There seems to be a profound disconnect for chief financial officers in their first 100 days on the job. According to a McKinsey survey, most CFOs say their time is not being spent in areas where it's needed. Instead of working on looking at the drivers of the business, providing input into corporate strategy, and building the finance team, they being called in to do the tedious stuff of budgeting, management reporting, and financial reporting.

Not many CFOs-just over a quarter-they don't have have enough resources and support to make the transition a success. But that figure rises to a third among CFOs of public companies. CFOs who wanted more help most often said they would have liked three things: better access to internal information, more time with the CEO or the board, and the ability to bring new people into the finance organization. And more than 60 percent of CFOs overall report that they would have liked to spend more time with business unit heads.

All this suggests that CFOs are in a real bind when they come in to companies. And that they are unlikely to shake things up too much.