Taking on a dual role may become the norm for chief financial officers—especially those who are also chief operating officers—as companies face increasing complexity.
There’s an increasing trend of CFOs taking on the COO role, and some large companies are combining the functions to create a hybrid position. For Block’s Amrita Ahuja and Hasbro’s Gina Goetter, who both hold COO and CFO titles, it isn’t just about managing numbers—it’s about shaping the future of their companies.
Hasbro, the largest publicly traded toymaker in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world, has a significant manufacturing footprint. Every decision is inherently operational or financial, Goetter said during a panel session at the Fortune COO Summit on Tuesday with Ahuja and moderated by Next to Lead editor Ruth Umoh.
“It’s very blended,” Goetter explained. “You can’t do one without the other, and I find combining them actually creates a lot of simplicity across the organization.”
As a CFO, you have the vantage point of the entire company strategy, Goetter noted. The finance chief is one of the few individuals who can connect all the pieces together in both strategy and execution. That strategy is deeply embedded in operations, she said.
Block, a Fortune 500 fintech company, offers customers financial options such as payment plans through Afterpay, various lending choices for Square sellers, and the ability for Cash App users to split paycheck deposits among cash, Bitcoin, or stocks. Ahuja provided an example of the value of having the dual CFO-COO role.
She is leading automation efforts, using generative AI and shared platforms to streamline everything from contract management to financial forecasting. “Because our teams are together, we can share infrastructure and insights across the organization,” Ahuja said.
Goetter, who joined Hasbro in 2023, pointed to navigating tariffs and macro uncertainty. By overseeing both operations and finance, she can balance day-to-day supply-chain and customer management with the company’s financial health. This helps her make practical, “no regret” decisions—avoiding overanalysis—while ensuring Hasbro doesn’t end up with excess inventory in the wrong places, as happened after COVID.
“I’m confident that we’re not going to be in the same position we were coming out of COVID, where we’re sitting with action figures all over the world,” Goetter said.
But the dual CFO-COO role can be complex. “The tension in the role is aspiration and discipline,” Ahuja noted. As CFO, you advocate for growth while ensuring responsible capital allocation, she explained. As COO, you enable the business to move quickly but responsibly. She added: “No COO role is alike.” At Block, in addition to overseeing finance, she leads the legal and people functions, oversees communications and policy, and serves as chairperson of Square Financial Services, the company’s industrial bank.
Goetter emphasized the importance of finance as an enabler, not a limiter: “We want to build the business.” Wearing both hats actually makes it easier to connect strategy and execution, she said.
Finance is often viewed as the red tape you have to get through before everyone can achieve their hopes and dreams, Goetter commented. It’s unfair to characterize finance as the “‘no’ people,” she added.