THE CONCEPT STAGE

We believe this is the most important part of the life cycle of the business. You have an idea. You are moving forward. You may even have customers. In this role we would suggest a two-pronged approach:

• First, now is the most important time to have a short term CFO. Your business idea … can you afford to get it started? Do you have REALISTIC projections to get that bank loan? Has someone scrubbed your projection for reasonableness? How many products or services are you selling? What is their profit margin? Does that cover your operating expenses? Where is your break-even point? All critical questions that we can help you answer.

• Once it’s been determined that you have a viable business plan, you would now need a senior team member, not Aunt Jenny. Yes Aunt Jenny may have QuickBooks experience, but her experience is likely limited to entering A/P invoices and she probably does not have the time or experience to think outside of the box. Our outsourced team members would provide advanced knowledge and increased efficiencies. The senior team members would, on a part time basis, reconcile cash, enter bills, create invoices and keep your accounts current. Additionally, our senior team members would have the knowledge and experience to bring any potential issues to your attention.

THE GROWTH STAGE

All companies are different and require different solutions to meet their needs, but for a growth stage company it is not uncommon to have one person in your finance department who reconciles the bank account and handles A/R and A/P, but probably has little capacity for any additional corporate finance duties. Depending on your specific situation and after studying your growth strategy, we may recommend acting only as your outsourced controller. In that role, we would work with your existing staff, provide necessary training, prepare accurate monthly financial statements, review all reconciliations for accuracy, provide guidance on current and future cash flow. We would also provide reports on future sales and evaluate and implement cost effective changes to your current finance procedures.

Our job in this situation is to ensure your infrastructure is in place on the finance side in order to handle the new challenges and financial workload that comes with finally being out in the market and seeing your business goals become a reality.

THE PROFIT GENERATING STAGE

For a profit-generating company, you have likely been in business for quite a while and know what to expect on a month to month basis as it relates to sales, revenues, costs and other critical factors within your business. You typically have a person in A/R and another in A/P and a controller who acts as your glorified CFO. In this situation, we would again work side-by-side with your existing team. We may recommend forward looking at the financial health of your business. Our thought process would include the following lines of thinking…What are you expecting from your future cash flow? Do you anticipate a major fixed asset purchase? How can we afford that? Do we need outside financing? Should we prepare projections or a budget? What are your relevant KPIs? Which products are making you money? Is Inventory too high or is it high enough? Can you reduce inventory to improve cash flow and still meet customer demands?

At this stage, we would want to make sure you are able to sustain success while giving you the forward-looking analyses and information you need to make smart decisions. These decisions in turn should keep your company on the right track and poised to continue the success and traction in the market you’ve already gained.