The 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.

For many owners and executives, some of the most trying times are not when the business is in stagnation, or even decline. The difficult times often surface when a company is growing rapidly.

Aggressive growth phases test every aspect of an organization’s leadership, making growth one of the biggest challenges faced by small-to-medium sized businesses and startups.

On a growth trajectory, leadership is left wondering “How can we get the most out of existing resources?”, “Which new resources will we need to acquire?”, “How do we prioritize our needs?”, “How many new employees will we need to hire to achieve our goals?”, and “How can we get everyone bought into the growth plan?” In short, “What comes next?”

Whether your business has grown to a size that requires a trusted professional to handle your financials, or it has become apparent that a replacement is necessary for someone in a key position, hiring a qualified CFO or controller can be a challenge.  Your company's CFO or Controller is an essential member of your senior management team.

When you hire a CFO or Controller, where do you start? What should be your primary focus? The answers to these and other questions could be the difference between qualified candidates and warm bodies with resume in hand.

The employees in your company's office can make or break the business. They are often on the front line delivering customer service or managing critical information. Hiring highly talented and skilled individuals who will fit well into a company culture can seem almost ‘impossible’. When short staffed or during rapid growth, it may be tempting to hire almost ‘anyone’ as quickly as possible. This is usually a mistake because of the extra costs of carrying ‘dead wood’ on the payroll. The good news is that many office and administrative support occupations often require only a high school diploma with some specialized skills to qualify.

The value of working with a bookkeeper is undisputed; bookkeepers are professionals at managing the day-to-day financial transactions of business, providing the business owner with the information necessary to make sound financial decisions for the future. What’s more, there is no doubt that regardless of the type of business that you operate, bookkeeping and accounting services are invaluable, and essential for efficient operation.