So you think you don’t need a CFO…

Introduction
Being a Business owner is tough. Trying to source funds for the next big project, keeping the creditors at bay and maintaining a tab on receivables and spends – starting a business is probably the best way to acquire sleepless nights. Amongst the many cause of stress is, sometimes, the stubbornness of a founder to take on way more responsibility than he/she can manage.
We, at Aristotle Consultancy, often meet startups which are reluctant to relieve itself of the burden of managing day to day finance and accounting activities. The reasons may vary from lack of money to fear of losing control. Sometimes we agree with them and suggest keeping their current setup in place but often we observe that the reluctance to outsource financial and accounting operations is unwarranted and injudicious.

Below are few excerpts from various articles which may help you decide if you should go for a CFO or not:
What does Forbes say?
Forbes, the renowned resource for everything related to business, has the following article which talks about the signs which indicate the need to hire a CFO for a small business. Below are some key points from this interview :

• If the business is not able to prepare information such that it can take timely and important decision, then it is high time that they should hire a CFO
• The revenue mark when a company should hire a CFO varies from business to business and industry
• Complexity of transaction can determine the need for a higher level of experience and knowledge
• CFO is best equipped to handle rapid growth. He or she is able to interpret the investment and technology and the ways to source fuel growth
• The CFO of a growing firm should also be able to protect the company from regulatory risk

You can read the whole interview at http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffthomson/2013/02/14/signs-a-small-business-needs-a-cfo/
How about a Virtual CFO?
But hiring a full time CFO could be a costly decision and this is where a service like a virtual CFO comes in. The following article from Iamwire talks about the various such services provided in India.
“A virtual CFO primarily takes care of all the complete financial needs of the company, from payroll to vendor payments and report which needs management analysis to taxation and accounting. Moreover, such CFOs often have strong relationships with banks and financial institutions, which come in handy when the company negotiates a loan or encounters any financial crisis.”
Deepak Dhamija, the cofounder of Aristotle Consultancy has following to say about Virtual CFOs:
“A good virtual CFO can help the client focus on their core activities while getting an eagle-eye view on their funds and their regulatory issues. Moreover, a virtual CFO can aggregate the knowledge it gains from the various clients and leverage this knowledge to provide value that an individual CFO simply cannot” 
More to come…
Look out for our future articles where we will discuss on the various aspects of Finance, accounting and Legal operations in a startup and our insights into the upcoming trends in this space
Learn more about accounting outsourcing at Aristotle Consultancy.