The Ledger ResearchPrivate

The Front Office

Scouting report · TSLA

Vaibhav Taneja

  • Chief Financial Officer, TSLA since 2023-08src

Tesla CFO since August 2023, after SolarCity and 17 years at PwC

—thin record

Not ranked yet

Scouting sheet

as of 24 Sep 2026
Delivers guidance—no promises on the record yet
Answers the question—no call reviewed yet
Capital allocation—company not reviewed yet
Pay design40time only · 78.7% for · 0.01% of net income
Skin in the game—no holding or price on file
Age
48src
In the role
3 yr
Promises scored
0
Hit rate
—
Dodges / 100 answers
—
Airtime on calls
—
Every promise, oldest firstno scored promises yet

What to weigh

Watch 4

  • Pay has no performance condition. There is no cash bonus, and the 2024 grant (about 80% options, the rest RSUs) vests on time alone: options monthly over four years and RSUs quarterly to 2028-09-05src
  • The 2024 grant ($139.5m grant-date value) makes his pay lumpy. The filing says Tesla generally makes no annual grants to senior executives and the Compensation Committee sets their awards with input from the CEOsrc
  • Say-on-pay at the November 2025 meeting was 78.7% of for and against votes. Tesla describes it as about 70% of the shares presentsrc
  • Sold 3,000 shares ($1.35m) on 2026-05-13 under a 10b5-1 plan adopted 2025-11-17. Issuer sell-to-cover sales on his quarterly RSU vestings added about $4.06m over the year to September 2026src

In their favour 1

  • An accountant by training who ran Tesla's controllership and accounting for six years before becoming CFO. The FY2025 10-K/A reports no late Section 16 filingssrc

Career

  1. 2023 – now
    Tesla, Inc.src
    Chief Financial Officer (and Chief Accounting Officer at appointment)
    Since 2023-08-04, succeeding Zachary Kirkhorn. The 10-K/A of 2026-04-30 lists him as Chief Financial Officer only
  2. 2019 – 2023
    Tesla, Inc.src
    Chief Accounting Officer
    Appointed 2019-03-13
  3. 2018 – 2019
    Tesla, Inc.src
    Corporate Controller
    From May 2018
  4. 2017 – 2018
    Tesla, Inc.src
    Assistant Corporate Controller
    February 2017 to May 2018, after Tesla acquired SolarCity (November 2016)
  5. 2016 – 2017
    SolarCity Corporationsrc
    Vice President, accounting functions; Corporate Controller from August 2016
    March 2016 to February 2017
  6. 1999 – 2016
    PricewaterhouseCoopers (India and U.S.)src
    Audit, finishing as Senior Manager in the Assurance practice
    July 1999 to March 2016

Achievements

  • Rose from Assistant Corporate Controller (2017) to Controller (2018), Chief Accounting Officer (2019) and CFO (2023) at Teslasrc
  • Seventeen years at PwC in India and the U.S., leaving as a Senior Manager in Assurance, before joining SolarCity in 2016src
  • Reported 2024 pay of $139.5m, almost all of it a one-off option ($113.0m) and RSU ($26.1m) grant; 2025 pay was $403,000src
  • Beneficially owns 1,313,822 Tesla shares, 1,188,989 of them exercisable options, at 2025-12-31src

Education

  • University of Delhi, BCom Commercesrc
  • Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, CA Chartered Accountancy (2000)src
  • US state licence (state not named), CPA (inactive) Accountancysrc

Background

  • Family The 10-K/A states no family relationships among directors and executive officers other than Elon and Kimbal Musk, who are brotherssrc
  • Boards Director of Tesla India Motors and Energy Pvt Ltd, Tesla's Indian subsidiary, from January 2021 per the search sourcesrc
  • In the press Indian and trade press called him the highest-paid CFO in the world on his 2024 packagesrc
  • Other No employment agreement for a set term, and no severance or change-in-control arrangementsrc
  • Other Came to Tesla through the SolarCity acquisition, which Musk chaired, and was Chief Accounting Officer under CFO Zachary Kirkhorn from March 2019 until succeeding himsrc

The promise ledger

No promise on the record yet: the research routine has not scored this company's guidance.

Sources

13
  1. Filing Tesla, Inc. 10-K/A for FY2025, Part III (Items 10-13: executive officers, compensation, ownership, related persons) (0001104659-26-053166) · 2026-04-30
  2. Filing Tesla, Inc. 10-Q for the quarter ended 2026-06-30 (signatures; Item 5 Rule 10b5-1 arrangements) (0001628280-26-049270) · 2026-07-23
  3. Filing Tesla, Inc. 8-K Item 5.02, Taneja appointed CFO (0000950170-23-038779) · 2023-08-07
  4. Filing Tesla, Inc. 8-K Item 5.02, Taneja appointed Chief Accounting Officer (0001564590-19-007669) · 2019-03-14
  5. Filing Tesla, Inc. 8-K Items 5.02/5.07, 2025 annual meeting results (0001104659-25-108507) · 2025-11-07
  6. Filing SEC XBRL companyconcept us-gaap/NetIncomeLoss, CIK 1318605 (FY2025 10-K, 0001628280-26-003952) · 2026-01-29
  7. Filing Form 4, Vaibhav Taneja (reporting CIK 1771340), option exercise and 10b5-1 sale of 2026-05-13 (0001104659-26-062860) · 2026-05-15
  8. Filing Form 4, Vaibhav Taneja, RSU vesting 2025-12-05 and tax sell-to-cover 2025-12-08 (0001104659-25-119764) · 2025-12-09
  9. Filing Form 4, Vaibhav Taneja, RSU vesting 2026-03-05 and tax sell-to-cover 2026-03-06 (0001104659-26-025379) · 2026-03-09
  10. Filing Form 4, Vaibhav Taneja, RSU vesting 2026-06-05 and tax sell-to-cover 2026-06-08 (0001104659-26-071970) · 2026-06-09
  11. Filing Form 4, Vaibhav Taneja, RSU vesting 2026-09-05 and tax sell-to-cover 2026-09-08 (0001104659-26-106432) · 2026-09-09
  12. Web search result WebSearch: Tesla appoints Vaibhav Taneja as CFO, a CA from ICAI (summary: qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2000; Delhi University graduate; director of Tesla India Motors and Energy Pvt Ltd from January 2021) · 2026-09-24
  13. Web search result WebSearch: From ICAI to Tesla, Vaibhav Taneja's $139m 2024 pay tops global CFO pay charts (CAclubindia) · 2026-09-24