Know how to read the signs that tell you its time to hire a CFO.
As small businesses grow, managing cash becomes far more complex. You have to: forecast cash needs and cash receipts, establish processes for tracking payments and dealing with late payers, produce financial statements, establish budgets, invest unused cash and much more. If you expect to keep growing your business, you can’t spend all of your time managing your money.
Waiting too long to hire a full-time finance person can lead to significant risks, including sloppy cash management or a short fall in working capital. It’s best to act to avoid mistakes with the lifeblood of your business.
You don’t necessarily need to hire an Ivy League MBA full time for $300,000 per year to manage your finances. The skills and experience of candidates and the job profile should match your company’s needs.
If your business is getting to a point where you need financial help but you aren’t quite ready to hire someone full-time, then consider a part-time Chief Financial Officer. There are a number of companies that offer “CFOs as a service,” where they work with your bookkeeper or accountant to determine your company’s needs and dedicate a certain number of hours each month to your business. This is also a great way for you to learn how to work with a CFO so when you do make a full-time hire, you know how it works and you can be productive from the begining.
About Mike Periu
Mike is a seasoned executive with experience in small business finance and management. He is the founder of Proximo, LLC a leading provider of corporate, consumer and small business education and training services with an emphasis on finance and technology.
Mike Periu is also a leading national voice for individual empowerment through financial education and entrepreneurship. He has been interviewed over 500 times in national and international media, including NBC, Univision, CNN en español, Telemundo, HITN, TVE, RTE, SBS, MegaTV and others.
Mike writes regularly for American Express OpenForum, Yahoo! Finanzas and is a Huffington Post contributor.
Mike has degrees in Finance and International Business from Georgetown University. He is on the Board of Directors of the Council for Economic Education and was a Fellow at the Kauffman Foundation’s Labs for Enterprise Creation.
