The busy schedule of a CFO leaves little time to invest in researching new growth opportunities while simultaneously managing the financial health of a company. This is why successful CFOs often seek outsourced controller services to allow them time for more important tasks related to financial performance. Learn how your business can benefit from these services.
What Outsourced Controller Services Entail?
Regardless of the size or financial standings of a company, managing the timeliness and accuracy of the financial performance is essential. Outsourced controllers can help you do just that. Moreover, they deliver financial results and information required to make effective financial decisions. Ultimately, their efforts are reflected in the growth and sustainability of the company.
Some of the specific duties of an outsourced controller include the following:
- Report financial results to ensure strategic and timely business decisions
- Work with the legal team to ensure compliance with local and federal laws
- Administer collections, payments, and cash management
- Provide external parties and shareholders with financial information
- Establish and execute internal accounting procedures within the company
- Manage tax and treasury responsibilities
- Create and manage budget schedules
- Oversee day-to-day operations of finance functions
- Develop a business plan geared towards growth and business success
When to Use Outsourced Controller Services
Time is an irreplaceable resource, which means CFOs often rely on financial controllers to speed things up. They delegate certain tasks to deliver successful business outcomes and cultivate new and improved relationships with investors. Using outsourced controller services can help create time and eliminate time constraints to deliver better results.
Here are a few signs that may indicate when a CFO may require an outsourced controller.
- The organization is experiencing a transition involving the CFO
- ROI is on the decline
- Changes in the corporate playbook due to industry disruptions
- Scaling is needed for new or existing product lines being introduced into new markets
- Legislation against the business requires more time from the CFO
- The business has achieved a new financial benchmark
In addition to these circumstances, any other situation that requires an increased focus from the CFO may benefit from outsourced controller services to ensure sustainability and progress. CFOs can leverage various strategies to eliminate time constraints. Some common time-management strategies adopted by CFOs include time screening, routinization, scheduling, and task delegation to controllers.
Adopting these strategies has led to a dramatic change in the traditional role and duties of a CFO. Tasks that were previously handled by CFOs only are now being delegated to financial controllers to ensure quick and accurate results. In other words, CFOs focus on high-priority tasks that add value to the business, the outsourced financial controllers work on the basics to streamline financial functions.
How Outsourced Controller Services Benefit Businesses?
Outsourced controller services may be the key to exponential business growth. In addition to clearing up the CFO schedule and allowing them to focus on growth-oriented activities, outsourced controller services can help your company on several other levels. Here are some other reasons why you may want to consider hiring financial controllers.
Training Costs Reduction
The cost of hiring, training, and retaining full-time controllers add up quickly. Moreover, this approach does not necessarily ensure efficacy or quality despite high salary packages for full-time controllers.
Outsourced controllers cost one-third or even less than hiring and retaining an internal, on-site employee. Furthermore, it eliminates training costs. Opting for an outsourced controller is more cost-effective for most businesses than employing a full-time controller.
Financial Expertise
Outsourced controller services allow you the flexibility to choose from a wide variety of experience levels, while hiring a single controller may only provide you with expertise in one area. Needs can change, and having the ability to shift between multiple people specializing in different areas will be more efficient. Plus, you can skip added expenses, such as benefits packages, incentives, and more. Opting for outsourced controlled services is the optimal approach to meet your specialized needs in any area.
Access to Financial Tools
Why incur the additional cost of financial software when many outsourcing arrangements can include access to tools and software not readily available within your organization. Access to better financial software, and the people who know how to use it, can improve bookkeeping management, key metric benchmarking, cash flow management, reporting, audit preparation, job costing, and inventory tracking.
Protection against Fraudulent Activities
Financial activities of any company require stringent supervision to reduce the risk of fraud. While it may not seem like it, outsourcing offers fresh eyes that can help catch errors missed by invested employees. Also, the opportunities for external security breaches and internal cover-ups by disloyal employees are significantly reduced.
Fewer Distractions
Outsourced staff always keep their eyes on the goal. They are not easily distracted by office politics or workplace drama. This is especially true when duties are conducted off-site.
The Bottom Line
Outsourced controller services can help streamline financial functions to ensure maximum productivity and progress. If you are looking for experienced financial controllers, contact Windes today to learn about our outsourced accounting services. We are committed to providing customized plans that fit your needs, meet your budget, and propel your business to new heights of success. Whether your business has needs for more strategic financial planning or back-office transactional support, Windes has the outsourced accounting solution to fill the gaps to meet your business needs.
For questions or more information about this article, please contact our tax professionals at taxalerts@windes.com or toll free at 844.4WINDES (844.494.6337).