Typically growing businesses will always choose to invest in product and go-to-market strategies – you know the things that grow the business. Investing in in-house finance and accounting talent most often doesn’t make the cut, leaving the finance function under resourced to deliver on all the needs of the business. The result?
“I am not getting reliable information on my business’s financial results.”
“I don’t know how much money I am going to need to grow my business.”
“How should I raise the money I need – Equity? Debt?”
“My board and investors are asking for information I cannot provide.”
“My sales are growing but where’s the cash?”
“Which of my products and services are profitable?”
While the businesses are different, the underlying cause is almost always the same. They lack the in-house accounting and finance talent needed to provide them with the information they need to understand the financial health of their business and to make sound business decisions.
What You Need in a Finance Team
In a perfect world, where you have all the resources you need, a properly resourced finance and accounting team will provide you with the information you need to address all of the above issues and more. They should:
- Understand your strategy and develop the financial plans that tell you what to expect from your strategy when properly executed, how much cash you will need, when you will achieve profitability, etc.
- Partner with you to identify the right sources of capital and help you raise that capital.
- Help you effectively manage relations with your Board and investors.
- Provide you with timely and reliable financial and operational data that informs you on how your business is performing, where your cash is going, and where you can make adjustments to improve the results.
- Provide analysis and insights on important decisions like which products, markets and customers to pursue.
- Finally, they should be able to identify and implement systems and processes that improve the efficiency of your operations and ensure the reliability of the information you receive.
The often-overlooked fact is that, when properly resourced, your finance and accounting department will help you grow your business and lacking one can hinder your growth. However, the range of talents and skills you need to properly resource this important function is broad and staffing the full complement is often outside the reach of many growing companies. While there are some unicorns out there, finding all this talent in one person is highly unlikely and attempts to solve this problem with a small subset of the talents needed to do it right is most often frustrating and unsuccessful.
How Successful Organizations Overcome these Challenges
Does this mean that business leaders should give up or settle from less that what they need from this important function? The answer is no.
Outsourcing much, if not all, of this function can get you the talents and skills you need without having to hire them.
When she took on the role of CEO for the 10 year-old company Walker Tracker, Taylor Welsh knew she needed help from a financial standpoint. She also knew that as a lean company, she did not want to divert financial resources needed for product development to build a finance team. With no metrics in place and little visibility into their business analytics, she knew they lacked the infrastructure needed for managing the business, and didn’t know where to start. Determined to move the company to a place where it could easily scale and position it for growth, she turned to PlusPoint for help.
“The team at PlusPoint have been instrumental in the growth of my company. Their extensive experience and flexibility allow us to plug in an expert quickly, effectively, and with trust and confidence.”
Taylor Welsh
CEO, Walker Tracker
PlusPoint’s team of experienced finance, accounting and systems professionals is here to ensure you get what you need when you need it. Our team approach ensures that you have the well-rounded talents and skills available to you when you need them and the comfort of knowing you have the information, analysis and insights you need to help you made sound business decisions.
