When you want to improve the efficiency of your business, streamlining your financial sector should be your first move. As an entrepreneur, it only makes sense that you want to take on every role under the sun to help improve your business; unfortunately, you can only be pulled in so many directions before you snap.
Accounting and financing jobs are better left to a quality CFO advisory service. Whether you hire an in-house chief financial officer or rely on a third party, your business will undoubtedly improve with their expertise. But what does a CFO do? And how can they help your business?
What does a CFO do?
A chief financial officer oversees anything having to do with finances and budgeting. It’s no wonder that this high-stakes career field can result in a CFO salary of more than $3 million each year. However, a great CFO takes on a variety of duties designed to help your business succeed. Here are some of the primary functions of a CFO:
Serving as treasurer: CFO duties incorporate many aspects of your business, but few are quite so important as the treasurer. Any sort of financial decision is often run through the CFO before a change is implemented.
As such, the current and future condition of your company’s financial situation is often defined by the efforts of your CFO. It’s through control of this capital structure that a CFO is able to steer your business in the right direction.
Taking on controllership duties: Running a business is a data-driven field, and monitoring this data is essential. Controllership duties are an oft-overlooked aspect to financial planning but it’s thanks to the hard work of a CFO that controllership duties are performed in the first place. After all, this essential flow of information is vital in retaining the trust of your investors.
Controllership duties embody any historical tracking regarding the revenue of your business. It’s the job of the CFO to gather this pertinent information in a timely and accurate manner. Once the information is presented, it can sway the opinions of stakeholders, investors, and creditors, as well as impact future choices regarding the company’s goals.
Planning an economic strategy: By using information garnered from controllership duties and the current financial information for your company, your CFO can forecast future revenue streams in order to form a sound financial strategy. While you might think your company can get by planning only a month ahead, it’s thanks to a CFO that you can capitalize on the presented information.
They can help you make informed, educated decisions pertaining to debt, equity, and striking a balance between the two. However, they can also help mitigate extraneous costs present within your business. As such, they can look at your relationships with other business, your monthly bills, and even use a reverse mortgage calculator to determine if you’re spending too much on your building.
How can a CFO help my business?
Whether you have a strong financial sector or not, investing in a quality CFO is a great option to put your business on the path to financial success. Even contacting a CFO advisor can help you make educated decisions regarding the future of your business. When you want to find a good CFO, look for these characteristics in a quality agency:
- Strong leadership skills
- A track record of forging and improving business relationships
- Organization and planning to monitor long-term and short-term objectives
- Good communication skills
- Analytical skills — in fact, a CFO might use 90 percent of their efforts on analytics alone
Building an effective team is an essential duty as the leader of your company. When you want to improve the financial condition of your business and streamline future projects, rely on an experienced CFO.