From consultant to CFO: A career spotlight on Geoff Stalley, Booktopia

The role of Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is highly valued for the success of an organisation. The CFO role requires specific technical and soft skills developed through professional experience and postgraduate education, such as the online Master of Applied Finance at UNSW.  

Discover how Geoff Stalley, the CFO of Booktopia, went from consultant to CFO. Learn about Geoff's career journey and his financial achievements whilst also unearthing the top in-demand skills for CFOs and how to take the step up into a CFO position. 

We explore what it takes to apply finance in the modern world to become a successful CFO and a financial leader of tomorrow.

Geoff Stalley, CFO of Booktopia. A CFO's career journey to date  

Geoff Stalley grew up on a sheep station out the back of Bourke in NSW before moving to boarding school and then university in Sydney. 

Enjoying the variety of corporate work in companies like Harvey Norman and Burns Philp, Geoff also joined Ernst & Young (EY) as a consultant in their business consulting division. This began a 30+ year career as a consultant (across EY, Kearney, Andersen and Deloitte), working for some of the major Australian and global companies through a range of challenging projects spanning corporate innovation, new business growth, complex transformations and merger integration.  

“My roles included Managing or Lead Partner positions with full operational responsibilities, including building and leading a team of over 350 consultants with revenues of $100m” explains Mr Stalley.  Leading market entry strategy, business expansion and major transformation/ merger integration projects, Geoff has worked with a long list of household name clients, including Telstra, Qantas, AMP, Westpac, Origin, Toyota, Canon, General Motors, FedEx, Brambles, Caterpillar, CSR and Oracle, in Australia and globally.  

Geoff, as a partner, retired from Deloitte in 2018 and began the next stage of his career as a board director and interim executive.  

Geoff is currently a non-executive director for iSelect (ASX:ISU), Chair of an NFP focused on the emotional wellbeing of families and children, a member of the Advisory Board for the NSW Public Service Commission and a mentor for the start-up hub, Stone & Chalk.  

His interim executive roles have included Chief Growth Officer for Serco ASPAC and his current role as CFO for Booktopia, Australia's largest book retailer and an online retail pioneer.  

Biggest CFO achievements 

Geoff joined Booktopia as the CFO right when it was preparing to list Initial Public Offering (IPO) on the ASX.  

“Taking control of that project and ensuring that everything was covered to allow a successful listing was a major achievement” reflects Geoff. This undertaking included reorganising the finance team to ensure the right capabilities existed for operating as a listed company. 

Since then, Geoff has established an investor relations strategy whilst also communicating with the Board to focus on the next stage of growth for the business, as it continued to operate as a listed company.  

The role of CFO gives Geoff the ability to help shape and drive the organisation's strategy and determine the areas that he will emphasise and prioritise. He is a respected and trusted advisor to the CEO and senior executive team.  

Highlights of being a CFO 

The highlight for Geoff is the holistic view of the business that comes with the role of CFO, especially as financial information permeates and facilitates most decisions a business will make.  

“The role of CFO is extremely important to a business, as often the financial information of the business is not well understood by all executives.  The CFO, therefore, can add significant value helping the business interpret their situation and to chart ways forward that allow the business to achieve their goals” Geof explains. 

“Being part of this decision making team and being a trusted voice” is a highlight of the role for Geoff.  

Steps to become a CFO

The role of CFO is a prestigious position and the combination of soft and technical skills are crucial to the success of any organisation. 

Whether you are already in the industry or someone seeking a career change, you may be wondering how you can become a CFO? While you may have some great professional experience already, a postgraduate degree, such as the online Master of Applied Finance from UNSW, can help you hone in on and build your contemporary financial skills to help prepare you for future CFO positions.

Top three finance skills needed to become a CFO 

The three key principles that Geoff Stalley, CFO of Booktopia, has utilised throughout his career in leveraging his finance skills are:  

Be fact based 

“Always start with the facts of the situation and take the time to ensure these are correct and available. Find ways to cross check and verify the facts of every situation, but don't 'boil the ocean'. Use a hypothesis approach to identify the facts that need to be understood for any situation.  

Financial skills, such as data interpretation and storytelling, are particularly important, as most facts that capture the situation can be understood as numbers in tables or graphs.”  

Be responsible 

“Take a wider responsibility for the activities associated with your situation and team.  

Too often, people take the narrow view and only consider the things they can directly control, whereas those who see things beyond this are often the ones who make the biggest impact on the success of any situation.  

Seeing the bigger picture also allows you to discover where issues may happen before they occur and share this information with others” to assist with preparation or risk management. This information often comes from a financial perspective and thus, finance skills are critical for taking responsibility.

Be accountable 

“Do as you say, always – no alibis. If you have committed to completing something, then there are no excuses; it either was or wasn't completed.”  

To take accountability, you must first be able to understand the situation and its impact on the organisation. This is where having skills in finance can be beneficial in understanding and managing impact, as you have the frontline knowledge and holistic view of how finance functions can influence other departments. 

Unlock your value to become a CFO today  

“There are a variety of ways in which financial information is collected, interpreted and used to make decisions and to report on the performance of business activities and a program that addresses these aspects will provide the student with skills that can be applied and utilised throughout their career” describes Mr Stalley.

The online Master of Applied Finance at UNSW equips students with the contemporary and holistic knowledge to solve corporate financial problems, manage financial functions across the globe and make effective investment decisions that align with organisational objectives, giving them the competitive edge to thrive in the modern financial world and take the next step towards a CFO position.  

The immersive education experience of the 100% online Master of Applied Finance at UNSW, has been crafted to align with the motivations and experiences of the busy working professional. So, you can shape your studies to fit in with your career, study one course at a time, increase your employability and instantly add value to your career and organisation. ​ 

Are you ready to advance your financial knowledge and become a financial leader? Contact our Enrolment Advisors on 1300 974 990 to discuss your study options and download the program guide today.