WHERE DID the COO go? It's a question you might ask looking at today's organizational charts.

In 1999, there were 249 COOs at large, publicly traded companies; by 2005, the number had dropped to 204, according to Crist Associates, a Hinsdale, Illinois, recruiting and succession planning firm. General Motors, IBM, Motorola and Procter & Gamble have all nixed the COO position in the past few years.

The COO is a casualty of changing corporate pecking orders. CEOs feel growing pressure from Wall Street to understand all aspects of their businesses, so they're leaning heavily on CFOs and shedding COOs to get closer to the action. The result: "The CFO's status is elevated ...