“What does an outstanding FD look like and do you need one?” All too often Finance Directors (FD or CFO), particularly in SME businesses, act more like “heavy” bookkeepers or management accountants rather than being a true member of the senior management team providing input to strategy and driving the business plan through in partnership […]
Continue reading
What do good contract terms and conditions look like? “And did you read the contract terms before you accepted them?” “No, m’Lud, they looked very long and very boring and life felt too short.” This defence might meet with some sympathy in a dispute over an on-line retail purchase; but in the commercial world, business […]
Continue reading
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” However, if you don’t know your starting position, the journey may be considerably longer. For a business, this means knowing your most vital operating information. As your time is limited and information is not free, you need to identify the minimum facts about your […]
Continue reading
Most lawyers are great at being lawyers; but developing the skills and finding the time to effectively manage a business is not necessarily what they signed-up for. It’s unlikely there are many lawyers out there who secretly yearn to become accountants; but focusing on three key accounting things within your business will go a long […]
Continue reading
We are regularly asked why a business should have a chief financial officer when the business owner already has an accountant who completes his/her annual report and accounts. The answer is that they perform very different roles. As a keen archer, I use the analogy of receiving a report of your scores at the end […]
Continue reading
Back in the nineties, interim managers were selected for their broad business experience, managerial ability and agility. One writer on the subject even went so far as to suggest that successful interim mangers were generally thinner and more athletic than the norm. While you can’t get away with such sweeping generalisations about the BMI of […]
Continue reading
For any business, paying taxes on time is an important part of your financial management and there are significant penalties for late submission or late payment, as well as the distraction you get from having HMRC breathing down your neck. The main cause for delays is either incompetence in getting the forms submitted on time, […]
Continue reading
‘Cash is king’ for SME’s and all companies need to employ best practice cash management policies. Based on my extensive experience as a part time Finance Director, I offer the following key practical tips: Cash planning Ensure that a cash flow forecast is updated regularly (daily/monthly/weekly) – it can be a simple excel spreadsheet for […]
Continue reading
‘The best-laid schemes o’ mice an’ men, gang aft agley.’ Or, as Robert Burns might have written in more standard English, ‘often go awry’. The poet neatly summarises the central idea of risk management: we know that things will go wrong, but not precisely what or when. The discipline is to identify in advance the […]
Continue reading
The reality of business today is that organisations are much more widely dispersed. Even smaller organisations might operate from multiple sites that make justifiable business sense. Whilst there may be good reasons for having staff dispersed, people management becomes more of a challenge for those leaders that that have responsibility for performance and development. For […]
Continue reading