Your business may not yet be of a scale to afford a full time Finance Director or Financial Controller but need the expertise such a role would bring.
At the start up stage, management focus should be on product, service and customer development. The financial role at this stage is to build solid, robust accounting and management information systems that give prompt and reliable information, and take away the responsibility for such matters to allow management to “get the business off the ground”.
As the role has developed in recent years, the acting FD may also stretch beyond the numbers and work with management in operational decision making in areas such as sales, pricing, optimum production and stock-holding strategies – ensuring that these remain aligned with overall business objectives.
As the business develops, managing growth (whether self-generated or by acquisition) will become a critical part of the financial role. This will entail working with leadership team to manage the cash flow strain that growth can bring, raising additional finance (or full refinancing).
For the more mature business, including stakeholders or proprietors looking to an exit, the role may move towards tidying the finances and making the business as attractive as possible to a trade buyer, developing a management team for a management buyout, or dealing with profit extraction strategies.