The CFO'S Perspective

In years past, a company's financial leader was largely disregarded when it came to strategic planning. In fact, many CEOs believed that a solid group of accountants could negate the need for a CFO altogether. Fortunately, these ideas have evolved.

Your company may have the most ground-breaking products or services and eye-popping marketing campaigns, but this is not enough to ensure financial success. This requires a closer relationship between the CEO and CFO, as well as the supporting roles within your company's finance team.

When business disruptions occur, it can be expensive. Most business owners and CEOs have a model for success in mind, but what about the other side of the coin? Failing to prepare or put contingencies in place for unexpected events can turn a potential blip into a catastrophe.

Increasingly, business owners and leaders are leaning more on their financial teams to help prepare the company for uncertainty. Specifically, the business's CFO is taking on a broader role that includes making sure that your firm will be able to weather unexpected events.

Many businesses don’t need a CFO.  Yours may be one of them.

To be clear, pretty much every business needs some form of finance lead, or at least a solid accountant.

But if you are the owner or CEO of a privately held, reasonably successful small to mid-sized business, it’s pretty unlikely you need a CFO.  Certainly not a full-time CFO.

Now, depending on some of the challenges your business is facing, you may have the need or desire for some form of interim, part-time or “fractional” CFO.  But a full-time permanent CFO?  There’s a good chance that just doesn’t make sense.

Why not?  Because in this type of business, the primary responsibilities of the true CFO are either not required or they are handled by the business owner or CEO.

A CFO is responsible for budgeting and accurate cash flow projections. While not necessarily an HR expert, the matter of salaries and raises is an area that a CFO must navigate in collaboration with the company’s HR team. We are sharing our thoughts on this area from a CFO’s perspective.

What senior manager hasn't looked into the future to plan the growth of their business? The forces that drive the market acceptance and commercial success of your organization are going to vary depending on the nature of your products and services.

Whether you're in a traditional industry or a new one, business moves faster than ever today. Every millisecond a new app is download from Apple's online store. Walgreens now offers a walk-in one-minute flu shot, and customers can drop off their Fed Ex packages in the process. Any organization that wants to ensure its future must first figure out how to measure its past performance and then leverage that information to inform current decisions that impact their ongoing success.

Most small to medium-sized companies are owned and run by business leaders who are highly skilled in some key aspect of their business - such as technology, sales, or manufacturing - but are less savvy in financial matters. Financial performance measures are essential because they indicate whether a company's strategy, implementation, and execution are contributing to bottom-line results.

Whether it is your company's number one goal or not, the notion of turning a profit is sure to be in your top five short and long-term objectives. The only way to know if you are achieving your financial goals is to regularly assess your business. Are things running smoothly? If not, where are the bottlenecks? What parts of the business are acting as growth catalysts? Many of these questions can be answered by reviewing regular financial reports.

Fully insured health plans not only limit an employer’s ability to manage their healthcare spend by restricting their access to claims and utilization data, they also lack flexibility and innovation.

Partial self-funding is a time tested and proven model for financing healthcare expense that allows employers to implement innovative plan designs and strategies while appropriately managing risk.

A changing of the guard in a company's top position is a dramatic change for any business, but getting a new CFO is a close second. As with any executive transition, there may be several reasons for the shift. You may be a small company that has just now decided it's time for a CFO, have an executive who is nearing retirement, or has a legitimate issue that prompts the need for a change.

No one likes uncertainty, so it's best to approach a CFO change with as much caution as possible. There are some telling signs that it's time to launch an executive CFO search, as well as advantages and disadvantages to conducting a confidential search for a CFO. Your company may want to consider an interim position, as well as enlisting the help of a financial consultant during this process.