What is a CFO?

A Chief Financial Officer (CFO) is multi-faceted member of the management team.  A good one has lots of first-hand experience wearing many hats including experience in administration, management accounting, production, purchasing, human resources, information systems, credit and collections, and cash management in addition to having strong finance skills. Paul Robinson of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu has noted that a Chief Financial Officer really has 4 jobs:

1. Steward: Protects and preserves the assets of the organization
2. Operator: Runs the finance organization
3. Strategist: Provides financial leadership in determining strategic business direction.
4. Catalyst: Stimulates behaviors across the organization to achieve strategic and financial objectives.

While your accountant or Senior bookkeeper can typically deal with day-to-day details and putting the numbers together, a CFO can really help in interpreting that data. CFO’s interpret numbers and provide insight for success.  Above all, a good small business CFO must be business savvy.

Who needs a part time CFO?

Your annual revenues or the number of employees or some other size criteria may not dictate whether you need a part time CFO. Rather, the complexity of the business may act as a better indicator of such a need.  The complexity of the finances, operations, plans for growth, potential mergers/acquisitions and other factors relating to change are better measures. Another important consideration is where the company is in it’s lifecycle.
While a new company or one that is undertaking much growth or change may require more senior level expertise , one that has been in existence for a while and already has some established processes and procedures may not necessarily require a part time CFO.

A large percentage of companies will fail within the first 5 years of operation and virtually all of these companies have an accountant.  But having an experienced financial manager on your team can help provide you with the bigger financial picture and a clearer path for optimal growth. Studies have shown that the number one differentiator between businesses that will succeed and fail is management capability. We work as a part of your management team bringing multi-faceted experience in administration, management accounting, production, HR, computerization and finance to the table.  We help you measure your progress on an ongoing basis.

From an accounting standpoint, bankers, legal advisors  and year end accountants love the objectivity that comes from a third party, especially if the company is going through any type of transition

How do we get started or learn more about what we need?

Our first visit is always complimentary.  Phase one is a diagnosis of your company to determine how we can help and this may take place on the first or second visit. The Phase one diagnosis is also complimentary and would consist of a confidential report relating to needs and priorities.

What does it cost?

We charge a reasonable hourly rate for our CFO services. Our fee will vary depending on the hours required which are based on the particular needs of your business as well as your budget.  Our service is flexible in that we will determine together how often our services are required based on the established priorities and we will work within your defined budget. We don’t like you to be surprised by increasing hours and we would be happy to discuss a monthly retainer to smooth out cash flow commitments.

Do you replace the year end accountant?

No. We do not perform year end work, produce external financial statements or prepare tax returns.  However, we can assist your year end accountant by providing year end schedules as required and over the course of the year, making sure your internal financials are timely and accurate. Your year end accountant works hard to ensure that they remain ethically independent from certain functions of your business and therefore, our services compliment their services.