Chief Executives of large corporations can call upon in-house specialised financial expertise but these skills are equally needed by small and medium sized businesses. Proper control of the financial performance of any business is critical to ongoing viability, development and growth. Managing Directors of SMEs often have to take on responsibility for the control of financial performance together with the multitude of other tasks they routinely handle but realistically they cannot give full and proper attention to everything.
The simple solution is to use a part-time Freelance Financial Director who can share the responsibilities - both freeing time and giving peace of mind.
Engaged by you and working under your personal direction, your part-time FD can relieve you of the day-to-day responsibilities involved with "score keeping". The extent of the duties is down to you; anything from helping develop a strategic plan to trouble-shooting the accounts function. Your Freelance FD is equally happy rolling up sleeves to sort out book-keeping disasters, as handling negotiations with banks and financiers.
The range of duties could include:
| OPUS : Finance Services : Key Offerings |
| Offering |
Description |
| Assess financial risks in the business |
- Highlight areas of the business that need action
- Develop action plans
- Introduce internal controls
- Keep business moving forwards
|
| Control finances |
- Take early action to maximise profits and cash flow
- Enable effort to be focused on the right areas of the business
- Avoids crises and nasty surprises
- Reduce the stress of running a business by pinpointing problem areas, strengths and weaknesses
- Plan and monitor progress quickly and easily, identifying where improvements can be made
|
| Produce financial plans and budgets |
- Identify key drivers
- Impartial reviews of targets
- Tailor plans to your business and your actual needs
- Develop reporting tools
|
| Providing information to help you control and develop your business |
- Review budget systems, reporting routines and accounting processes
- Helps keep the business moving forward on the right track
- Identify income/cost drivers and develop systems reporting on performance
|
| Help identify products and customers earning most money |
- Develop meaningful reporting systems
- Assess profitability performance
- Enable action to be taken to maximise returns
- Avoid crises and nasty surprises - reduce the stress of running a business by pinpointing problem areas, strengths and weaknesses
|
| Help increase owner/shareholder value |
- Keep the business moving forward on the right track
- Give an unbiased viewpoint of the real position of the business
|
| Improve cash flow |
- Tighten controls
- Increase awareness
- Set targets for all cash transactions
|
| Assist raising of additional finance |
- Ratify funding required
- Produce high quality forecasts and projections
- Negotiate with potential funders
|
| Specialised tools |
- Utilise expert tools to assess profitability and efficiency of the business
- Develop action plans to improve performance
- Tailor reports to meet requirements of the business
- Make sure tax payable is minimised
- Avoid marginal rates of tax (if possible)
- Check the financial efficiency of you company car policy
- Financial due diligence enquiries
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