Why small business owners should learn to think like CFOs

Allworths has been around for a long time – over 120 years in fact! One thing that has remained constant is our love of small business and entrepreneurship. Getting to work with many small and medium-sized business owners (and being small business owners ourselves), we are well aware of the many challenges involved in the day-to-day running of a financially sustainable business.

Many small business owners don’t have formal training or experience in accounting and finance, which can be both a blessing and a curse. It’s common to engage a bookkeeper and tax agent (or an accounting firm that can be your one stop shop) to take care of “the numbers” and help you meet your basic compliance requirements. That’s a great start. It’s also where most small business owners seem to stop.

We would hazard a guess that the majority of small businesses don’t have an in-house accountant, finance team or CFO. And that’s understandable. It could be due to a lack of budget; Payscale.com shows that a CFO alone could set you back AUD $155,736! It could also be due to the widespread belief that having a bookkeeper, tax agent and/or accountant is all you really need.

And it is enough… to ensure you don’t break the law. However, is that all there is? What about looking ahead, planning for growth, maximising profits, protecting against the unknown and thinking about your exit? Is your bookkeeper or tax agent helping you work through these considerations? If not, are you carving out time to consistently look at these issues with your co-owners, partners, investors or advisers?

Let’s look at some examples in more detail…

Data-Driven Decision Making

What do the monthly reports provided by your bookkeeper/accountant actually mean for your business? Are you closer to or further from e.g. hiring that new person to drive growth, moving into that new office, or paying yourself a market rate salary?
In light of the above, how do you e.g. manage cash flow, create realistic budgets and forecasts, or use what-if analysis to see how different scenarios pan out over time?
How do you know when external funding is needed (or available to you), what type of finance to use and how to access it?

Company Risk Management

How do you structure your business to protect your assets and facilitate future growth?
How do you identify the various risks involved in the running of your business and measure their potential impact? How can you mitigate some/all of these risks, e.g. through the right insurance coverage, to protect against the unknown?
Are you aware of your own duties and obligations, e.g. directors’ duties, and what the potential impact could be on you personally if you get them wrong?

Founder/Owner Financial Stability

What measures do you put in place for succession in case business partners leave or pass away unexpectedly? It happens!
How do you manage your own personal financial affairs in addition to the company’s? How and when do you pull money out of the business in a relatively safe and sustainable manner?
How do you invest both business and personal funds in a diversified way or according to your own investment goals and risk profiles?

Become a DiY CFO

Are you a small business owner interested in learning more about CFO Thinking? Join our free event at WeWork in Sydney on 6 June 2019… drinks, nibbles and an informative chat from Allworths partners Mark Copsey and David Downie on the importance of learning to think like a CFO. Learn more and register here.

These are just some of the areas a business owner should look at and seek help with – either with their own team or a properly qualified advisory firm. They’re NOT the domain of your bookkeeper or tax agent! Far too many small businesses rely on their outsourced providers and don’t think about these critical issues, often – sadly – until it’s too late.

We would suggest learning more about “the numbers” side of things and seeing how this understanding can help you build a financially sustainable business. One that is clearly headed somewhere and able to take care of you (and your team) along the way.

Please contact us if we can assist by providing further reading resources or anything else.