[conductr]

Most execs it's less-critical to almost unnecessary but CTO is probably one I'd say it's a must in some cases. You'll be managing projects, the budget's of those projects, and should also have a perspective on which projects are good for the company to invest in. As such, knowing/understanding the ROI of those projects is a good idea. Also, for allocation of your team's resources/labor you should be able reprioritize confidently if you know how the project is valued. Again, generally this is something a CTO can partner with Finance team on. I don't have a source and I may be minimizing the complexity but I feel like there's probably a few articles/youtube/Khan Academy resources where you could learn what was needed in an evening. You shouldn't be the one building the financial models unless you just find that fun :)

Also fairly specific to CTO, learn the area of accounting around capital expenditures. Whether something is an expense or cap ex is very important for CTOs especially since labor can be capex. Every company will have their own accounting rules / interpretation of GAAP that you will have to get familiar with too.

I'd say your company valuation how it's modeled and pitched to investors, etc. is not as important. Very few people see that info outside of Finance and CEO with the BOD.