Okay so you think you cannot afford a full time CFO or COO.

That shouldn’t hold your business back. The guidance and support from a senior Finance or Operations  person that your business requires probably does not necessarily need a full time resource.

Over the years I have found that when I join a new SME the first 18 months are the most intensive. There is a lot of process and structure to be brought to bear and a lot of gaps to be bridged. These gaps are a normal part of the evolution from small to medium to large size company. As your company grows the needs change. What you did by yourself in the early days now needs a few more people. Where a CFO / COO comes in as the growth sets in is to bring the experience and process and procedure to what these people are doing. This avoids the growth of silos, the growth of a blame culture and the growth of uncertainty as to who owns what. Without the proper steering of the ship these are the inevitable icebergs that appear during the sustained growth phase of the business’ development.

In my experience the main key elements of what you need from a CFO/COO at this juncture are :

: Develop a robust and standardised monthly reporting system to give you all the information you require for decision making within 4-5 working days after the end of the month.

: A robust reconciliation process for every account in your Balance Sheet

: Documented processes and process flows with responsibilities assigned.

: Documented and agreed policies for all key administrative functions , trained out and audited to ensure compliance.

: An Internal Control framework and segregation of duties to protect you from fraud etc.

: Communication / Communication / Communication and bringing the team along on the journey

Getting the processes and procedures in place during this growth phase is crucial for the future stability of the company as it grows. With the right experienced resource this can be achieved with one or two day input per week for a sustained period of time. Ultimately the fractional CFO or COO's main task in this scenario is to leave a legacy of a team who can carry forward all of the process and robustness put in place