading a resume.
Trust Is Not on the Resume
A finance leader will have access to everything: bank accounts, projections, payroll, ownership distributions, and strategic plans. The question of whether you can trust this person with all of that cannot be answered by a credential. It requires in-depth reference conversations with people who have worked alongside them in positions of financial responsibility.
The Best Candidates Are Not Looking
A strong CFO or Controller who is doing good work is not on job boards. They are employed, valued, and not actively looking. Reaching them requires a proactive search, direct outreach, and a compelling reason to have a conversation. That is not something a job posting accomplishes.
Finance and Accounting Roles We Place
We work with business owners across manufacturing, distribution, professional services, and other owner-operated businesses to place mid-to-senior finance and accounting leadership. These are the roles where getting it wrong has real consequences.
Chief Financial Officer (CFO)
Strategic financial leadership, capital structure, banking relationships, and board-level reporting for owner-operated businesses.
Controller
Day-to-day accounting operations, financial reporting, internal controls, and team management for companies that need more than a bookkeeper and less than a full CFO.
VP of Finance
Financial planning and analysis, forecasting, and business partnership for companies scaling beyond basic accounting management.
Director of Accounting
Operational accounting leadership for companies with established finance functions that need strong management at the department level.
What Owners Tell Us After a Bad Finance Hire
“The numbers looked fine on paper. We didn’t find out until months later that the reporting was off and we had been making decisions based on bad data.”
Manufacturing company owner, Michigan“She was great in the interview. Knew all the right answers. But she couldn’t lead the team, and within six months half the accounting department had turned over.”
Distribution company owner, Ohio“I needed someone who could talk to my banker and my ops team on the same day. Finding that combination is harder than it sounds.”
Professional services owner, IndianaComposite accounts based on client conversations. Not direct quotations.
A Finance Hire Gone Wrong Is Not Just Expensive. It Is Disorienting.
When your finance leadership is weak, you lose visibility into your own business. You make decisions without knowing what the numbers actually say. You can’t close your books on time, can’t get a clean audit, can’t have a confident conversation with your bank. The cost is not just the salary. It is the compounding cost of operating blind.
How RFT Search Group Conducts a Finance Leadership Search
We are a retained executive search firm. That means we are dedicated to your search from day one, not splitting attention across dozens of contingency clients hoping one sticks.
Step One
Deep Discovery
We start by understanding your business, not just the job description. What does the company need this person to accomplish in year one? What has gone wrong before? What does the right person need to be able to handle that isn’t written down anywhere?
Step Two
Proactive Candidate Search
We do not post and wait. We identify finance professionals who are performing well in their current roles and approach them directly. The best candidates are employed and not looking. We find them anyway.
Step Three
Structured Vetting
Every candidate goes through structured behavioral interviews and in-depth reference conversations before you see them. We verify the experience behind the talking points and pressure-test the judgment behind the credentials.
Step Four
Presentation and Selection
You receive a curated shortlist, not a stack of resumes. Each candidate comes with our assessment of their strengths, their gaps, and why we believe they fit what your business actually needs.
Step Five
Offer and Onboarding Support
We stay involved through offer negotiation and into the early weeks of the placement. A search is not finished when an offer is accepted. It is finished when the person is in the seat and performing.
Our Commitment
The 5-Year Standard
The industry standard guarantee is 90 days. Our 5-Year Client Loyalty Pricing Program means we stand behind every placement on a five-year horizon. If something does not work out, we are back at the table, not sending a new invoice.
Built for Business Owners Who Answer Personally for the Outcome
We do not work with large corporations that have internal talent acquisition teams. We work with business owners, including owner-operated businesses, family-owned companies, entrepreneurial businesses, and family office structures, where the person making the hiring decision is also the person who lives with the result.
Finance leadership search is one of the areas where that personal accountability matters most. The wrong hire in this seat affects everything: your reporting, your banking relationships, your ability to plan, and your confidence in the numbers that drive every major decision you make.
We serve clients across Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio in manufacturing, distribution, professional services, finance, industrial, and insurance.
Learn How We WorkHave a Finance Leadership Role to Fill?
Start with a 20-Minute Conversation
Whether you have an immediate opening or you are planning ahead for a hire you know is coming, a call with us costs nothing and takes 20 minutes.
We will tell you honestly whether we are the right fit for your search, what a retained engagement looks like, and what you should expect from a firm that stands behind its work for five years.
Call 248-957-6598 Send Us a MessageBased in Livonia, MI · Serving Michigan, Indiana & Ohio
A Finance Leader You Can Trust Changes the Whole Business
RFT Search Group has been placing mid-to-senior leadership for business owners for over a decade. Our clients come back because the people we find actually perform.
RFT Search Group | Retained Executive Search | Michigan, Indiana & Ohio | rftsearchgroup.com | 248-957-6598
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