Jan 08 Do you need a strategic CFO? Critical Questions to Consider: Does your company think Strategic? Do you know what it means to be Strategic? Have you thought about what you want your Company to look like in 5, 15, 30 years? Have you thought about what you want to be doing in 5, 15, 30 years? Do you want your company to grow? If so, have you thought about how you will grow? Have you thought about who will be running the company in 5, 15, 30 years? It is imperative that Companies up their game strategically. For a company to grow or improve its competitive position, someone must identifying the key constraints holding it back, and then use finance to free it from those constraints. In other words, today’s business environment requires the CFO to be a pragmatic strategist for your organization. Most businesses do not have the luxury of having a CFO on staff, but that CFO is available to you through our Fractional CFO Services Division. Over the next few weeks we will consider these questions and hopefully provide some insight into the answers for you and your Company. Let’s Consider Business Uncertainty: What is the greatest uncertainty facing your company, and what can be done to resolve, negate or navigate through it? Consider that the company has significant building and improvement assets sitting on leasehold property and the uncertainty around that contingent liability is constraining the company’s capital and keeping it from making aggressive growth plays. That may sound like something a CFO cannot fix. But, what if we were to go to the legal counsel and say, “Let’s figure out what it would cost to negotiate away this contingent liability, and see, given our current cash flows and the low-rate environment, whether it’s worth that price to get rid of that uncertainty.” The Fractional CFO can lead the finance department of the company with modeling the consequences of different outcomes, and then suggest to management different scenarios to limit or eliminate the contingent liabilities and free up capital to be re-deployed toward the wanted growth. Uncertainty can “freeze” decision-making; a Fractional CFO can “unfreeze” those decisions by gathering information to resolve the uncertainty, institute a structure to navigate the uncertainty while managing risk or developing a step-by-step approach to re-option investment as uncertainty is resolved. In Session 4 we will consider Spend vs Return. Call us today to discuss your Uncertainty and our services. Robert P Brown Director Fractional CFO Services The Hultquist Firm CPA, P.C. 3515 Pelham Rd, Ste 101 Greenville, SC (864) 770-0240 x17