Outsource This Job Role & Make The Most Of Growing Your Business

Outsourcing your web design, legal services, and freight is something you have already done in your business. Outsourcing to a qualified and experienced professional makes sense for many business professional services. However, there is one profession that has been overlooked and perhaps now is the right time to re-visit outsourcing a chief financial officer (CFO).

What? Since when do CFO’s perform their role as an outsourced function?

Actually, there is a demand for this service and a lot of entrepreneurs are already engaging this cost effective method of growing their business sustainably.

Before we continue, let’s ask and answer the big question…

What’s a CFO?

A CFO – better known as the Chief Financial Officer, in short is a corporate officer primarily responsible for managing the financial risks of the corporation. This is the person who expands your vision and puts a new set of eyes and ideas on every single one of your projects.

At this point you may ask yourself ‘How do you even outsource a CFO?’

A lot of businesses (without a CFO) encounter the same problems over and over again. Entrepreneurs are among the major ‘crisis’ group in this category. Well, at least the ones that try to do everything on their own. The flash news is that some functions are better placed in the hands of an experienced CFO.

The truth is more and more entrepreneurs are finding their perfect CFO in an outsourced freelancer or virtual right hand man.

A Professional CFO Will Take Your Business to the Next Level – Here is Why

Outsourcing a CFO is a decision that will open your mind, clear your vision and allow you to think from another perspective. A good CFO will directly assist you with focussing your strategic ideas into step by step achievable objectives, properly thought out for maximum effect and minimum risk. They will apply budget and forecast models to the strategic ideas, provide cost-benefit analysis, put systems in place to capture & measure KPI’s and provide analytical review as you progress. The true benefit of a Virtual CFO is his experience in a wide variety of businesses (not just yours) and therefore more experience in the variety of challenges faced by many businesses. He has seen it all before. Want to know why hiring a CFO can make your business better? Chances are he has seen your issues before and dealt with them. A valuable and handy person to have on call – don’t you think?

Some more reasons why outsourcing the CFO function makes sense:

1. Entrepreneurs Have A ‘Big’ Secret they won’t admit

Entrepreneurs are smart and creative and their minds are as sharp as a tack. However, running a business requires more skills than the visionary creative skillset entrepreneurs excel in. No matter what industry you are in, running a business is something that demands full attention from more than one person. Two heads are better than one. One person cannot possibly have every skillset, nor the time to make it all work. This is where an experienced financial and operations professional is a valuable asset. Combining the typical skills of an entrepreneur with a CFO makes a formidable force in any business.

2. Hiring A CFO Won’t Change Your Business

The most awkward scenario that all business owners and entrepreneurs fear is that if they open their business to someone, it will change into something they don’t want. You need to understand Your CFO wants you to succeed. CFO’s are a different breed of people to entrepreneurs. Their motivation is to share in the success and get that warm fuzzy feeling from their input making a positive difference to your business

3. Fresh New Eyes & Ears

The diversity of vision is something essential to every business, regardless of its size, type or industry. For example, an outsourced CFO for a small company can be the best all-in-one solution for enabling the flow of new ideas, acting as a sounding board, creating the roadmap to success, checking KPI’s along the way and reporting on the success factors and learnings.

It’s no wonder why many successful companies in the world spend millions of dollars hiring consulting firms. Well, a CFO provides a similar and cheaper alternative for smaller organisations.

4. Knowledge & Resources

CEO’s, business owners and entrepreneurs all share some great qualities when it comes to heading up a business. But do they all have the fundamental operational & financial analytical skillsets that provide the roadmap for the business to succeed. Seasoned CFO’s have developed these skillsets and utilised them in a variety of organisations. Their professional training and knowledge is unique which is why they are in such demand for their services. It has been well established that the most successful organisations are those where the Principal and his CFO have a close working relationship striving for the betterment of the business. How do you put a value on that?

5. Space & Time to Focus

Lets face it – there isn’t any entrepreneur, business owner or CEO that is not busy nowadays. Always late; trying to catch up or follow up and lacking free time to think. Well, this problem can easily be dealt with by hiring a CFO – who are known to handle the nitty gritty, leaving you to find your own space, time and place to relax, focus and think about what’s important to your business.

A Final Word

The way of the world is forever changing. Nothing stays the same. Once the CFO sat proudly beside the CEO, which is still true in many a large multi-national organisations. But for the small and medium size enterprise, cloud computing has opened up a whole new way of doing business. Heck, even the big end of town is outsourcing – customer service is now in Indonesia; manufacturing is in China; R&D in India etc etc… It makes sense that the smaller end of town save a few bucks and compete by outsourcing too. Having a Virtual (on-call) CFO is a smart choice.

Peter Katsos CPA

Based in Melbourne, Peter Katsos, founding Director of BIS Consulting can assist you with all your accounting needs with our Virtual CFO Package. With over 20 years commercial experience forged with SME’s in manufacturing and sales & distribution, he is has a wealth of financial experience to turn around, grow and sustain your business. BIS Consulting was established in 2013 to service SME’s. Talk to us about our complete Offsite Finance Dept. Contact us here.