It is all too easy to make assumptions, isn’t it?
And, as I found out to my cost, doing this can come back to bite you.
More specifically, when asked what Tectona does, my answer is usually something along the lines of:
“Tectona provide part time finance directors/CFOs to owner managed businesses who don’t need, don’t want or can’t afford a full-time finance director”
My assumption? That everyone knows what a finance director does. Clearly, I was wrong.
So, I accepted the challenge set me by a prospect – to be clearer about what a finance director does.
And, while I was at it, to explain some of the other language that crops up in our world – like ‘CFO’, ‘fractional’, ‘interim’, ‘part time’.
While others might seek to dress this up as something very complicated, really it is not. And here’s why:
- A ‘Finance Director’ (FD) is basically the same as a ‘Chief Financial Officer’ (CFO) – we will use the hybrid term “FD/CFO” meaning the same thing.
- ‘Part time’ means the same as ‘fractional’, or, indeed, ‘plural’ – we will keep up with the times and use the more buzzy “fractional”.
- ‘Interim’ is usually doing something on a project basis – typically for a finite and limited time.
We have distilled our thinking down into a series of brief articles which, again at the risk of making assumptions, seek to address the questions that you will have about how best to manage your finance function – and if you are not asking these questions, then could we perhaps suggest that you should be asking them?
- What is the role and what are the responsibilities of an FD/CFO?
- What are the main differences between a full time and a fractional FD/CFO?
- What are the 4 key benefits of having your own fractional FD/CFO?
- Signs to look out for which could mean that a fractional FD/CFO might be the right solution for you.
About Tectona
Tectona Partnership helps business owners sleep at night by embedding one of our 18 commercially minded FD/CFOs in your management team.
Very often, a part time (or fractional) FD/CFO is the most effective solution.
We make sure you have the necessary management information and strategic insight to make informed decisions and reduce risk; and we will absolutely tell you what you need to know, when you need to know it.