Your company is growing fast and is on pace to double in size over the next year. Therefore it’s critical that you have the best people in place for every position, drawing from your existing workforce, and if necessary, hiring someone new.
One of the most important jobs in any company is the CFO. That stands for ‘Chief Financial Officer’, the controller who is in charge of everything regarding cash flow, taxation issues, and financial planning. The CFO is usually the highest-ranking financial position, and the third-highest overall position because of the vital roles they play in the company’s growth and prosperity. They represent the front line in expanding and improving a company’s operations by discovering opportunities to increase efficiency, reduce costs and boost productivity.
Because of their great importance to the company’s financial health and continuing success, finding the right person for the job is critical as they must bring a lot of valuable skills to the table to help profits increase, improve efficiency, fundraise, and allocate resources to best serve and support the company’s ongoing success. Identifying the best candidate is going to be quite a lengthy process as there is plenty of competition for such a coveted spot. Here are some things to consider before entering into this very important endeavour:
First, you must clearly delineate your CFO’s roles. For example, are they going to be calculating all of the company taxes themselves, or will you have someone else in that role to support them?
The next thing to do is consider the challenges to growth and your company’s strategic goals going forward. Your new CFO must have all the essential skill sets in place to not just handle the status quo, but to thrive and achieve even greater prosperity, someone with a firm knowledge of all aspects of the position who can also learn the innermost workings of the company as a whole with an eye for future improvements. The best CFOs are visionaries who are never satisfied, always seeking new ways to drive profits!
In today’s modern business climate, the CFO has evolved from just a fiduciary position to a much more proactive role. Modern CFOs should have skill sets that also focus on business value generation and optimization when crafting new corporate strategies. These skills include digital know-how, good business acumen, excellent interpersonal relations, and the ability to collaborate on projects. CFOs don’t just sit in a lonely back office running a calculator as they do the accounting any more, they are an integral and upfront member of the team!
If your company can genuinely show that it offers excellent opportunities to put a CFO’s valuable skills to proper use, then you will be sure to attract the very best.
Your CFO should be encouraged to attend the Australian government’s Financial Stewardship Forum, a regular meeting of CFOs presented by the Department of Finance to provide information on current accounting and financial reporting issues. Good luck finding your new CFO!
