CFO Services
80% of companies that outsource accounting are likely to refer their accountants (2018 survey from Bill.com and CPA.com). They reported higher profits, greater financial insights, and had more time to focus on their business.
We understand the unique needs of startups and have first-hand experience in what it takes to make them grow. Our interim CFOs become an integral part of your team and put that knowledge to work for you.
Outsourcing CFO duties (along with basic accounting, bookkeeping, reporting and payroll) is a wise choice for startups and young companies that need to preserve precious cash while staying focused on growth.
We work on an as-needed, hourly basis to help you achieve your goals and scale your startup.
Our startup-savvy interim CFOs provide several key functions:
One of the biggest advantages of an interim CFO is the varied experience and industry contacts that come from working with multiple startups and industries. We see trends, what works, and what doesn’t. This allows our firm to continuously bring proven practices to your startup.
Properly preparing for a Board meeting can be a daunting and time-consuming task. Your interim CFO can help you prepare and ensure that your data and presentation are focused and informative. For several of our clients, we actually attend and conduct Board meetings on behalf of the management team.
For many startups, a merger or acquisition represents the exit strategy. Our interim CFOs can support your M&A events; helping with due diligence, negotiating the highest valuation possible, and helping the transaction go smoothly.
As your startup’s Chief Financial Officer, we help set the financial tone and tenor of your organisation, always keeping an eye on the upward valuation and ensuring that current and future investment is ready to take and use properly.
Our interim and part-time CFOs will provide your startup with a support structure that facilitates growth without distraction, letting the founding team focus on meaningful growth of the company and its products or services.
The interim CFO constructs a working model of how your business should perform financially if certain strategies are executed and milestones are reached.
A critical contribution of the interim CFO is to provide accurate, timely, high-quality financial analysis and advice to decision-makers and to link the strategy of the startup to its operating and capital budget.
By designing and producing reports and dashboards, the interim CFO makes apparent the actual financial operation and health of the business as measured against the forecasts and budgets.
Our interim CFOs know what investors like and can support your access to a network of funding sources. Although we don’t generally do cold “intros”, we do support startups to be as fundable as possible.
The interim CFO creates an early culture of accountability, asset preservation, and value generation.
Our interim CFOs can help you determine and present a well-reasoned and optimised valuation of your startup to investors, partners, and potential acquirers.
Benefits of outsourced CFOs for startups:
As startups grow, their financial management needs can become more complex.
External CFOs provide scalable services that adjust according to the changing needs of the business, helping to manage anything from daily accounting tasks to complex financial reporting and analysis.
This flexibility is crucial for startups experiencing rapid growth.
Supporting our CFO team is an experienced group of controllers, accountants, and bookkeepers who manage day-to-day business functions for startups including:
- Day-to-day accounting
- SaaS accounting expertise
- Basic bookkeeping
- Expense entry
- Expense reports
- Accounts Receivable (AR)
- Accounts Payable (AP)
- Monthly close
- Report preparation
- Banking
- Tax and audit preparation
- Planning
- Purchasing
- Inventory management
Beyond the basic maintenance of the daily accounting and controller activities, our team implements accounting systems, as well as supervision and training of existing staff—all cornerstone elements important to building a fully functioning accounting department.
Financial compliance and payroll management come with various risks, including the risk of errors in tax filings or employee payments that can result in penalties and legal issues.
External CFOs are equipped to handle these complexities, reducing the risk of costly mistakes.
They also bring an objective perspective to financial management, which can help in making unbiased financial decisions and in implementing checks and balances within the financial operations.
Strong finances give startups speed and direction.
Founding teams are usually a group of product designers, engineers, and marketers. Finance-related strategies, along with bookkeeping, accounting, reporting, and other back-office tasks are often distant afterthoughts, but they are essential for a young operation to stay funded and grow at top speed. The benefits of utilizing CFO-level wisdom and sound financial systems from day one are numerous:
- Avoid or minimise mistakes
- Optimise cash management
- Increase success in raising capital
- Create team and investor confidence
- Ensure legal and standards compliance
- Identify valuation-increasing milestones
- Increase the probability of successful exit
- Build credibility with the board and investors
- Build risk and process controls for rapid growth
- Add experienced senior management to the team
With a young company, every penny counts, and the “cap table” is sacred. Outsourcing CFO, accounting, and HR functions make good sense for startups that want the advantages of mature financial structures while keeping the monthly burn rate in check. Outsourcing delivers better service for less money.
- Better results
- Lower/variable costs
- No sick days or vacations needed
- Anti-dilutive effect on the cap table
- Scalable and ready to grow with you
- Collective wisdom / network of larger CFO team
- Allow founders to focus on product and growth
By outsourcing back-office financial and payroll functions our experienced team, our clients can invest more of their early-stage capital in real value-generating assets and avoid the high cost of building corporate infrastructures internally.
We provide proven financial infrastructure and operational systems that enable our clients to focus on what they do best – creating real value, building great products and services, and growing their businesses quickly and correctly.
Our experts become an integral part of your team – designing, building, and maintaining systems that provide investor confidence and keep things running smoothly.
External CFOs bring a wealth of expertise and specialised knowledge that can be crucial for startups.
Their experience with financial regulations, tax laws, and industry standards, can help ensure that a startup’s finances are managed accurately and efficiently.
Their experience with various businesses also means they can provide valuable insights and advice tailored to a startup’s unique needs.
Unlock better financial outcomes with our expert Xero accountants. Maximize profits, minimize stress – contact us today.
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