Find out if it’s time for your business to get a part-time Finance Director.
Do any of these sounds familiar?
1. You have the ambition to grow, but where do you start? There is no long-range plan and no budget. Ambition without a plan, is simply a wish list. You know you need to define the path and work out what it will cost to grow. A part-time FD can help you build a realistic business plan with clear milestones and objectives. It will pave the way to your business dreams.
2. You worry about cash flow. You know the old mantra, cash is king. You know it’s important. That’s why it wakes you up at 4 am because you have no visibility and no certainty that you will be able to pay everybody including yourself. One of the skills of an FD is to manage your cash flow and keep you abreast of the situation, so you know well ahead of time and you can work together to decide on your financing options.
3. You are feeling financially blind. You know the top line, you kind of know the bottom line but your accountant will add a few surprises at the year end but you have no clear understanding of how he got to that number. Without tailor made monthly management accounts you have no visibility on how your business is performing. As a business owner, you really need to know month by month where you are making money and where you might be losing some. Your part-time FD will draw your bespoke management accounts and explain the numbers and the trends. You will know where you’ve been and more importantly, where you’re heading.
4. There is a serious amount of growth in sales. And the contracts you are winning are getting big! The faster the growth, the larger the risk on your business. Payment terms might start to become less favourable especially with bigger clients. Do you have the finance in place to support these opportunities? If you have to grow your stock to grow your sales, how are you paying for it? Having an FD at your side will help you steer through your options. If you require financing they can source and negotiate with finance providers and ensure you are not the victim of your own success “failure due to over trading”.
5. Top of the tree is a lonely place. You enjoy being your own boss and making all the decisions but who do you turn to when you need a sounding board? How do you know you have made the best possible choice, considered all the options and not unduly exposed yourself to risk? Your part-time FD is your ultimate business adviser. He will learn to know your business intimately and will give you objective, unbiased feedback, drawn from years of experience in a broad range of businesses, all as part of the day job.
If you identify with any of these scenarios, then you can benefit from the added value of a part-time FD. It might be for a few days once a year to get the ship on track or as much as 2 days a week until you are big enough to take on a full-time FD. It’s totally flexible and pre-agreed so no surprises.
EFM is a national network of portfolio Finance Directors, so wherever you are and whatever you do, we are bound to have somebody who can help you.
I offer a free financial and systems review of your business identifying issues which may be hindering or holding back the growth of your business. If you would like to request this service now, please see my contact details below.Mark DavisMark.Davis @ efm-network. com ☎ 07877 922 791www.efm.uk.com
www.linkedin.com/in/iammarkdavis/
