Virtual CFO
A virtual CFO or a virtual chief financial officer is an outsourced service offered by business advisory firms to small businesses or startups to help them make sound financial decisions. They help them with financial planning, financial reports and designing financial strategies. The difference between a traditional CFO and a virtual CFO is that a traditional CFO is a full-time executive position while a virtual CFO offers these services remotely or on a part-time consultation basis.
Advantages
A virtual CFO is able to guide the startups better by educating them about the incentive schemes and tax benefits available that may be beneficial to their business. The virtual CFO will be able to assess financial reports and provide accurate feedback to the CEO. They can manage the fund flow and raise early red flags in case of potential concerns. Some of the advantages of hiring a Virtual CFO include –
Process
Monthly Meetup
Monthly visits or virtual meetings over zoom/google meet with a senior resource for CFO services to discuss business financial strategy, monthly performance review and discussions with the management for certain committed hours each month.
Pay as you avail– Virtual experience for a few committed hours
Compliance Management
While you come on board for our VCFO services, we keep you notified and updated on routine compliances to ensure smooth conduct of your business
Business Financial Performance Review
Bird’s eye view of the financial performance of your company.
Process Improvement
Proactive management of your company’s finance with the help of advanced tools and technology.
What you should look out for while hiring a Virtual CFO
When you are hiring a virtual CFO, you are looking for a long-term relationship that could have a serious impact on your business. You will need to keep some factors in mind before you hire a person/team for this purpose to get the best out of the arrangement.
Cooperative Approach with Clear Communication
Experience
Trust
Certification
Scalability
Cooperative Approach with Clear Communication
If your virtual CFO doesn’t have a friendly and cooperative approach, you may hesitate to call up and have a comfortable discussion. In the absence of open interaction, you may not get the complete benefit of the service and may miss out on the valuable advice that you are looking for. Remember that you are hiring a virtual CFO because you need sound financial advice in clear understandable terms. If the virtual CFO/team does not provide clear communication or advice within reasonable response times, the purpose of hiring a virtual CFO is completely defeated. You need someone who can provide you with clear financial advice that can be converted into actionable outcomes. The communication channels must be open and accommodating.
Experience
While hiring a virtual CFO service, make sure the people on the team have the necessary academic qualifications and business experience to guide your business.
Ask them for their experience in virtual CFO roles. You can try and talk to a few of their
clients to get an unbiased review of their services. It is best to hire someone who has reasonable experience in providing these services.
Trust
A vital element when it comes to a virtual CFO, trust. Remember, you are entrusting your business finances to them. You cannot afford to have any compliance issues like taxes not being filed or errors in your financial reports. This can affect your decision making and also get you into trouble with the tax authorities. Instead of appointing a freelance virtual CFO, you may be better off hiring a company with a team. This would eliminate the single point of failure in case the CFO is unavailable when you need them and will keep your business finances up to date.
Certification
Make sure the people you hire have their certifications up to date. You need to check their qualifications and ensure they are continuing their professional education so that they are accurate in their recommendations especially when it comes to regulations and compliances.
Scalability
You expect your business to grow over time and you need your virtual CFO to keep pace with your growing requirements. Make sure your virtual CFO has the capacity to handle a larger business as it would be messy to change your virtual CFO when you scale up. It is best to take a futuristic view and hire someone who can handle bigger challenges than you have at present.
Need for virtual CFO in the world of startups
Having a financial roadmap is essential for any business. While established businesses have a full-time CFO, startups do not have the luxury in the early stages when they are more focused on developing their product/service and designing the business strategy.
Several startups consider financial planning as an activity only when the fundraising stage arises. They may not need a full-time CFO but they would need assistance from finance professionals. This has created a demand for virtual CFOs who can help startups on a flexible basis.
A CFO would be responsible for managing the major financial decisions of a business and guiding the CEO on finance and investment-related decisions. The role of a CFO would include the following –
- Financial and Tax planning
- Risk management
- Forecasting the cash flow
- Compliance Management
- Cost control measures
These are critical for a startup to survive in tough business conditions and hence the need for a virtual CFO arises.
Virtual CFO Services offered by Startup Movers
If you are looking for virtual CFO services for your emerging business, you can look at Startup Movers. We are a professional setup offering a range of services under the Virtual CFO umbrella.
The range of services offered include –
- Financial advisory services to startups
- Handling the accounting function
- Managing the regulatory compliances
- Corporate governance
- Overseeing the financial plans
- Advising on the capital structure
Having a virtual CFO can help the startup to focus on its business goals while the finance and regulatory compliances are taken care of in a professional fashion without having to bear the full cost. This can be of tremendous benefit to startups who are trying to find their feet and need financial advice on a need basis.
