You’ve probably heard about professional CFO services and have some idea of what these services could do to benefit your company.
As your business starts to grow or expand in new directions, it may be time to start considering adding a CFO service. With a CFO provider on your team, your business can scale up in growth more sustainably.
But how do you know who to partner with and when to make the jump into using CFO services? To help the decision processes go a little smoother, we’ve put together a few tips to determine whether or not your business is ready for CFO services.
Your Business is Growing Quickly
Rapid growth can create friction when dealing with your financials. However, you must see what you are generating and spending before you can begin scaling up your business. Growth means an influx of profit and spending, which can make sticking to your existing budget difficult.
Your company could have scaled sharply, which requires you to seek outside assistance with finances. This happens as a result of hiring more than the typical number of employees. You can also see unexpected growth when you incur a sudden spike in sales revenue.
Most businesses thrive from this type of situation. Yet you can also sink quickly from over-stretched inventory and demand without the processes in order to manage this growth. If your company is not ready to grow, the growing pains can leave your team without the resources and means necessary to make it to the next stage. Here is where hiring a CFO makes more sense than putting off your financial portfolio until looking at those money matters becomes a chore.
You Notice Mistakes in Your Accounting
Since you don’t have a CFO, it’s likely you or a trusted employee are running the numbers on top of your other responsibilities. It can be difficult to keep up with even if you are financially savvy. Costly mistakes can be made, leaving your company in a mess. You may not even have the capacity to manage this kind of thing.
Furthermore, you probably aren’t spending enough time with your budget, expenses, and forecasts. The problem is you need to spend more time working with financial reports. However, like many business owners, this isn’t something you have extra time for. And even if you do, there are so many factors at play, it can be hard to keep up.
Each variable can lead to gains or losses. And every financial move you make will come with consequences and aftershocks (good or bad) for your company. You have to balance these, which is where a professional bookkeeper or accountant comes in.
With an outsourced CFO, you can depend on them to get everything done accurately and on time according to financial regulations. More importantly, if anything is amiss in your bookkeeping, your accountant will be the one who is called in for any legal or compliance questions. This saves you from the hassle and exempts you from potential fines and penalties in the case a mistake was made.
Your Profits Aren’t Where You Want Them to Be
So you’ve been doing everything you can to increase profits/cash flow and it’s just not working. Or maybe you have lofty profit goals and need to find a way to achieve them efficiently. Your plan might include operating internationally where operating procedures are more extensive and costly.
These are all signs that you need a CFO service. A trustworthy CFO will help you find a strategy to drive a greater wedge in your profit margins. Your CFO will set up a customized, highly detailed plan that ensures your business can expand without sacrificing financially. This plan will be reviewed periodically throughout the year for updates on the success and longevity of each aspect of the company’s growth.
You Lack a Strong Financial Strategy
As you are discovering, the best way to keep your finances moving in the right direction is to start with a strong financial strategy. You’ll know your strategy is working when you start seeing gains towards your goals. However, this is something you can’t dream up overnight and implement into your business the next day, it takes plenty of time and planning.
To help your strategy run more smoothly, you may need to turn to tools and software that help drive your accounting system and produce real-time results as you input figures and set up formulas.
Which tools should you use for your financial strategy and accounting? Consider these tech and systems suggestions from Adian for managing your accounting and bookkeeping back-office processes:
A CFO service can help you select, integrate, and apply these tools to make your financial strategy run more smoothly.
Think You are Ready for a CFO Service?
If you are experiencing any of the above, it might be time to turn to CFO service. Consider Adian Professional Corporation. By choosing our part-time CFO and controller services, you stand to gain:
- Improved cash flow management in operations
- Total overhaul in business planning and strategic tax planning
- Strategies for profit improvement including risk management
- Assistance with raising capital
- In-house bookkeeper training
Schedule your professional and free consultation online today!