INTRODUCTION
The term CFO stands for Chief Finance Officer. A CFO, in the simplest terms, is responsible for managing a company’s financial operations. The role also attends to the definition of business strategy, risk mitigation, and mentorship to company leadership. A CFO can be useful part-time, full-time, or for the duration of a project.
There are several types of CFO services as listed below:
Virtual CFO services – This is where a CFO offers his/her services without necessarily being physically present in your office but remotely on a contractual basis. This can also be referred to as outsourced CFO services where a finance principal lead comes in to help your organization with high-quality professional financial management. This option is known to be more cost-friendly as opposed to full-time CFO service, especially for start-ups or businesses that do not have enough budget or space to appoint a full-time one. Other people refer to these as part-time or fractional CFOs.
Interim CFO Services: interim CFOs are financial experts who come to your company or office temporarily to take over from either a full-time or fractional CFO who has either quit, got an emergency, or gone on a long vacation. they come to help ensure that the financial processes of your company go uninterrupted. interim CFOs, can also be hired during debt financing, restructuring, or turnaround crises. For this option, they can either be full-time or part-time depending on the client’s preference
CFO Support – these are CFO services that are offered to support an existing CFO or accountant in areas they may be struggling in for an agreed period until their challenges are fully resolved.
Consultants CFO services– these are CFO experts who come in as financial advisors to help guide your company to make better financial decisions to help increase value and productivity.
When does your business need CFO services?
- When you think your business is making money, but you don’t have any money to show for it.
- When your board of directors requires detailed financial insights about your business to make business decisions from an informed and data-driven point of view.
- When you are overwhelmed with more sales than you are used to handling and are at risk of losing new clients for lack of delivery, with systems unable to cope.
- When your business is losing share and profitability or not living up to ambition and you need to diagnose and plan for recovery.
- When you have tried so many ways to solve the problems your business is facing but nothing seems to work.
- When you need someone to help effectively and efficiently implement solutions that will result in growth momentum in your business.
- When you need a dashboard to help you know how well you are doing and guide you to prioritize the required interventions.
- When your business needs funding from investors. The process will require your company’s financial reports from its inception and someone to interpret them.
- When there is an unfulfilled need for someone to interpret financial data, and you are not ready to commit to an in-house CFO.
- When your business is not meeting its targets.
Listed below are some of the things CFOs carry out for your company:
Ensuring Sustainable Value Creation through the following: Business Model Creation & Preservation, Value Creation Initiatives such as M&A, Restructuring, Integrated Efficiency initiatives, driving responsible growth such as innovation governance, Investor relations – value through communication.
- Driving Finance Functional Excellence through Dynamic performance management and resource allocation, proactive risk management (reputation business model, brands), efficient financial control, and reporting processes to build excellent teams and functional capability.
- Funding the Business either by re-investing profit (such as dividend policy etc.), through sourcing equity (investors’ expectations and relations management), source debt (capital structure, D/E ratio, e.t.c)
- Coaching and mentoring a company’s existing accountants and CFOs.
- Implementation and management of financial IT systems.
- Recommending and supervising the implementation of efficient resource allocation.
- Identifying your business’s problem through objective framing.
- Business performance management through dynamic planning and forecasting.
- M&A target identification diligence, deal leadership, and integration execution.
- Determining the structure and the resourcing needs of a financial organization.
- Reviewing and facilitation of business design models to ensure viability.
- Evaluating and improving on the basics of the finance and control function such as bookkeeping and fundamental control procedures.
- Planning and recommending structures for driving systematic cost & working capital efficiency across the organization to keep you competitive.
- Planning and matching fixed and working capital financing need to their business-specific cycles.
- Providing a business interface with investor communities.
- Designing and deploying gatekeeping governance for business ideas to ensure resources are allocated in priority of ROI.
In a nutshell, these are the benefits your company gets from working with our CFOs.
Having worked with many types of businesses in diverse industries, Stratex CFOs are well-equipped to handle any challenge your company may be encountering. Their well-rounded expertise makes it easier for them to approach your business from different angles out of which they counter your problem. Their valuable insights will help set up your company for success even long after they leave. What’s more, they are flexible to provide their services to your company only when you need them; be it hourly, monthly, quarterly, or yearly because it is purely dependent on your budget. We are ready to take all your business financial responsibilities off your plate and help accelerate you on the road to growth and profitability. Talk to us today.