Fri Nov 12, 2021 | Alan Lefkowitz | Accounting, Business, CFO Services

Fractional CFO Services In 2022

Name: CFO Strategies LLC
Telephone: (855) 732-7861

If your company needs top-level financial skills, try hiring a fractional CFO. This expert can increase your small or growing business’s financial health. They also can save you money because you will not have to pay them a full-time salary, bonuses, and benefits.

A fractional CFO is a part-time chief financial officer. They are a cost-effective way to gain financial help in a hurry. Fractional CFO services can help with financial reporting, cash flow forecasting, and strategic planning, and they are trusted advisors for your company.

What Does a Fractional CFO Do?

A fractional CFO provides financial services just like a full-time CFO. Some companies will hire this expert to help them as an interim CFO while they look to hire a full-time, experienced CFO. While other companies may not need a full-time CFO and will employ a fractional CFO to run the accounting department on a permanent part-time basis.

Sometimes Fractional CFOs work with companies or businesses on a project basis; other times, they serve as a permanent fixture for the growth and stability of the financial sector of a company.

Here are some common ways a Fractional CFO can help your bottom line.

Handle Tough Financial Challenges

As a small business, you might not have the accounting staff or the financial expertise you need for particular economic challenges. These pros can help. Even if your company already has a full-time CFO or someone managing the entire accounting department, a fractional CFO many times can offer advice or guidance in a different area than the current staff in place.

Fractional CFO services can:

Look over the monthly books and find cash management issues
Manage financial reporting
Check over your current financial systems for low gross margins and high expenses.
Suggest cost cuts
Read through financial statements and contracts
Talk with business contacts, customers, and banks
Prepare and organize paperwork when you take the company public
Assist with an audit
Coach and train your current accounting department

Create Future Financial Strategy

Most fractional CFOs also help organizations with their financial plans for the future. Your accountants or bookkeepers can handle your current and past finances. These financial professionals can develop plans and budgets for how to spend your money and grow.

A fractional CFO can create several financial plans for your business. They might look at the short-term (say, the next 90 days), the mid-term (the rest of the fiscal year), and the long-term (the next three to five years). With their help, you can better understand your company’s cash flow and needs.

You will find it easier to get through rough times and plan for expenses such as investments, staffing, growth, and production. When you have a better idea of spending your money, you can also work toward maximizing shareholder profits.

Fractional CFO services can help your company:

Create financial forecasts and prepare budgets
Assess financial risk
Study potential markets, services, products, and possible customers
Discuss plans with key stakeholders
Organize processes related to equity and debt liquidation
Implement systems such as technical accounting rules and internal controls

Achieve Strategic Goals

Many fractional CFOs provide extra knowledge when you are working toward a specific goal, such as preparing for a merger and acquisition or raising capital. A fractional CFO who has helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars in equity and debt funding can offer valuable advice. So can a professional who has been through a sale, acquisition, or merger and solved problems along the way.

Here, these financial professionals can:

Attend board meetings and present business plans to investors and shareholders
Create financial forecasts
Brainstorm cash management issues
Assist with strategic partnerships
Look over due diligence
Bring support and knowledge to your company

Help with Accelerating Growth

When you want to scale your business, fractional CFOs can help you achieve profitable growth, especially as your business becomes more complex. You often open new locations or launch more products when you grow past your start-up phase. This brings more regulatory rules to follow.

You also likely need to create different processes, tools, and business relationships to deliver high value to your customers without declining margins. Many small businesses bookkeeping and financial systems get off the ground and often struggle with growth. They need more skills.

With a high-level fractional CFO on your side, you can:

Review costs and reorganization
Look over cash flow, business contacts, and real estate opportunities
Develop systems that support growth
Find causes of cost overruns, lost revenue, and other problems and suggest solutions
Hire new employees and develop the essential skills of current ones

What Are the Top Concerns When Hiring a Fractional CFO?

Some worry that these professionals are not as loyal or committed as full-time employees. Others wonder if they are good at what they do because they work part-time.

However, we have found that people who choose this path take pride in their work. They often have had successful careers as senior financial executives. They want flexibility in their schedules and enjoy new challenges at this point in their lives.

Of course, you will want to ensure that anyone you hire has the experience you value in your industry and the skills to reach your desired results.

You also should check that this person:

Has a vision of the project and a timeline that agrees with yours
Has communication skills and a work style that meshes with your, your teams, and the company culture
Has a reasonable workload so that you can remain a priority

Learn More About CFO Strategies and Our Fractional CFO Services

CFO Strategies provides trusted CFO services just when you need them. We tailor and customize our accounting and financial services based on each client’s specific needs.

We understand how part-time CFOs can ease your company’s stresses and costs, especially if your workload or budget prevents you from hiring someone full-time. Our financial professionals have years of experience in a variety of industries.

Learn about how CFO Strategies, LLC can help your company achieve and surpass its goals by clicking on “Contact Us” or calling (855) 732-7861.