Rapid growth vs resource
A business experiencing rapid growth, or one with ambitious plans to scale efficiently, will often require the kind of technical and advisory input that a finance director typically provides.
However, there will not always be sufficient available resource, or indeed want, to hire an FD as a full-time board member. We have worked with a number of striving, motivated businesses who find themselves in this position, to satisfy their need for an alternative, cost-effective solution.
Our years of experience as chartered accountants, auditors, tax and business advisers means we can deliver the operational and commercial support that the directors need in order to achieve their objectives.
Adopting an outsourced FD role for a newly incorporated business
Having a good grasp of the financials is important for any business, not least one that is newly incorporated and just starting out on its growth trajectory. Access to quality management information is crucial, as is ensuring that robust processes and systems are established.
With little appetite to recruit a full-time FD so early on, the business has instead outsourced some of the responsibilities that would usually be covered by this role to us. This gives them access to the expertise of an FD, but without the overhead of employing one within the organisation.
As with many of our other clients, we provide support to the in-house bookkeeping function in respect of cloud accounting software, and we produce regular, detailed management accounts for this business.
A strategic element to any business is looking ahead and being able to forecast to ensure various metrics are met.
Forecasting enables the client to understand the likelihood of future events, develop data-driven strategies in response to this and to plan more effectively.
Beyond what you might view as ‘standard accountancy services’, where the scope of support we provide as an ‘outsourced-FD’ differs is in us attending board meetings, upon request, to answer any questions that the board of directors might have about the information we have provided and to offer an outside perspective on internal management and performance.
By understanding the managers and directors, their ideals and their intentions, we are able to consider these alongside what we know about how the business is performing and deliver real value as a result.
Every decision a director makes has the potential to impact the business’s profitability, productivity and the fulfilment of their wider objectives; by offering technical and advisory input, in a way that is akin to how an FD would, the aim is to arm management with the information they need to go away and make those all important decisions confidently. A significant part of what we do is to challenge decision makers about certain choices they are making, and encourage them to really think about the ‘why?’.
Flexible support for directors from the outset
The beauty of a business being able to outsource the FD role, is that they determine exactly how much involvement they need from us and, as the business grows and evolves, the scope of our support and how regularly we interact with the board is entirely flexible – i.e., we may be needed for a specific project that lasts 6 months, or we may be engaged on a longer-term basis.
Whilst providing the same support as an FD would, we are not board members and we do not make any decisions in respect of the business; instead, our role is to be a ‘sounding board’ and to provide financial and strategic consultancy as required.
Engaging this support from the outset can be really valuable too, in that directors can be coached to utilise metrics and financial data effectively right from the word go.
To discuss how we could work with your business to take on a Quasi-FD role, contact us today.
