I have the privilege of assembling our weekly CFO Moves column, so the finding of a new survey that the vast majority of finance chiefs haven't identified their successor doesn't really surprise me. I've seen a lot of press releases stating, "The company is considering both internal and external candidates to fill the position."

Still, the percentage of companies with no CFO succession plan is pretty staggering. The aforementioned poll of 1,400 CFOs by Robert Half Management Resources found that 83 percent have not identified a successor for their position.

The reason given by 81 percent of those with no succession plan was that they have no plans to leave their present companies in the near future.

In some ways, that should give companies comfort that their CFOs are so loyal. Or maybe it's just a commentary on how bad the job market is.

But given the increasingly important role of the CFO, companies should be concerned about this lack of planning because there is still plenty of turnover among finance chiefs.

A particularly troubling finding in the survey is that 7 percent said they don't have a successor in waiting because there are no qualified candidates currently working within their organization, making it the second most popular reason given.

That lack of a deep bench is what leads companies to look at external candidates, which can get pretty expensive. Of course, that's good news for recruiters like Robert Half.