General Category
Monday, March 28th, 2011
…..and therefore time is something that should be measured – after all, what gets measured gets done. There are two areas of time (amongst others) that I frequently address with clients:
- Time spent on gaining new clients. Is it really worth a day trip to their offices to get £1,000 of work which generates £100 of profit? Oh, and have you realised that particular job only generated £100 of profit or has it got lost in the pot?
- Time spent on processes that could be made more efficient. Often documentation is the key since, as a minimum, that reduces the thinking time (What is it I have to do/How do I do it?) each time the task is done. Once a baseline is established it is also much easier to see room for improvement or even make it possible to handover the task to a less expensive member of staff.
As a part time finance director I am interested in improving the financial success of my clients and this frequently involves considering more than just the money going through the bank.
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Friday, January 21st, 2011
How often do we read a job title, or indeed give ourselves one, that creates an immediate image in our minds of what that person does? But how often is that image wrong? I generally call myself a ‘part time finance director’ being careful to steer clear of ‘accountant’ (even though I am qualified) – for me the latter immediately conjures up year end accounts and tax, neither of which I do.
However, ‘part time finance director’ means significantly different things to different people even amongst fellow professionals. It could be as wide ranging as structuring company purchases, establishing processes to deliver monthly reporting, establishing strategy and detailed plans to deliver against it and so on.
This week I have realised what a large part of my role could be called training – directly on courses, or indirectly mentoring staff, or helping business owners – it’s all training?
If you are a part time FD what does it mean to you?
If you aren’t part of the profession, what does it mean to you?
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Friday, December 10th, 2010
I have just gone through the process of re-branding and re-launching my services. An integral part of this re-launch was my online presence. I didn’t expect my website to directly lead to new business, but did anticipate that if I didn’t have a website that I could lose business. Contacts would expect me to have a presence on the web and would use it to look me up and check out my offer, testimonials and case studies.
As part of my research into websites I checked out the competition. That’s when the question popped into my head “can your website harm your business”. During this research I saw some badly designed websites that didn’t create the right impression. You must see your website as a projection of your company to the online world and people will judge your company by your website, so make it the best you can! This judgement can be made in under three seconds if the user has come from Google, and if they dislike it they hit the back button.
A good website should be easy to navigate, create a professional image, have relevant content and be easy to find. A badly designed website will almost certainly cost you more in lost business that the website itself or the money you “saved” by taking short cuts.
We recommend that companies entrust their finances to an experienced professional – why wouldn’t we do the same for other areas of our businesses.
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Monday, November 8th, 2010
This month the Real Business magazine contains an interesting article on ‘27 tips on hiring a top FD’. Whilst I don’t agree with all their tips/quotes there are some interesting thoughts – unfortunately not available on line.
Here is tip no 1 (their ranking not mine):
- Dont wait around – you should recruit a financial director as soon as possible. If you dont have an FD, the CEO ends up knee-deep in finances instead of spending time driving the business forward.
If you can, get hold of a copy of the magazine and check out the other 26 tips.
Posted in Benefit to Clients, Benefit to Financeheads, General | 1 Comment »
Friday, October 1st, 2010
Finance heads was conceived two years ago at a business conference in Reading. In talking, it soon became apparent to us that we were all ploughing similar lonely furrows, and that although potentially competitors, it seemed to make good sense to collaborate with and support each other. We therefore agreed to meet up again to talk through how this may work, and from those meetings FinanceHeads was born and formally launched on the 1st October last year- we have now grown to the 14 members we have today with others in the pipeline.
From a personal point of view, I have found the interaction with fellow members both invaluable and stimulating. I am also proud to say that there have been some 16 referrals of business, from one member to another, resulting in several thousands of pounds of fees earned. With the growing reputation of the FinanceHeads name, and strength in numbers, we have also been able to interact with High Street names.
We hope to continue to grow in the coming years and see not only our members, but our SME clients and associates benefit from our existence.
Posted in Benefit to Financeheads, General | No Comments »
Friday, September 10th, 2010
Many businesses are considering cost cutting measures and this often involves some difficult choices. As external advisors a part time Finance Director may be considered as an easy cost to cut (or indeed to not incur in the first place).
However, a recent discussion highlighted how important any goods or services might be to a business and that it is not always about the apparent cost. One of the roles of a Finance Director can be to provide an objective opinion on cost cutting and potentially avoid costly mistakes being made.
It may even be that the FinanceHead recommends spending more (yes really!) on marketing for example to help reduce the need for savings. In some cases there are even external sources of finance to cover costs such as training and a good advisor will help a business tap into these.
Yes, times are tough, but FinanceHeads exists to support part time Finance Directors who want to see their SME clients succeed.
Posted in Benefit to Clients, Benefit to Financeheads, General | 1 Comment »
Friday, September 3rd, 2010
This article in FinanceWeek highlights the importance of having business analytics to allow effective decision making – particularly around the areas of operational efficiency and target marketing. For many SMEs determining and measuring Key Performance Indicators is going to be done without the aid of mega sophisticated software but it can be effective non-the-less.
Businesses need to identify the root causes of their (potential) success, set these as targets and then have processes for capturing information to measure them. This might be the number of cold calls made and an anticipated conversion rate or perhaps the number of customers from particular industries. The detail will vary by business but the principles will be the same and some measures (ageing of debtors) should always be measured.
Luckily finance folk are experts at measuring and analysing and FinanceHeads brings such people together all focussed on helping SMEs to succeed.
Posted in Benefit to Clients, General | No Comments »
Friday, August 27th, 2010
With the summer holidays drawing to a close, now is a good time for business owners to run a quick financial health check on their business. This might involve looking at key numbers but significant additional information can be got from ratios and interpretation. Much of this will be intuitive to business owners who will have a sense as to what results they are expecting based customer activity and their cash position, for example. However, it is easy to get stuck in a rut and that is where having a fresh pair of eyes can help with a different perspective and spotting the gaps.
So as the children get their text books out and try and remember what they learnt last term, business owners can also consider what they are going to learn in the coming months.
Posted in Benefit to Clients, General | No Comments »
Sunday, June 20th, 2010
A part time FD will often be helping either business owners or their managers to understand the financials of their business. This should always result in better decision making which will hopefully improve cashflow/profitability.
Whilst this tailored service can be very effective it does of course mean that each client is, effectively, bearing the full cost. Programs that bring a range of businesses together can not only help spread the cost but there are additional benefits to be gained from mixing with owners and managers from other businesses.
Either way Finance is a key skill for owners and managers to have at least some understanding of even if they lead the detailed interpretation, summarising and recommendations to their Finance Director. The numbers don’t just happen, businesses generate them and understanding how can be fun.
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Wednesday, June 2nd, 2010
A recent FinanceHeads poll, which surveyed a cross-section of SMEs around the country, revealed mixed feelings over the possible effects of the election. 55% of respondents believed it would have a direct impact on their business. Despite this, however, it has been business as usual for 95% of respondents in recent weeks, with only a small minority considering delaying important decisions until after the election.
On a day to day level, of course, there will be very little change immediately but the changes will be felt over time – and it’s these long term effects that many are worried about. There are plenty of things that businesses can be doing in the meantime, though, to take charge of their own fortunes and to help combat any negatives that might be coming their way.
Now is an ideal time for entrepreneurs to be evaluating their business objectives and identifying ways to make their money work harder and more efficiently and of course a FinanceHead can help with this!
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