What Is a Chief Financial Officer CFO? Role and Responsibilities

In contrast, outsourced CFOs typically charge by the hour or day, with hourly rates upwards of $350/hour. Check out our full-time vs. fractional CFO calculator to explore the potential savings. Small companies (~$10MM in revenues) can expect to spend about $300,000 to $400,000 annually for a full-time CFO (including bonuses, benefits, overhead, taxes, and equity).

Steps to Engineering Financial Success in Business

While most other finance roles in your organization involve maintaining past and present financial records, a CFO is focused on the detailed short- and long-term strategy of your organization. An outsourced CFO is an expert in long-term planning and figuring out what, exactly, is needed to take your company from where it is now to where you’d like to be. Hundreds of founders and management teams tap into the expertise of their trusted finance and accounting partner to help scale their companies.

• When evaluating candidates, consider a range of factors beyond just experience in a family business setting.
• Zeni is a next-generation, full-service financial firm that handles finance functions more cost-effectively and intelligently than traditional outsourced CFO solutions.
• That said, McKinsey’s CFO survey indicates that some employees perceive CFOs as a barrier to innovation.
• We provide reliable and practical accounting, tax, and advisory services enabling your business to meet its financial reporting, tax compliance, and internal KPI reporting requirements.
• Generally speaking, the CFO position is reserved for very experienced professionals with established track records in their field.

Common Responsibilities of Outsourced CFOs

They are business partners to the CEO, who help guide and influence decision making using the financial context as an integral driver of such choices. Our Outsourced CFO team complements your business structure, supporting business owners directly, as well as CEOs reporting to Boards. Many businesses are leveraging an outsourced CFO services model that combines the breadth and depth of skills and expertise required of a CFO, all through a single access point. Mercadien’s outsourced CFO services offer a cost-effective, flexible, expertise-driven solution for high-growth companies seeking financial management and optimization. Our outsourced CFO services cater to leaders who need financial guidance. Perhaps your accounting department’s figures are complex or you aren’t sure which metrics or benchmarks your organization should focus on.

• While the CFO of yesterday was more of a support function, the CFO of today and of tomorrow is of strategic relevance to a company.
• According to a recent McKinsey survey, 64 percent of senior executives already support employee capability building.
• Learn more about McKinsey’s Strategy & Corporate Finance Practice, and check out finance-related job opportunities if you’re interested in working at McKinsey.
• Our Outsourced CFO team complements your business structure, supporting business owners directly, as well as CEOs reporting to Boards.

Ultimate Guide: When, Why and How Do I Hire a CFO?

Business moves quickly, and you can’t afford to wait several days for a response to an email. It’s not hard to find an outsourced CFO – plenty of financial executives have a strong CV and a long list of industry contacts. However, finding the right person to fit your company’s unique situation and needs takes more work. Therefore, we’ve identified a few important topics to cover when evaluating candidates. If you asked any company’s chief financial officer (CFO) what they do, you would probably be in for a three-hour conversation. Recent technological advances enable small and mid-sized companies to run their finances with the same depth of insight previously only reserved for large corporates.

Energy Management Corporation

How well are your existing operations helping you to achieve your goals? An external CFO will analyze your current cash flow, systems, and processes to find areas that can be improved and optimized. In today’s volatile business environment, CFOs must also weigh the potential impact of geopolitical tensions, technological advances, macroeconomic disruptions, and climate risks. “The job is hard, so you have to have a passion for it,” says Karen McLoughlin, former CFO of Cognizant Technology Solutions. And with the number of functions reporting to the CFO steadily increasing, that passion must go beyond finance to raising the performance of the entire organization. Following the initial consultation, we develop a customized financial strategy, tailored exclusively to your organizational needs.

They also help set and track financial goals, objectives, and budgets. A virtual CFO performs all the services of an in-house chief financial officer external cfo but usually on a contract, part-time basis. As a result, CFO services make access to strategic financial advice affordable for small businesses.

What Do CFOs Consider to Be Their Top Priority?

If your company is considering mergers and acquisitions (M&A) to fuel growth, your CFO will be heavily involved. A CFO can assist in assessing the financial viability of potential targets, conduct due diligence, and work to structure transactions to create the highest value possible for the organization. Mercadien’s forward-thinking, relationship-driven services are designed to help you achieve and exceed your goals.

• If your CFO has experience with your business, they may offer guidance for correcting your budgeting.
• B2B CFO deals with various company types, from startups to private equity-backed firms.
• Whether you’re only in need of an external CFO or also need supporting help from an outsourced controller or bookkeeper, we have experts on staff to help.
• They provide leadership to your existing finance team, help flesh out the weaknesses of the department, and then create a plan to enhance the reporting and planning for the business.
• Investing in a qualified agile financial expert provides you with the confidence of an in-house CFO, alongside access to a wide range of national and international expertise.

What should I look for when hiring a CFO?

• This service is particularly helpful when you’re preparing for meetings with investors.
• Once a business has decided upon a Virtual CFO, it is important to consider the following about potential service candidates.
• A CFO is a top-level executive who handles everything related to financial planning, budgeting, reporting, and forecasting.
• Naturally, having a CFO to consistently work with can be a big relief.
• We are looking to hire a CFO to lead the company from a financial perspective.
• Starting the recruitment process early allows existing leaders to thoroughly vet candidates and assess their cultural fit through multiple interactions and discussions.
• Business moves quickly, and you can’t afford to wait several days for a response to an email.

Read on to learn more about Mercadien, when you should consider an outsourced CFO, the value outsourced CFOs bring to your business, and to get answers to your most pressing CFO outsourcing questions. With Zeni you get a dedicated always-on finance concierge, and access to a sleek finance dashboard that turns your accounting data into powerful visualizations. Plus, our team has firsthand knowledge of what it takes to make a startup successful, and can help you manage https://www.bookstime.com/ your finances smartly. Headcount is the main HR function and also often the biggest expense of a startup (or any company, for that matter). An outsourced CFO can collaborate with the HR manager to monitor how changes to the team affect your ability to hit budgeted figures, and, if necessary, make recommendations about how to cut staffing costs. They can also advise on how to develop a competitive compensation package that is still good value for the business.

That type of knowledge isn’t attainable with 3-4 hours of work per month. Your team will need to fully understand your startup, so set reasonable expectations. As a startup, your finance needs are different from those of established businesses. ‍An outsourced CFO solution will use your financial results from previous periods to help predict how the company will perform over future months and years. This includes projecting your expenses and revenues across all key verticals, how your sales expenses will grow, and how many salespeople you’ll need to meet revenue targets.

– Financial Strategy

CFO services get your budget in place and analyze your company’s performance against it. CFO services help you navigate different growth phases as you scale your business—whether it’s from $1 million to $10 million or $100 million to $500 million. As you grow and your needs change, your virtual CFO can help with your transition from outsourced CFO services to an in-house position. Companies that go this route do so for various reasons, from a lack of internal resources to a need for insights from growth experts.