The chief financial officer (CFO) is typically a cornerstone of the financial decision making and direction of larger businesses, and successful businesses understand how important the role is to overall business performance.
Smaller and medium-sized businesses, however, may simply not have the resources to include a CFO among their staff, and may instead seek to separately delegate, rather than consolidate, the range of tasks a CFO is responsible for.
These tasks include:
- Keeping a close eye on business numbers and wider financial trends.
- Alerting management in the event that preventative actions are required.
- Helping management to create sound financial forecasts and plans.
- Ensuring balanced cash inflow and outflow, avoiding shortfalls or the need to borrow in haste.
- Reporting on revenues achieved compared with targets.
- Providing information on a range of KPIs to the business decision makers.
- Assisting management with decision making.
This type of financial insight underpins efficient operations, helping businesses to both identify what is required to grow and develop strategies to achieve this growth.
For small and medium-sized businesses seeking CFO-level input and guidance – yet at a stage in their development where they are unable to take on a full-time CFO – it is still possible to outsource the role and tap into a range of financial insights.
Air CFO adapts to business needs
Air Accounting fills the role of CFO for a range of our clients, with our Air CFO service having been developed based on client input and feedback, and configured to deliver a range of fundamental support services.
Based on our initial and ongoing client consultations, we customise these services in catering to each client’s industry, specific requirements and business nuances, and adapt over time as required.
As CFO, we connect with our clients in virtual meetings, either monthly or quarterly, to analyse:
- Cash flow – promoting efficient cash flow that will allow for saving or investing in growth.
- Profitability – identifying and focusing on the key profit drivers.
- Business value – growing a valuable and saleable business asset.
- Structure management – staying on top of potential risks and taxation issues.
It is, of course, necessary for business owners to regularly measure and monitor these types of financial KPIs (comprising the handful of numbers that really matter in running a business) in assessing business performance.
In this respect, it is also important to reference a “KPI dashboard”, displaying and comparing targets and up-to-date performance, which will help tremendously in managing business growth – and, ultimately, hitting targets.
In aid of this, Air Accounting structures our meetings to include clear financial reports and easy-to-understand KPI information, supported by our commercial experience to interpret this information, make suggestions and help guide business decision making.
Items that we cover in each meeting include:
- Profit (encompassing historical data and future projections).
- Cash flow (also encompassing historical data and future projections).
- Lead KPI indicators that drive performance and lag indicators measuring the outcomes.
- Marketing activity and effectiveness.
- Operational efficiencies, such as work-in-progress or workflow efficiencies.
- Financial indicators, such as debtors, inventory and stock turn (depending on industry and type of business).
- Team efficiencies, knowledge management, morale and safety.
Air Accounting can assist in navigating a path forward for your business, with our Air CFO service – including forward-planning to achieve targets, and constructive feedback on what is required to meet targets – designed to provide clarity about what needs to be done to achieve business goals.
By helping businesses with forward planning, and by acting as a sounding board to bounce ideas off, we are focused on delivering the support required to achieve the next period’s targets.
To get in touch, simply fill out the contact form below and let us call you, or contact us directly via email or phone (details can be found at our Contact page).