There was a time when the role of chief financial officers was mainly focused on keeping the finances of a business entity under control; in other words, these corporate officers made decisions related to the allocation of business resources and opportunities. The dynamic and competitive nature of modern business has changed the role of your average CFO in Atlanta, GA. These days, CFOs have more strategic responsibilities than just serving as chief accountants or treasurers.
The Strategic Role Played by Modern CFOs
The responsibilities of the typical CFO in Atlanta, GA, today are more managerial and visionary. There is a lot of guidance involved; gone are the days when these corporate officers mainly provided a financial perspective. Accountants are primarily in charge of bookkeeping, financial reporting, compliance, and tax filing. CFOs take this information and transform it into actionable goals. Whereas accountants make sales projections based on past performance and realistic business goals, CFOs analyze operations and how they relate to market conditions.
Chief executive officers at Fortune 500 companies will rarely make decisions without first consulting with their CFOs. Even after getting input from all board members, seasoned CEOs know that the final consideration must involve CFO analysis and opinion.
Here’s something else that not all business people and entrepreneurs are not aware of: CFOs are not always the kind of corporate officers who own stock in a company and actively sit on the board. Many CFO Atlanta GA duties are carried out by accountancy firms such as ours. If you think about it, not all entrepreneurs or small business owners will be able to set up corporate structures that allow the appointment of a CFO who will also be on the payroll. At least not initially, but they could undoubtedly use CFO advice from the start, and this is where we come in.
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We’re Experienced CFOs in Atlanta, GA
Over the many years of providing CFO services to business owners and entrepreneurs, we have developed a 6-step advisory process that can adjust to many industries and endeavors. We start with assessing your vision; this involves figuring out your values and setting realistic goals.
Before we advise you on financial forecasts, we need to help you figure out how your organization should be structured and how it is supposed to function; this will form the basis of your future operations. It is good for many new enterprises to outsource processes such as bookkeeping until a more permanent function can be established.
Growing Your Company with Advisory Services
Once the above has been accomplished, we can start discussing more strategic and technical issues, such as financial management software that will suit your business endeavor. QuickBooks is a good option for many start-up companies, but some may benefit from another approach like using an ERP. Enterprise Resource Planning software, like NetSuite or Acumatica, offers more scalability, functionality, and integrations. We will also get into the vital business process such as data tracking and analysis. Your CFO will need to measure performance and productivity so they can create forecasts as well as profit and loss statements.
As an accountancy and CFO advisory firm, we often work with clients whose operational blueprint is limited to the business plan to apply for commercial loans. These plans are rarely detailed to the point of explaining core processes, and they tend to skip over matters of business consistency and how to handle specific issues when they arise. These are operational matters that need to be properly addressed.
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The final step of our advisory process is recurring meetings focused on addressing issues and tracking data that will help you reach your goals. Each meeting we hold with your business principals and managers will be centered on ensuring that the steps above are being carried out effectively. This is when we can start discussing attracting investors, acquiring operations, seeking outside funds, establishing cash flow, and expanding the business. To learn more about how we can provide you with strategic CFO advice, please contact Fusion CPA today.
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