Healthcare industry had highest CFO turnover in 2014: 5 things to know

The healthcare and life sciences industry accounted for approximately 25 percent of the year’s 138 CFO appointments, making it the overall leader in CFO turnover, according to the Wall Street Journal.

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This rate is the highest for any sector in the last five years, and marks a steep increase from 2013.

The Wall Street Journal analyzed the database of 1,000 public and private companies from executive recruiter Korn/Ferry International. Here are five key takeaways from the report.

  • Approximately 15 percent of healthcare and life sciences companies included in the database hired new CFOs in 2014.
  • Merger and IPO activity contributed to the increase of CFO positions in healthcare companies.
  • Healthcare companies assumed $323.1 billion in mergers and acquisitions in 2014, more than double the $115.1 billion in transactions in 2013.
  • More than one-third — 37 percent — of the U.S.’ initial public offerings in 2014 were by healthcare and life sciences companies.
  • While external appointments aren’t unusual, healthcare companies hired significantly more outsiders as their CFOs (57 percent of CFOs) compared with companies across all other industries (49 percent of CFOs). According to the Wall Street Journal, companies often seek out CFOs from other industries with experience dealing with mergers and acquisitions and the integration that follows.

More articles on healthcare finance:
Partners HealthCare leads push to partner with industry to commercialize research
Obama asks Congress to enable Medicare to negotiate drug costs
Republicans take aim at PPACA in budget compromise

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