The role of the successful CFO in an entrepreneurial company is to enable the CEOs, owners and management to fulfill their vision of building a successful company and creating success. CEOs, owners and management teams who achieve their vision of growing great companies and creating success view their company’s finance function as a key enabler for the company to be successful. The role of the CFO in an entrepreneurial company is to make a good CEO a great CEO, which enables the CEO to deliver desired returns to owners and management teams to fulfill the CEOs objectives. These goals are achieved through the CFO providing to the CEO financial leadership to shield the CEO from having to focus on financial risk. The CFO is an enabler to the CEO’s vision by ensuring the financial and operational aspects of the business provide the CEO the necessary support for decision making.
The primary objective of the CFO is to enable CEOs to deliver to their companies continuous improved financial returns, increased cash flow, improved financial position and increased overall business value. The successful CFO is an enabler for entrepreneurial companies to increase profits, cash flow, working capital and financing sources to fund growth.
Successful CFOs deliver value and high ROI to CEOs, owners and management teams by:
- establishing the right financial processes, tools practices to enable efficient day-to-day financial management and enhance controls;
- establishing the right benchmarks and ROI targets to measure operational and capital investment efficiencies;
- providing the right historical and prospective financial and operational data needed to make critical business decisions;
- increasing confidence as to relationships with bankers, investors and other outside parties with financial stakes in the company;
- determining the best means in which to bring financial resources into the company to support growth;
- analyzing the best means to allocate resources, fund capital investments and manage working capital;
- recognizing value drivers as well as value detractors within the business and take steps to mitigate detractors and facilitate value drivers;
- providing the skilled “special ops” talent for successful execution on non-recurring significant business transactions;
- reducing management stress and burn out;
- helping CEOs and business leaders to gain a sense of financial control thereby creating a better overall working environment;
- being a partner with CEOs in reducing risk in forming strategy.
Companies that lack the right skill sets to deliver the above face substantial financial risks and significant opportunity costs including lost revenue opportunities, lost/decreased margins, lost/decreased profits, cost structure that does not fit the business, higher cost of capital, insufficient working capital, lack of available working capital funding, lost/decreased EBITDA and therefore business valuation and company not meeting the CEOs and owners goals. Harvest CFOs brings to entrepreneurial companies the “mindset” of making good CEOs great CEOs and delivering value and high ROI to CEOs and their companies.
