“When Should I Outsource my Accounting?”

The PICPA defines a Certified Public Accountant as “a trusted financial advisor that has passed the rigorous CPA Exam, met work experience requirements, and takes continuing professional education courses to maintain their CPA certification.”

If you already have a bookkeeper AND a CPA, you are already ahead of the game. But is your accounting team keeping up with your growing business?

Times are changing, technology is evolving and becoming a crucial part of your business, and the reactive, transactional nature of bookkeeping and CPA services is no longer enough for forward-thinking business owners who need to maintain a cutting edge on their competition.

As more and more businesses use software as a service (SaaS), e-commerce, digital marketing, EDI, online payments, and maintain cybersecurity controls to run their businesses, the sheer volume and complexity of running a small business have grown exponentially over the years.

Today, many business owners are enjoying the benefits of proactive financial leadership, cloud-based accounting, software-enabled business processes and around-the-clock support that requires more than studying this year’s GAAP and FASB updates…

Enter, the Virtual CFO.

The “New Breed” of accountant and the rise of the Virtual CFO

The proactive financial professional (often referred to as a virtual CFO or virtual controller), is proactive, educated, tech-savvy, and assertive. She has industry expertise, knows your industry well, leverages cloud accounting software and other technologies to make your business smarter, faster, and stronger, and she knows how to seamlessly integrate “just doing the books” with, “Hey John, I noticed you undercharged these three clients last year by $2,000 each, let’s fix this today.”

The proactive virtual CFO is the secret weapons of thousands of businesses across the country who unlock thousands, even millions of dollars in profits for their businesses and run vastly more efficient and valuable enterprises.

Virtual CFO Services

The virtual CFO is not just an individual, but often comes with a fractional share of a complete accounting team that includes virtual bookkeeper, virtual accountant, a virtual CPA and even a virtual mergers & acquisitions professional. Virtual CFO services often include:

The virtual CFO is not just an individual but often comes with a fractional share of a complete accounting team that includes virtual bookkeeper, virtual accountant, a virtual CPA and virtual mergers & acquisitions professional. Virtual CFO service values often include:

Mentor the finance team: Oversee your in-house finance team or handle 100% of the bookkeeping, accounting, and finance functions with the outsourced virtual team she brings.

Develop financial controls and policies: Develop cash controls, best practices, and proper reporting policies to protect your bank account from financial theft, fraud, loss and compliance missteps.

Deliver financial reports & Key Performance Indicators (KPIs): Pull meaningful information including customer acquisition cost (CAC), staff leverage, annual contract value (ACV), and others that show you in real time if your business is growing (or worse…suffering).

Implement cloud accounting software: By leveraging cloud accounting software like NetSuite, your virtual CFO handles bookkeeping, reporting, and execution anytime, anywhere, with valuable flexibility in developing reports and automation that save time and money.

Create budgets & forecasts: Help managers and shareholders make profitable decisions and forecast cash flow to invest in growth or return cash through distributions or dividends.

Run startup operations: A skilled virtual CFO can manage cap tables, investor reporting, startup operations, and manage angel and VC investors.

Drive strategy and growth: Your CFO will provide proactive leadership for your finance team, drive strategy and cost-savings initiatives, and unlock value for shareholders.

Next…let’s discuss finance & accounting costs.