Client needs

Four triggers have compelled clients to utilize our Fractional CFO services.

Business growth facilitation

Plans for aggressive growth mean significant new investments in working capital, equipment and / or facilities. It also places higher demands on organizational functioning through better financial controls, systems and management reporting. Important new attention to cost control, financial results and cash generation are needed.

More disciplined planning, analysis and decision-making become vital to see that future financial rewards will offset the risks being taken. Acquiring well-structured new financing is often necessary. There is a need to carefully assess future cash flows and the ability to service debt with a margin of safety.

Boosting financial results

A business may not be hitting its potential in delivering financial results. Levels of financial reward may not match the hard work and investment being committed. Strategies are needed to drive value creation and to identify and a focus on high-profit customers and activities.

Levels of cash flow and liquidity may be weak or inconsistent. Tighter working capital management and financing may be called for to enhance cash flow and allow the business to capitalize on new opportunities. Plans for succession or the sale of a business may sometimes underlie the motivation to boost financial performance.

Making doing business easier

Owner-management time may be stretched thin. Doing business seems harder than it needs to be.  Stress is high. Absent, may be the strong internal systems, processes, controls and reporting needed to operate more simply and easily.

Stronger abilities to identify, focus and execute on doing what is most profitable may be desired. More fully implementing an ERP or cost accounting system might be a goal. Internal accounting staff may be underpowered in employing rigorous financial management skills.

Business turnaround & revitalization

Financial stress can result from unforeseen circumstances, like the loss of a major customer or an investment that doesn’t work out as expected. Impacts are usually reduced working capital and a cash squeeze, particularly when debt is significant. Often, a huge diversion of management attention to satisfying cash demands is necessary for the business to function with scarce capital.

There is frequently a need to develop a comprehensive, workable turnaround plan. Such a plan will usually call for short-term, shared, equitable sacrifice from secured creditors, suppliers and owner-management. Careful design, sale and implementation of the plan are vital to success in relieving cash flow pressures and having adequate capital so that revitalization can occur. The financial expertise and leadership to accomplish this can be very significant.