Which characteristics do the best CFOs share? What should you look for when hiring a CFO or bringing fractional financial leadership on board? As a Director of Finance, which skills should you look to bolster if you want to keep progressing in your career?

Obviously, the exact skills that a CFO needs to succeed in a specific role will vary based on factors like industry, company size and growth stage, and makeup of the c-suite team, but one commonality is that they all think strategically and communicate well.

These days the same misconceptions around CFO and Controller roles that have lingered for decades appear to be just as sticky as always. Time and again we hear the misconceptions reiterated that “a CFO only handles finance” and a Controller is “really just an accounting CFO.”

So, we’ve created this resource to set the record straight for business leaders that are looking for financial direction and don’t understand which role their small or mid-market company needs or why it really matters one way or the other.

But before we can talk about how a CFO and Controller are different, we need to explain why it matters at all. It’s important to understand that clarifying the distinctions between CFO and Controller roles isn’t just a matter of semantics. CFOs and Controllers are two distinct roles that serve two distinct functions within a business. Both are important and, when executed well, they will complement each other to aid in strategic management and foster growth. Once you understand that these roles are meant to work together, defining each becomes a critical component organizational alignment.

With ethical challenges on the rise employee accountability is more important than ever before! And while employers understand that holding employees accountable for their actions at work is a key component of risk mitigation, they often struggle with how to achieve accountability in a way that’s financially responsible, ethically sound, and operationally sustainable.  

If you’re feeling overwhelmed thinking about how to shore up your accountability efforts, we have some helpful tips to share with you to reduce risk and improve business outcomes. Remember, effective accountability is achievable for all organizations regardless of size, budget, workforce, or industry – so let’s dive into the year’s most important accountability initiatives!

These days we’re hearing a lot of clients ask, “How is AI going to affect my business?”

Unfortunately, there’s a lot of fear mongering going around related to AI based on largely unfounded concerns. There’s an uneducated belief that AI could steal jobs away from skilled professionals across various business facets like accounting and finance. However, this is simply untrue! AI is not going to replace your accountant, but what it is going to do is make professionals across finance, accounting, tax, treasury, procurement, and audit better at what they do!

When it comes to ethics in accounting the data is in and the numbers aren’t pretty! According to a global study on ethics by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA), 55% of accounting professionals surveyed said they have witnessed unethical behavior at some point in their careers and 25% said they have previously experienced pressure to act unethically. It’s no surprise then that 41% of respondents reported that ethical leadership and culture were top priorities at their organizations.

Sarah Lane, Head of Ethics and Assurance at ACCA responded to these findings in saying, “These insights underscore the need for robust ethical leadership and culture in organizations, and ongoing learning and development to support professional accountants in navigating these challenges.”

So, how can accounting and finance leaders combat these kinds of ethical challenges more effectively? Addressing today’s increasingly complex ethical issues requires strong leadership!

There is no one better positioned to create sustainable financial success inside a business than the CFO. A CFO takes their financial expertise and channels it into a strategic leadership role to create financial success for the company and its stakeholders. As such, their responsibilities include: budgeting and forecasting, managing mergers or acquisitions, and handling compliance issues.

A CFO has a deep understanding of your business model and your banking relationships, works with your board of directors, prepares detailed financial and management reports, works with auditors, oversees tax planning, and sets policies around controls and payroll. The CFO role is forward-thinking as they consider economic, industry, tax, government regulation and social issues. As such, a CFO is especially valuable for a company that is growing quickly, employs a large number of employees, and/or has complex product lines. CFOs also bring tremendous value to a company when it is considering making an acquisition, preparing itself to be acquired, or has its sights set on obtaining funding.

However, knowing what kind of value a financial leader can provide doesn't answer the question, "Do I need a CFO yet?" So, how do you know when it is the right time in the evolution of your business to bring in a CFO?

Regardless of size, industry, or location, strong financial leadership is a vital component of any organization’s success. Yet, small and mid-sized companies often forgo hiring a CFO due to budgetary constraints. This is where bringing in a fractional resource can help! An outsourced fractional CFO will perform the same duties as an in-house full-time CFO, but on a more limited time basis.

For those that are not familiar with the term, “fractional leadership” covers anything that is less than full-time. That means a fractional CFO may perform ongoing accounting/finance duties for a set number of hours every week for months or even years while the company grows until it reaches a point where it has enough work to justify the cost of a full-time hire. In this way, a fractional CFO is a great steppingstone as an organization grows or undergoes significant transition. In other situations, a fractional CFO may be brought in to provide short-term business project oversight or to clean up a mess that has resulted from a major accounting issue.

So, let’s look at when a fractional CFO is an absolute must-have.

Today’s executive financial hiring numbers reveal a surprising trend! Recent data shows that the rate of companies hiring externally for their Chief Financial Officer (CFO) role is at a 10-year high. The prevailing theory as to why so many companies are looking outside their organization to hire a CFO is that succession planning for CFOs has been deprioritized in recent years as they have focused on tackling their organizations’ more pressing needs instead. And yet, succession planning remains a critical activity to avoid the disruption and cost associated with needing to look externally for a replacement when an organization’s CFO leaves or retires.