Is Your Back Office Keeping Pace With Your Company’s Growth?
I was speaking to a new business contact the other day. As with any new introduction, we started talking about our services and “ideal” clients. As we got into the fractional CFO services that SBS offers, he asked what size client (in annual revenue) typically comes to us for help. I told him it’s not just the amount of revenue, but rather the rate of growth. In other words, some of our best fractional CFO leads come from companies who have experienced significant revenue growth in a relatively short period of time. When that happens, the investment in infrastructure and human capital is typically neglected and isn’t strong enough to support the needs of the larger company. The following issues begin to surface: Poor internal controls No formal strategic plan Dated (and typically undocumented) processes and procedures Poor cash management Legacy employees aren’t qualified to run a large company – the requirements have outpaced their knowledge and abilities. A good example of a “legacy employee” could be your Office Manager. When your company first starts getting busy, you hire a bookkeeper or accountant to run your office. He or she is competent and gets the job done. As your business starts to grow, you hang on to this Office Manager because he or she has been with you through thick and thin and you’re loyal to that person. But at some point, as your business gets larger, it gets more complex. The tasks your Office Manager performed when you were…