How do you know when you should outsource your CFO? How will your firm benefit from bringing on a part-time CFO? In this post, we help you answer these questions.
Let’s paint a picture.
You’ve started your own business and have achieved some good success. At this stage, you have an in-house or external general accountant and the day-day gets done with minor hiccups here and there.
Overall, you’re satisfied, but as business grows, so do your opportunities and risks. Your team has expanded and so have your compensation expenses.
Your once cosy office space now seems a little ‘too cosy’ and the projects your firm attracts are increasing in scope. Suddenly, the need to manage your cash is crucial, especially if you’ve personally guaranteed your business line of credit. You find yourself questioning the details more and start ruminating about the future of your business and your ability to serve your clients.
You find yourself asking:
Should I outsource my CFO?
There is no one-size-fits-all answer. It depends on where your business is. Here are 5 questions to ask yourself to help you figure it if now is a good time to outsource your CFO or not.
- How will WE manage if client X grows and WE need to expand my team?
- What happens if WE Lose this client? How will WE bounce back?
- How is our performance? Is it good or great?
- Is relying on our bank balance even the best way to measure our performance?
- What about in 12 months? what will our performance look like then?
When no one on your team is able to work with you to answer these questions, you wonder who can support you in these decisions.
If this sounds familiar, it might be time to outsource your CFO and consider hiring a part-time CFO.
A part-time CFO will …
- Help you understand the story in your financial statements instead of leaving you with more questions
- Equip you with the information you need to make faster, more strategic business decisions
- Influence the decisions you make by asking questions like why, why not, what are you saying no to when you are saying yes to that?
- Give you perspective on your performance vs. what the best performing businesses in the industry are doing
The goal is to give you confidence in your financial position and reduce the amount of time you spend analyzing your financials. By doing so, you can focus on delivering value to your business in a way that only you can do best.
READY TO HIRE A PART-TIME CFO?
We provide part-time CFO and advisory services to marketers, designers and architects. If you think we’d make a good partner, contact us.