How to get your first finance director impacting your business!

So you have reached the point where you have decided that YOUR business requires an individual with a ‘particular set of skills’ (thanks Liam Neeson), someone who can:

• take the responsibility of managing the finances away from you
• start to improve your cashflow
• being to ‘professionalise’ the finance team and the wider business
• really analyse where you are making your profits
• identify where you can potentially make more, and also 
• act as a ‘stop’ or an early warning in terms of avoiding key risks !

In other words, start to support you with ‘transforming’ your business by filling in the gaps that you cannot fill!

PLANNING YOUR EXIT

Perhaps you have decided that you need to start planning for an ‘exit’ of some type in 5 years, want to spend more time with your family, expand your business nationally or internationally or just ‘professionalise’ the business more generally .

Either way bringing in a Finance Director into the business (successfully) will require some detailed thinking in order to have the appropriate elements of a role for that individual to focus on delivering for you. 

• Where are you now? 
• What’s the plan (or the goals?) 
• How quickly do you need or want to get there? 

WHAT DO YOU DO NEXT?

Your options as a business owner are broadly to do ONE of the following, either 

• recruit a Finance director into your business, or 
• access a part time (or Virtual) finance director (at least initially) 

RECRUIT A FINANCE DIRECTOR INTO YOUR BUSINESS?

• Do you know exactly what you want the role to encompass for the new individual, and are you clear as to what the relevant technical skills, prior experience and competences are for the individual to be successful ?

• Given your current needs and time constraints running the business, do you really have the time required to deal with researching and planning for the new role, as well as the time required interviewing, negotiating and then dealing with the initial ‘familiarisation’ process for the individual ?

• Can you also really afford the time involved in finding the ‘right’ candidate and then having to wait an additional 3 to 6 months for a typical Finance Director to work out the notice with the current employer ?

• Has the business got the ability to afford the new Finance Director role right now e.g. recruitment costs, salary, employer’s NI, pension contributions – along with likely increased investment into your existing Finance team and structures ?

• Are you certain that the new individual will be able to ‘fit’ into your existing culture, and more importantly, will they be able to work with you/you with them ?

• How long will it take before you start to see (and feel) some of the substantial progress that you are expecting from the new role ? And how much will it cost before you can feel that it was the right decision/right person/right experience for your business ?

ACCESS A PART TIME (OR VIRTUAL) FINANCE DIRECTOR

• The process for accessing a part time (or Virtual) Finance Director, is much more straightforward! 
  
• IDENTIFY – carry out an initial discussion or online meeting, which will review how the business has been growing, where it is now, as well as establish what your key challenges or concerns are, where you feel the ‘gaps’ are and of course obtain an indication of where you are trying to get to.   
  
• DIAGNOSE – if agreed, then a more detailed review is undertaken of your existing Finance team, structures, and financial information, as well as review your current systems and processes along with any other specific areas that may be relevant for you. As part of an agreed Finance or Business review report, there will be an initial list of necessary or required ‘Actions’ and a proposed timeframe. 
  
• PLAN – Take the ‘Action Plan’ and use your existing Team to deliver the recommendations, or agree on the nature and type of the VFD service that you require e.g. a part time (days per week or month), an ad hoc arrangement or on a short term interim basis (full time or part time) 
  
• DELIVER – The ‘Action plan’ is progressed and delivered in part or full and and/or updated as may be necessary. At a minimum, clear progress can be seen across the individual actions that have been delivered, providing some confidence that as more of the existing ‘Action Plan’ or an updated version the benefits of the relationship will be seen and felt within the business (and on you – the business owner) on a day to day basis !

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