When Software is Better than an Outsourced CFO?

Business owners strive to be practical with their expenses and will often think hard before getting any type of service for their enterprises that would require costs. Looking at various options to get the best deal for them then becomes a necessity.

A businesses financial management is the same including getting advice with financial reporting and analysis. This leaves the question, what is the most cost-effective way to get my financial reporting?

Should I invest in an outsourced CFO for instance? Or use the reporting from my business’s software? The answer is…it depends.

Most scenarios, the software alone will be considerably cheaper and provide the information a business needs for analysis and business improvement. If you are a business owner who can get the reporting required, trust the information is accurate and understand how to interpret the information, you may not need an outsourced CFO.

But there are also other points to ponder when narrowing choices for reading financial reports. To better understand the issue, let’s compare it with getting an X-ray. Anyone can look at an x-ray, but do you know how to read the x-ray? Personally, I always end up looking at it upside down!

In the case of financial reports, it’s great for business owners who can understand them, interpret them, and use the findings as a guide for their next business decisions. For them, simply getting software may be a smart way to go as we mentioned above. While those requiring the expertise of professionals in reading what the X-ray, or financial reports in this case, truly signify may seek the help of an outsourced CFO or a trusted advisor to understand the financials.

In summary, it is one thing to get financial information, it is another to get the most accurate and timely information and vital data surrounding a business’ finances and operating performance. This consideration may tip the scale in favor of getting an outsourced CFO because they can train the finance team and lead them in developing effective systems to ensure that the financial reports their teams will get will be accurate and trustworthy. Armed with reliable information and data can strongly guide owners to make the best business decisions.

But if you already have a finance team delivering this and you know how to read the reports an outsourced CFO may not be needed.