Benefits of Part Time CFO or Finance Manager for your Business growth

Is your organization looking for services of an experienced and qualified CFO or Finance Manager and do not want to incur high cost related to recruiting and employing the same? In such a case, the right choice for you may be to go for a Part time CFO or a Finance Manger which will ensure that you get services of experienced Professional for managing your finance function while ensuring that you save significantly on recruiting and employing a full-time employee for such roles. 

Who is a Part-Time CFO or a Part Time Finance Manager?

A part time CFO/ Finance Manager is an experienced finance professional who are engaged by entities on a Part time basis to manage the all or specific finance function of an entity and/or provide financial advice to the Management. 

When Part-Time CFO/Finance Manger are generally employed?

A part time CFO/ Finance Manager are generally engaged by entities for the following reasons:

• There is no full-time work for a CFO or a Finance Manager.
• They need an experienced hand to Manage the Finance function of the entity.
• When they cannot afford to employ a full time CFO or a Finance Manager. It is mostly in the case of small and medium sized entities.
• For a specific project (set up of accounting system, develop accounting policies and procedures, budgeting, monthly closing, preparing strategic business plans, finance function re-organization etc).
• For a temporary transition period until a permanent CFO or a Finance Manger is appointed.

Engagement of Part time CFO or a Finance Manger is particularly suited for small and medium sized entities who cannot afford nor the need to have a full time CFO yet would like to have the services of the best of professionals to manage their end-to-end finance activities.

What services can be performed by Part-time CFO or a Finance Manager?

Tasks that can be performed by the Part Time CFO or a Finance Manager may include the following:

• Setting up accounting and finance function in the entity
• Developing accounting policies and procedures
• Developing appropriate financial reports to suit the requirement of the management
• Financial analysis and providing financial insights to improve profitability and cost savings
• Preparation of budgets and long-term business plans
• Performing feasibility studies on new projects and businesses
• Reorganization of finance function to achieve more efficiency and cost savings
• Fund raising advisory and support
• Cost saving initiatives
• Active participation in new ERP rollouts
• Tax advisory
• Cash flow forecasting and monitoring
• Treasury management to ensure best use of available cash resources and minimise borrowing cost
• Managing relationship with banks and financial institutions
• Risk management
• Setting up of appropriate internal control procedures

Advantages of employing a Part-time CFO or a Finance Manager

The main advantage of hiring a Part time CFO or a Finance Manager is obviously the cost savings. Not having to recruit a full time CFO or a Finance Manger, retain and pay their benefits which may cost the organization a significant amount is perhaps the major benefit. Other benefits may include the following:

• Entity can hire based on their specific requirement based on hourly, weekly etc based on need thereby ensuring optimum use of resource and cost savings.
• Small and medium have access to services of experienced professional. This helps them to maintain high quality finance function while managing the costs.
• Can be hired on a short-term basis for a specific project which provides significant flexibility to the organisation in terms resource planning and optimising costs. 
• Benefit from the experienced professionals experience in terms of network, implementation of best practices, strategic planning etc. which may not be available otherwise.
• If the business hires a professional firm for such services, they do not have to be significantly concerned about temporary disruption to work or succession planning should the existing CFO/Finance Manger leave the organization.

What should an entity do before engaging a Part-time CFO or a Finance Manager

Before hiring a Part Time CFO/ Finance Manager, an entity should consider the following:

• Assess the need for the role including the benefit it would bring to the organization versus the cost.
• Clear job description and responsibilities of the role.
• Clear understanding of the manhours required to be spent on the role on monthly/weekly/daily basis or if the role is for a specific project the manhours required for completion of the project.
• The budgeted cost that can be spared for the role. 
• The relevant professional qualification or experience level required for the role as this would have bearing on the cost of hiring appropriate Professional to be recruited.
• The Communication and presentation skills of the proposed candidate which is very critical for this role.
• Sources including professional firms from which they can hire the right type of candidates for this role.

There are lot of professional firms offering these kinds of services. But before considering a Professional firm for these kinds of services, an entity should consider the relevant credibility of the firm, review the CV of proposed candidate, ensure the candidate fits job description, processes relevant business experience before selecting a candidate. The entity management should also interview the selected candidate and satisfy themselves about their capabilities and communication skills before formally hiring them.

A Part Time CFO or a Finance Manager can bring significant value to an organisation and play an important role in the success of the entity. With finance function managed by a professional, the owners and the management of an entity can focus on the core business, improve revenue and profitability of the business.