Our Client offering comprises two tiers of service being:
-
CFO / senior commercial resource
-
Independent Directors
CFO & senior commercial resource
The nature of the CFO role is often driven by the size of the organisation and the sector in which it operates and in broad terms comprises responsibility for:
-
Governance measures– that is ensuring that business risk is understood and managed accordingly, including compliance with the legal / regulatory / environment.
-
Performance measures – driving business performance consistent with shareholder expectations.
-
Stakeholder relations - ensuring that Investors, Banks, Clients and Suppliers are kept up to date with significant events within the business.
The implications of not engaging a CFO in your business are that at the very least, it may fail to reach its full potential.
The CFO role is pivotal because:
-
They understand the business “end to end” and the interdependencies that exist within. As a result, they provide an insight cross-functionally that otherwise might not exist.
-
They sit across all elements of liquidity management and introduce appropriate financial risk management tools.
-
Stakeholders, such as Directors, Banks, Suppliers and Customers gain comfort from the CFO being present as generally they maintain a risk tolerance that is lower than the business owner and will challenge where required.
-
They can step in with ease when the business owner is unable or unavailable to lead the business.
Situations when Dial a CFO may be required include:
-
A young high growth business with growing pains that requires the broad skill-set to cover a number of key competencies.
-
An established company that has outgrown its existing finance / commercial resource but isn’t of sufficient scale to employ a dedicated CFO on a permanent basis.
-
A business in financial distress where the future viability is uncertain and Management require the skill-set but do not want to invest in fixed overhead.
-
A business owner wanting to divest and would prefer that those working within the business are not involved in the process.
-
Where there is a question over the ability of the current CFO and some form of peer review is appropriate.
-
When the existing CFO is on extended leave and the business needs someone that can “parachute in” and assume the leadership role seamlessly.
-
Where the CFO is seconded to a project and there is a requirement to backfill.
Independent Directors
Many of our Associates have successfully run their own business and / or held senior management roles in commercial, government, or chartered accountancy enterprises. As such, they possess a sound understanding of corporate governance and can therefore operate in this capacity while also acting as a sounding board for organisation improvement initiatives.
For all organisations, the engagement of an independent Director is complimentary to executive Directors that are actively engaged in the business and able to perform in depth analysis in Board deliberations. Independent means free from any interest that may otherwise impact their judgement and as such they are able to undertake their responsibilities without bias.
Many smaller organisations are often inhibited by indoctrinated philosophies ingrained in the mode of operating. The appointment of an independent Director provides a fresh perspective that often assists in providing executive directors and management with the tools to execute a safer governance environment and impetus for creating enhanced shareholder value.
