{"id":896,"date":"2020-03-05T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canopyadvisory.com\/are-you-really-hiring-a-cfo\/"},"modified":"2023-11-08T00:04:42","modified_gmt":"2023-11-08T07:04:42","slug":"are-you-really-hiring-a-cfo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canopyadvisory.com\/are-you-really-hiring-a-cfo\/","title":{"rendered":"Are You Really Hiring a CFO?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s face it. The people that hire CFO\u2019s are not CFO\u2019s. It\u2019s usually various members of the executive team pulling the trigger on the hire.\u00a0 Hmm\u2026executive team \u2013 \u00a0CEO, CRO, COO. A group of people that need to work with the CFO, but may not be completely sure what a CFO should and shouldn\u2019t do. Their decision making rubric is most likely skewed based on their individual roles in the company.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what I\u2019ve observed:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The CFO role is very often confused with a Controller role.<\/li>\n<li>Executive teams are confused about their own roles in conjunction with the CFO.<\/li>\n<li>Misperceptions about the CFO role are supported by hiring the wrong person into a CFO role \u2013 someone who is not working at a CFO level.<\/li>\n<li>Paying less for a CFO is not really saving money. Paying more for someone that works at the right level can pay for itself many times over.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Let\u2019s use a car as an example. Each component of an engine plays a very distinct role in making that car move. Cars that are prized for their engineering and performance have component parts that are very specific to high performance and cost more than lower performance vehicle parts. And each part works independently at a very specific task to produce the overall effect of high speed with stellar handling and comfort. That car wins the race \u2013 gets there faster \u2013 is revered by professionals that recognize the gold standard performance.<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s jump to the four points outlined above and run them through the engine test:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The CFO has a very distinct role that doesn\u2019t involve producing financial statements, although they supervise the staff that does. They generally hire a CPA for financial reporting and use financials to paint a picture of the greater financial whole.<\/li>\n<li>Executive teams may have proficiencies on the financial side. There are lots of MBA\u2019s that end up in non-CFO executive roles. Will they stay within their own roles (roles and proficiencies are different &#8211; hiring issue) and give the CFO proper control.<\/li>\n<li>Hiring a Controller for a CFO role may feel OK to the executive team because the Executives continue to bleed into the CFO role when they should be focused on their individual roles.<\/li>\n<li>Good CFO\u2019s can restructure, optimize, educate and even save your corporate bacon. But you have to be willing to pay for it. Generating financials statements is valuable but doesn\u2019t keep you shooting straight.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Executive Team and an Engine:<\/p>\n<p>CEO: Determines what the car looks like 3 years down the road and how the parts change to accommodate the new vehicle design.<\/p>\n<p>CFO: Makes sure the computerized alert system works. Constantly compiles diagnostics generated by the system and decides when to give off warning signals when the engine starts to fail. Warning signals have a suggested path for fixing the problem as suggested by the CFO. The CEO can decide whether to adopt the suggested \u201cservice\u201d or not.<\/p>\n<p>CRO: Generates enough fuel to make that car run. Also plans for future fuel needs based on the CEO&#8217;s vision of the car of the future and new components that will run at even higher efficiencies (but need even more fuel?).<\/p>\n<p>COO: Make sure the engine has what it needs to operate day-to-day. Is the engine maintained so it doesn\u2019t break down. Is there scheduled protocol for preparing maintenance logs, making sure there is enough \u00a0oil, spare parts and snow tires for the winter season (higher seasonal volume).<\/p>\n<p>Some of you learned the hard way\u2026saving a buck or hiring someone who\u2019s fun and will play well with the team. This is an engine, folks. It\u2019s about component performance so the car MOVES. Believe me, when you\u2019re #1 at the finish line, everyone in the company is happy.<\/p>\n<p>Action items: make sure you\u2019re hiring for a pure CFO role within the company. Hire a CFO professional to help you hire your CFO. Educate the executive team on the role of the CFO and then let the CFO do what they do. If the \u201cpart\u201d starts to fail, find a replacement \u2013 fast.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u201cExperience breeds wisdom, and wisdom breeds vision \u2013 Dalai Lama XIV\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Let\u2019s face it. The people that hire CFO\u2019s are not CFO\u2019s. It\u2019s usually various members of the executive team pulling the trigger on the hire.\u00a0 Hmm\u2026executive team \u2013 \u00a0CEO, CRO, COO. A group of people that need to work with the CFO, but may not be completely sure what a CFO should and shouldn\u2019t do. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2161,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-896","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","topic-finance"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Are You Really Hiring a CFO? - Canopy Advisory Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/canopyadvisory.com\/are-you-really-hiring-a-cfo\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are You Really Hiring a CFO? - Canopy Advisory Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Let\u2019s face it. The people that hire CFO\u2019s are not CFO\u2019s. It\u2019s usually various members of the executive team pulling the trigger on the hire.\u00a0 Hmm\u2026executive team \u2013 \u00a0CEO, CRO, COO. A group of people that need to work with the CFO, but may not be completely sure what a CFO should and shouldn\u2019t do. 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