Do You Need To Outsource Your CFO Role?

Do You Need To Outsource Your CFO Role? There are many situations where outsourcing your “CFO” function can be the best way to manage the financial aspects of your business.

Companies outsource many functions in today’s economy, including accounting, payroll, IT, and marketing, among others. Outsourcing CFO services can give you access to financial experts with a wide range of experiences, who are committed to keeping up with best practices in the field. Doing this will give you the flexibility to access that expertise as needed, rather than committing to a full-time in-house resource.

Who is Most Likely to Outsource Financial Services?

Situations that call for outsourcing the CFO function are varied, and include the following scenarios:

• You’re an entrepreneur. Your business is taking off and you have a lot of balls in the air – you simply don’t have enough time for budgeting, forecasting and analyzing financial results;
• You run a small- to mid-sized business. You know your customers and your services and/or products inside and out, but you’re less focused on dissecting the financial side of the business. As a result, you sometimes make decisions based on instinct instead of financial data and other objective inputs;
• You’ve raised some venture capital to expand your business (congratulations) and you need to update your investors about profit margins, customer acquisition costs and other key performance indicators, but you’re not sure how to put that together;
• Your business has been getting along with a one-person finance department, and that person just gave two-weeks’ notice. While you have a bookkeeper, you don’t fully understand the financial statements they prepare. You’ve been feeling like you could use more in terms of financial planning and analysis but you’re not really sure what you need.
• You have a bookkeeper or controller and you do not understand the financial statements that they are preparing and presenting.
• The business is not performing as well as you think it should. An objective third party can help you understand where it is falling short and where action is required.

Business owners make decisions every day, but those decisions are not optimal when based on inputs that are insufficient or incorrect. The implications of faulty financial inputs, including quantities, costs, margins, inventory, cash flows, and so on, can be profound, affecting profitability, market share and access to capital. If your financial data is not well organized and clearly presented, it is not as useful as it could be, and if you are getting inadequate or inaccurate information, that is even worse.

You need a capable resource to help you interpret the information and take appropriate actions. If you do not have anyone like that on staff, an outsourced CFO could be the right solution.

Outsourced CFO services add significant value to all types of businesses in many ways, including:

• ongoing financial planning and analysis (budgeting, forecasting, assessing long-term and short-term financing needs)
• analysis of overall financial strengths and weaknesses, with suggestions for improvements
• assessment of the financial viability of new product ideas, including projections and NPVs and IRR calculations
• analysis of pricing and cost structures to improve margins
• evaluation of financial data capture and reporting systems, with recommendations for improvements
• assistance with raising capital, advising on debt/equity mix
• preparing financial presentations for the Board and/or investors (e.g., pitch decks)
• assistance with quarterly financial reporting
• analysis of M&A opportunities, including financial forecasts of BAU and post-acquisition operations

Outsourcing the CFO function can make a significant contribution to the financial and strategic decisions made for your business. As an expert in providing outsourced CFO services, Rektio Accounting is ready to help your firm achieve its financial goals.