The Association of Bioscience Financial Officers (ABFO) was founded by a group of San Francisco Bay Area biotechnology financial officers in 1989 to create a forum for exchange of information and networking.

Since the first ABFO conference in 1990, bioscience CFO's have helped form twelve separate regional chapters throughout the United States and Canada. These chapters function independently, but coordinate each year in the planning and execution of the ABFO National Conference.

Regional chapters are organized in the centers of highest bioscience/industrial concentration across the nation. Their common mission is to facilitate local networking by fostering face-to-face contacts at meetings designed to address current "hot topics" of interest to bioscience financial officers. This networking becomes national in scope at the Annual ABFO Conference.