The CFO in Your Pocket
The average CFO salary in the United States is nearly 400 thousand dollars. You have to be able to afford that, but having your own CFO — Chief Financial Officer — would be pretty cool, right?
Marcus Smolarek
Gründer von finban
Zuletzt aktualisiert
The average CFO salary in the United States is nearly 400 thousand dollars. You have to be able to afford that, but having your own CFO — Chief Financial Officer — would be pretty cool, right?
OK, if you are not yet making millions in revenue, that might be something like using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. But a CFO could certainly tell you a few interesting things about your specific business.
The Tasks of a CFO
First, it is important to know what the daily tasks of a CFO are. They can be divided into three areas:
- Financial strategy,
- Reporting, and
- Accounting
Financial Strategy Includes:
- Annual budget planning
- Monthly & annual forecasts
- Cash flow scenario planning
- Development of KPIs
- Fundraising
- Mergers and acquisitions
- System integrations
- Investor relations
Reporting Includes:
- Profit & loss statements & balance sheets
- Cash flows with scenarios
- Analysis of budget vs. actuals & budget resetting
- Reporting to the CEO / board
- Earnings announcements
Accounting Includes:
- Accounts payable
- Accounts receivable
- Expense management
- Monthly and quarterly closing
- Payroll
- Equity management
You Don't Need a CFO — Try finban Instead
As an SME, you don't necessarily need a CFO. Many entrepreneurs start with simple solutions like Excel and/or with reports from their invoicing and quoting software. Some have a tax advisor or specialized financial consultants who prepare smart analyses and send them on a monthly basis. But that is often expensive and not up to date. And at the beginning, you certainly don't need the full range of a finance department's tasks.
What You Need to Make Better Decisions
- Real-time cash flow analysis — So you know how much money you'll have in your account in one, two, or three months
- Scenario planning for at least 3 cases: best case, base case, worst case — So you are prepared
- The most important analyses & KPIs for your business case; for agencies, a customer portfolio analysis, for example
- Not yet convinced? More reasons why you need a CFO in your pocket.