Handling the finances of any business is no cakewalk. You need an experienced professional who has the right skillset to assess the financials and provide strategic advice to keep the operations running smoothly. That’s why the appointment of a Chief Financial Officer is critical if you are serious about strengthening your business’s financial stability.

Whether you are just starting or in the early stages of growth, you need a CFO to handle key responsibilities such as:

• overseeing financial reporting, 
• managing cash flow efficiently, 
• preparing the books of account, 
• business planning, and 
• forecasting

However, several businesses shy away from hiring a full-time CFO in their early days of operation due to budgetary restrictions. The good news is that you can outsource CFO services without damaging the bottom line. You can contact an outsourced CFO service provider and onboard an expert who works on a contractual basis as a financial consultant.

As the trend of using outsourced CFO services is on the rise, let’s look at how it can benefit you:

You can make significant savings 

Appointing a full-time CFO can set you back by almost USD 218,750 every year. However, as a startup, you don’t need a CFO who works for 40 hours a week — appointing someone who can provide services for one day a week can work out to be much cheaper, at an estimated cost of USD 6400. This translates to 65 percent savings or USD 12,000 per month. 

This is a win-win situation for you: you can invest the money back into the business and get the expertise you would expect from a full-time CFO at a fraction of the cost. 

You can save time and eliminate bottlenecks 

Like any other full-time employee of a company, a full-time CFO can get pulled in many directions, resulting in a loss of productivity. This can prevent the CFO from focusing on the most critical issues the company is struggling with. 

In contrast, an outsourced CFO service allows the CFO to maintain a laser focus on issues that matter — handling the finances of your company in the best possible manner. 

During the early stages of any startup, the primary responsibility of a CFO is taking care of activities such as budgeting or fundraising. Hiring a full-time CFO for such tasks is unnecessary and avoidable. Moreover, since an outsourced CFO service provider also helps other businesses in the same industry, the CFO can help your operations overcome the common bottlenecks and establish more efficient processes.

You can get insights from an independent advisor 

Given the nature of appointment and responsibilities, a CFO who is not objective can be a liability for your business. Unfortunately, a full-time CFO may find it difficult to maintain independence and objectivity due to the dynamics within the office. Moreover, due to their proximity to the issues, they may even struggle to find the appropriate solutions. 

On the other hand, an outsourced CFO doesn’t run the risk of losing objectivity. You can rely on the CFO to provide you an objective and independent view without losing sight of the big picture. An outsourced CFO can also give you an honest assessment of the problem areas in your business without worrying about you may react. 

You can put in place better controls and reduce the risk of frauds 

The roots of every fraud can be traced back to the CFO. 

According to a recent study, an in-house CFO is less likely to report signs of fraud and become a whistleblower due to the pressures of meeting targets.  An outsourced CFO is not a stakeholder in your business and doesn’t have any targets to meet. This allows them to work on better internal controls and systems to minimize financial errors and ensure greater accuracy in reporting. There’s also no risk of other employees getting access to confidential information about the finances of your company. 

You can get specialized restructuring advice 

Restructuring your business at any stage of your growth is a massive exercise. You need someone to provide expert advice and design a roadmap that ensures you reach your goals. In such scenarios, having an outsourced CFO who can focus solely on these specific goals can be extremely beneficial. 

You get greater flexibility

The startup landscape is continuously evolving. Outsourced CFO services connect you to experts who know the current trends in the industry. This allows you the flexibility of accessing such expertise on a need basis instead of tying up your resources to a full-time CFO. 

Besides, it is a good practice for companies to allocate 15 to 25 percent of the total overhead towards flexible functions — things that can be added or subtracted in less than a week — to boost profitability. Using outsourcing CFO services is definitely one of the ways to achieve it. 

You can focus on doing what you know best 

As the proprietor of the business, your job is to focus on activities that help generate revenue. Since you already have a lot on your plate, you cannot afford to spend time poring over financial statements or forecasting. Using outsourced CFO services can help you to make better financial decisions while saving time and money. 

Start a conversation for outsourcing CFO services to achieve faster growth of your business 

CFO is the lifeline of any successful business. Not appointing one can seriously damage the chances of scaling your business in time. If you want to ensure better growth of your company without paying a full-time salary, it is time to use outsourced CFO services. 

Centurion Consulting LLC provides outsourced CFO services in Dubai. Getting us on board allows you to access a one-stop destination that takes care of Payroll requirements, WPS requirements, Accounting, and Treasury Management Services. Curious to know how this works? Book a 45 min free online or offline consultation session with us to learn more about our CFO services and how our consultants can help capitalize on opportunities.