Why Accounting Firms Should Care About CFOs!
As an accounting firm you spend a great deal of time recording backward-looking data. With current automated systems you even spend time analyzing numbers that are calculated in software, such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems. While the software is quick and removes a lot of accounting drudgery, the numbers still need to be scrutinized to ensure they were input correctly in the program. With those types of systems in place, you may not even run across many Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) in the companies you service. You may not have a good idea what CFOs do for companies. But CFOs and accountants go hand in glove and have a critical relationship in today’s business environment. Here is why you should find out what a CFO is and why your accounting firm should care!
What Does a CFO Do?
First, let’s discuss some basics about CFOs. CFOs utilize the data from accountants to develop corporate financial strategies for revenue, profitability growth and cash flow. Many CFOs are Certified Public Accountants (CPAs), but CPAs are not automatically CFOs. The CFO spends much more time on management than accounting and works with managers to increase profitability, support sales and marketing, raise capital, and manage cash flow. The CFO’s analyses and decisions rely on quality data from the bookkeepers and accountants to provide the information for CFOs to analyze.
Why Should I Care About CFOs?
As just discussed, a CFO relies on quality data from accountants to make decisions and craft business strategy. This is even more so with the elevated scrutiny of the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) on accounting fraud and faulty financial reporting. CFOs will often find financial mistakes that need to be tracked down by accountants and fixed. Sometimes this doesn’t occur due to the lack of skilled accountants and the results can be disastrous for a company, for professional reputations, and employment. We all know how hard it is to find great accountants for staffing and companies often hire contract CPAs and Accountants such as CustomOne CFO & Controllers to fill the gap. As an accountant, you now know – if you didn’t before – the need in companies for skilled accounting and that CFOs need and value accountants. Does it seem to you that perhaps you should be doing some sales calls on CFOs that could benefit from your firm’s accounting services? Whether under regular contract or used for specific duties, a CFO could be your best source for increasing quality, high paying work at your firm.
Getting to know CFOs should be a marketing emphasis for your accounting firm. Just as firms contract for accounting services, they also contract for outside CFO services from firms such as CustomOne CFO & Controllers. Their financial professionals supplement and provide guidance to internal staff at companies and could be a valuable source of connections for your firm.
