How Outsourced CFO supports in-house finance teams

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There comes a time in every CFOs tenure when they need to access expertise that they may not necessarily have in-house. This generally happens in one of three scenarios:

High growth – When a company’s growth starts to head northwards of 30% over a prolonged period of time, although great, it can start to have adverse effects on the finance team. As growth increases, so does the workload, variability of tasks, and complexity of challenges. What does not increase is time, and working longer, more difficult hours – without the right support – will lead to mistakes and burnout.

Stagnation – Conversely, a low growth environment might mean there are leakages and blockages in the finance function that are hindering the business from building momentum. An external set of skilled eyes can help identify and alleviate these pain points.

Special projects – During the year there are sprint periods which increase the pressure on the finance team. Yes, pressure makes diamonds, but it also can burst pipes. In circumstances such as these, many hands make light work – especially if these hands are adept at navigating complicated situations, tasks and environments.

Aside from the above situations which are more company specific, there could be a number of other factors which are more nuanced in nature and holding the business back. These scenarios negatively affect the most important resource of all, its people.

• Inability to hire quickly enough, usually as a result of high growth
• Difficulty in finding the right talent, with the right skill set
• Employee churn as a result of burnout
• Industry-specific challenges requiring specialized knowledge
• Dated or lack of the correct system and integration
• Poor information flow through the organization

As CFO at the head of finance, you are responsible for the delivery of the financial function priorities of the company. Your tasks are the most complex, and your demand the highest. It’s also likely that key operations matter often require your input, making your time a highly scarce resource, leaving you often overstretched.

Having to oversee everyday administrative work draws your attention away from vital higher-order financial functions such direction of the company’s financial forecasting and projections – the cornerstone for sustainable growth.

We’ll walk you through some of the common hurdles (among others) faced by the companies, then show you how the Outsourced CFO team can ease the burden, support your team, and boost capacity and expertise.

1. Month-end close support

Month-ends can be chaotic and challenging as a lot of procedures need to be executed in a short amount of time. The board wants to see the numbers. Our seasoned accountants help alleviate the pressure on internal accounting teams around monthly and quarterly reporting, bolstering your team’s execution ability to get over the finish line. Here are some of the ways we can assist:

• Processing of large volumes of transactions
• Bank reconciliations and tie-ups
• Supplier reconciliations
• Balancing Inter-group transactions
• Management account preparation
• Implementation of standard operating procedures

2. Audit services

Getting through an external audit is a big project. It requires a large amount of finance team bandwidth to help prepare for, work on, and finalize with your auditors. Many businesses find themselves in the catch 22 of having to conclude last year’s audit without allowing the focus to slip on this year’s accounting and reporting priorities. This often leaves finance teams feeling overwhelmed.

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