With an increasingly digitized marketplace, it’s easier than ever to get the CFO services you need and start breaking business barriers. Better yet, you can tailor fractional CFO services so you’re getting the resources you need and nothing more.
Unlike controllers and CPAs who adopt a linear role – keeping records, tax compliance, and bookkeeping – CFOs have dynamic roles, shifting depending on current visions, goals, and obstacles facing a company.
How Fractional CFO Services Can Grow Your Business
Utilizing a fractional or outsourced CFO service is an investment in your company. You can get as-needed services for as short or as long as necessary to get your business’ capital and priorities on track. Business owners look toward CFOs to bring their financial strategy to the next echelon through the use of cutting-edge strategies, forecasts, and systems.
With a CFO’s help, you can combat cash flow problems, unsustainable growth, and even audits. Likewise, many turn to CFOs to meet specific, one-time goals like performing a strategic exit.
With Growth CFO’s expertise tackle the obstacles to growth such as winning new customers, building people capacity, and proactively gaining access to capital.
Perhaps the largest advantage of fractional or outsourced CFO services is that they let you pinpoint the areas in which your company needs help. From there, you can add more services, drop some, or develop a new plan of attack altogether. This works wonders for companies who want to gain clarity and confidence about moving forward.
Common Fractional CFO Services
Implementing Financial Strategy
Financial strategy is what fractional CFO services are known for. Virtually any organization has other finance roles responsible for maintaining past and current financial records, but a CFO has a strategy in mind. An ideal CFO works with short and long-term planning to drive the business forward and generate more revenue. Fractional CFO services allow you to pinpoint the exact variables that need to change to take your company from where it is to where it deserves to be. We call this the Financial Flight Plan to figure out how to achieve profit, cash, and valuation objectives.
Short and Long-Term Forecasting
Your organization needs a financial forecast if it wants success. This financial and operational roadmap will walk you through every step you need to take to realize your business ambitions.
CFOs will generate this forecast with strategy, analysis, and practicality, delivering attainable goals that will drive your business forward. Fractional or Outsourced CFO services utilize a deep understanding of your company’s current state and its future potential paired with a mastery of financial algorithms and trends. Through this process, your CFO will have a detailed analysis of the competitive landscape in your industry.
Generating Revenue
Regardless of the financial goals, you have in mind, you’ll need capital before you start making any strides. Understandably, raising capital and what that entails causes a lot of stress in a company. That’s why you can invest in outsourced CFO services to take the worry out of your hands.
Outsourced CFOs will bring their network of financiers to whom they can introduce you to further your capital goals. Some other revenue-generating roles include:
- Generate financial reports, statements, and documents
- Structure capital, delineating how much financing your company needs and what combination of debt and equity makes the most sense
- Introduce first-rate services with the confidence, professionalism, and reputation of an experienced CFO going to bat for your brand
- Handle term sheet review and negotiation
- Get your ducks in a row for potential lenders and investors
Filling Interim CFO Services
Sometimes, companies find themselves in a state of transition where a previous CFO has stepped down. Whether you’re waiting for a new, in-house CFO to take their role or are still in the hiring process, an outsourced CFO presents a great way to bridge the gap and ensure your finances stay in check. In many cases, fractional CFO services can help you find your new permanent CFO, helping onboard them to your company’s mission and outlook. With Foresight, you will learn that Foresight Growth CFO three-person teams beat full-time CFOs’ expertise and capacity to drive outcomes. In addition, Foresight Growth CFO guides CEOs across the full journey from the foundation to seven succession options.
Restructuring Through Cash-Flow Analysis
Cash flow issues bring a lot of business owners to fractional CFO services, as cash flow is one of the most challenging hurdles companies face. While cash flow can prove tricky, handling it well can be one of the more influential decisions your company makes.
Cash flow is more than just generating more capital. It dives into what you’re spending, why you’re spending it, inventory turn, billing/collection processes, and what costs can be cut to reprioritize funds. Overall, outsourced CFO services dissect your financials to better your bottom line. For every dollar of increased profit, you get paid a second time when you pass the torch.
Some of these services include:
- Negotiating and structuring vendor contracts
- Restructuring and mapping client contracts
- Checking pricing with leading industry trends
- Evaluating commission payments
- Overhauling supply chain management
- Pinning specific costs to capital gained
Budgeting
Forecasting deals with a five or ten-year projection of costs linked to operations, while a budget predicts financials over the next 12 months. Budgets don’t look as deep into the future, but they do achieve the right level of detail to engineering profits in the current year. A budget is integral to successful business operations.
With Fractional CFO services, you can generate a robust budget that will guide your company’s business decisions over the next year, allowing you to keep your eyes on the prize and make meaningful strides.
Your forecast and budget will go hand in hand, and CFOs will often employ rolling budgets to keep everything neat and in line.
Reimagining Capital Structure
Different businesses require different strategies, especially when dealing with capital concerns like debt and equity. Fractional CFO services can help you reimagine your business and what structure makes the most sense for your goals. Proactively gaining access to capital is a smart move.
Making Cost Cuts
Fractional CFO services provide more and superior strategic cost cuts than someone who works in-house, ranking this service among the most popular. Two primary reasons why fractional or outsourced CFOs are more effective include:
- They have years of experience within your industry: They’re not looking from the inside out, but rather the other way around. Their deep understanding of your arena gives them key reference points on which they can base your inflows and outflows.
- They bring unparalleled objectivity: Certain internal players might have biases or preferences for different projects or initiatives. This can influence critical decisions, often taking away from money-saving strategies. Fractional CFO services remove this bias, delivering a process cemented on analysis, experience, and data.
- They have access to large purchase agreements. Thus, get better rates than individual companies.
How Foresight CFO Is Different from Other Fractional CFO Services?
Our experienced Growth CFO team at Foresight CFO has worked collaboratively with hundreds of CEOs worldwide to bring meaningful financial insight that clarifies their strategic direction. Schedule a 25-minute discovery call with me, and we will discuss you & your business, what you want, and what is getting in the way.