If you asked any company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) what s/he does, you would probably be in for a pretty extensive conversation around the intricacies of business process, finance and forecasting and strategy.
This is referring to large business, however a CFO for an SME is responsible for managing the financial actions of the company and specialises in key areas such as:
- Cash Flow
- Financial Planning
- Analysing Financial Strengths & Weaknesses
- Analysing Process and Related Costs
Employing someone in smaller business with this skillset is usually prohibitive as the cost ratio of the average full time CFO salary against the likely benefit to the business is rarely worth moving forward with.
A Director, Owner or Manager in an SME is likely to consider themselves responsible for all of these functions when trying to run their business. As a DIY option they will turn to modern software for assistance in processing their figures. However, many owners don’t have the financial know-how and training to truly analyse their own results and many will glorify rather than see the true picture, this is human.
What if you use a Job Management addon like simPRO or a POS addon like Kounta? What if you have different sites, divisions and complex reporting areas that need to be plugged in to a reporting add-on like Spotlight or Float? Do you know which software you have reports on which parts of the business most effectively? Do you have time to do this?
The analysing aspect can only be as good as the accuracy of figures and the knowledge of the person interpreting them. In this modern world reports are generated from all packages to provide an accurate picture of the business and it’s health moving forward. The analysis needs to take in a holistic point of view. A CFO assisting a business will achieve this.
Fortunately one of the benefits of using cloud technology is that the key information a CFO will analyse is readily accessible in real time and, if processed accurately, makes some of the functions of a CFO role achievable remotely. This in turn will keep the cost down.
Most SME business owners are flat out keeping up with the key responsibility of employing their trade knowledge and keeping sales ticking over than attempting to understand accounting software and reporting functionality.
The appointment of a ‘virtual’ CFO will compliment the work achieved by accountants who often only have access to the accounting package or reports at year end and not the figures generated by the add on.
Consider the opportunity of bringing in the expertise of a CFO without the expense of a full time salary with the same results, now it becomes viable.
If analysing your business further has been on your mind, contact the team at Inspired to discuss some Modern CFO options via [email protected] or click here to read about our Introductory-CFO Package.
