Those who regularly read business and financial news likely stumble across quotes from the CFOs of major companies on a regular basis. While chief executive officers (CEOs) and chief operating officers (COOs) are the most high-profile positions within most companies, chief financial officers (CFOs) often serve as their lower-profile backbone. By managing a company’s finance, accounting, and financial compliance concerns, a CFO’s role can dramatically influence the overall financial health and well-being of the business. Due to the consequential nature of the services they provide, CFOs are usually compensated handsomely. As a result, few small to midsize businesses are in a position to keep a CFO on payroll.
In this article, the financially savvy CPAs at Ferguson Timar discuss the kinds of businesses that can benefit most from outsourced CFO services, as well as the kinds of services that outsourced CFOs provide to smaller companies. By exploring these services as a potential opportunity for your company, you may be taking the first step toward greater financial stability and growth on behalf of your business.
What Does a CFO Do?
A chief financial officer is primarily concerned with high-level financial strategic planning, taxation strategy, income, expenditures, and financial reporting for the business they serve. In most companies, the CFO is considered the third-highest top-level executive in charge of ensuring the financial health and well-being of the business.
While bookkeeping is part of a CFO’s job duties, they are also entrusted with short, medium, and long-term analysis of a company’s cash flow, strategic financial vision, and any needs for financial course correction. By maintaining a strong sense of a company’s financial strengths and opportunities for improvement, a CFO facilitates the overall stability and growth of the business itself.
How Do Outsourced CFO Services Work?
Outsourced CFO services allow small to midsize companies to benefit from the expertise, strategic analysis, and overall attention to financial and accounting matters that an in-house CFO provides without the hefty employment and benefit costs associated with maintaining this role.
Essentially, a skilled CPA meets with a business owner—usually on a monthly basis, once the initial foundation for these services has been established—to discuss current concerns and future considerations related to taxation, compliance, income, expenditures, and all of the other financial matters that allow businesses to thrive and grow. A solid outsourced CFO services arrangement is tailored strategically to meet the unique requirements of the company in need of financial guidance and support.
Which Businesses Can Benefit Most from Outsourced CFO Services?
Particularly large companies are usually in a strong position to enlist the services of an in-house CFO. That said, outsourced CFO services can prove useful on a temporary or rolling-support basis when an in-house CFO quits, becomes ill, opts to take a sabbatical, is preparing a succession plan, needs to take FMLA leave, or could otherwise use “another pair of eyes.”
Most often, however, small to midsize companies that do not have room in their budgets for an in-house CFO use outsourced CFO services. Aspiring startup founders and established business owners alike often find that embracing this opportunity allows them to focus on both broader strategic planning and daily operational concerns without worrying they aren’t spending enough time paying attention to the financial side of their entrepreneurial vision.
Why Are Outsourced CFO Services a Smart Investment?
Especially if an aspiring or established business owner is already concerned about their company’s finances, the thought of adding the expenses associated with additional service providers can seem daunting. However, failing to engage outsourced CFO services too often proves to be a “penny-wise, pound-foolish” scenario. Oftentimes, the only way to establish and/or maintain financial health and well-being is by allowing someone with expertise and vision to take a detailed and ongoing look at a company’s books and its approach to money overall.
By investing in outsourced CFO services, a company can potentially benefit from the following, in addition to a host of additional personalized approaches:
- Budgeting and cash-flow management
- Tax planning and preparation services
- Raising capital
- Systems optimization
- Metrics analysis
- Financial projections
- Bill pay and invoicing
- Employment and operational expenditure analysis
- Compliance and reporting services
- Fraud reduction
- Strategic planning
Ferguson Timar Can Provide Your Business with the Outsourced CFO Services It Needs
If you are a small to midsize business owner, the ongoing financial health of your company may be far more dependent on the services that a CFO provides than you might initially suspect. At Ferguson Timar, our CPAs believe CFO services should be accessible to all owners of small to midsize businesses who are ready to put their “financial house” in order. That’s why we offer outsourced CFO services that meet the essential needs of smaller companies at an affordable rate.
Contact our client-focused team today at (714) 204-0100 to learn more about how our personalized outsourced CFO services can benefit your company’s financial well-being now and into the future. From bookkeeping to strategic financial planning, we have you covered. We look forward to speaking with you.