As a small business owner, you know what it’s like to perform a juggling act. From sales and accounting to technology and human resources, you keep dozens of balls up in the air every day.
It goes without saying that all this juggling can make it hard to focus on the long term growth of your business. Instead, you spend your time just maintaining the status quo, while sales and profits plateau.
More times than not, if the financial reporting task were given to someone who could also provide strategic financial guidance, your business would have an edge and be able to get a step ahead of the competition.
This is where a chief financial officer comes in to play.
How Do You Know It’s Time to Bring In a CFO?
Let’s start by looking at some of the indicators that you should consider a CFO for your business. You might be ready for a CFO if:
- You do not have the right financial information to make timely and important decisions
- Your business is stagnate and not growing
- You do not have the financial information that is required by customers, suppliers, banks and insurance carriers
- Your business is experiencing rapid growth or is preparing for a merger or acquisition that requires increasing financial reporting and expertise
Although you might already know the benefits of having a CFO involved in your business, you might be thinking that hiring a full-time CFO sounds expensive.
There is a simple answer to this problem: outsource the CFO function. In other words, bring in someone (not an employee) on a part-time or as needed basis. An outsourced CFO can help you grow your business without the high price tag of a full-time salary, stock options and employee benefits that come with a full-time CFO employed by your business.
Many CPA firms offer outsourced CFO services to their growing small business clients. Let’s look at a few benefits of utilizing an outsourced CFO.
New Skill Sets
CFOs have a higher level of analytical skill than bookkeepers or accountants. With the ability to interpret a business’s data and earnings, CFOs can think long term about what’s best for your business based on economic conditions, industry trends, the tax environment and government regulations.
1. Expert Financial Reporting
A CFO can produce the financial reports required by outside financial institutions, investors and customers. This saves you time and energy that you can now put into implementing creative ideas to grow your business.
2. Marry Accounting and Technology for Better Reporting
CFOs understand that accounting and reporting systems are important. Whether you use QuickBooks, Microsoft Dynamics GP or Sage 300, a good CFO can work with you to get meaningful information out of your system.
3. Protection From Fraud
These days, stories of fraud and embezzlement are everywhere. Fraud can hurt your organization’s future growth. A CFO can help protect your business by ensuring that there are sufficient internal controls to safeguard against fraud.
4. Strategic Growth Expertise
A CFO is knowledgeable about how businesses grow. He or she should be able to provide and analyze strategic growth plans that help ensure your business is on track for growth.
5. Accurate Cash Flow Projections
It’s important to know where your business is headed. CFOs have the ability to provide accurate cash flow projections that are necessary for growing a business.
Outsourcing your CFO function to a CPA firm can be a huge step towards more growth for your business due to their analytical skill set, accurate projections and strategic recommendations. Outsourcing the accounting function makes sense for a lot of small businesses. It's a cost effective way to reduce your workload as a business owner so you can get back to concentrating on growing your business.
Need Help?
Contact us online or call 800.899.4623 to discuss whether outsourcing your CFO function makes sense for your business.
