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Today's demanding business environment creates major strains on the financial organization in all companies, no matter the size. Qualified financial managers are either hard to find when needed or are sometimes overly stressed, hindering their ability to care for all their company's needs.
Owner-operators, private equity, health care and financial organizations experience some of the following:
• Interim or part-time CFO or controllership requirements
• Acquisition and divestiture analysis and implementation
• Product line profitability challenges
• Cost control and efficiency improvements needs
• Underperforming departments, branches or business segments
• Systems implementation and training programs
• Regulatory compliance
• Strategic planning challenges and solutions
• Lack of customer profit performance
• Key performance indicators and dashboard management techniques
• Rightsizing the organizational overheads
• Weak financial management
• Product cost and quote system improvement
• Inventory control procedures
• Process flow analysis and problem-solving
• Development of internal control procedures
• Hiring qualified financial managers
If some of these challenges sound like your organization, CFO Synergy map help with services such as:
Acting interim or part-time CFO
Smaller companies are faced with many of the challenges of larger companies but they cannot afford full time experienced CFO level talent due to the cost. In other situations, a company is without a CFO due to planned or unexpected turnover of staff.
CFO Synergy is ideally suited to fill these voids. With over 40 years of senior CFO expertise, clients can obtain immediate access to a qualified CFO either for a short period or for a longer but part-time appointment.
Building strategic customer and product portfolios
A common strategy aimed at selling everything possible for every possible customer has lead to the ruin of many technologically sound companies. A very common mistake is the idea that the company must sell to every possible customer whether it is profitable or not and that if we allow any competition to go unchecked they will expand to attack in the future.
At CFO Synergy, we have aided companies to focus on their profitable and core customers and products while exiting those peripheral customers and products that cannot be profitable. The focus requires solid financial cost analysis to identify areas where the real profits are generated and then action plans put in place to win the customers that generate the desired profits.
Acquisition integration services
After gruelling negotiations, a company is acquired but unfortunately, too many companies do not get the true benefit of the acquisition they thought they were getting. The problem is that expected integration savings and synergies are not implemented immediately after the transaction is completed.
CFO Synergy has programs aimed at the first 100 days after acquisition. The planning of each step of the first 100 days and the adherence to ensure the new company becomes one with the parent or owner is the largest and most critical task in a successful acquisition.
Establishment of cost management programs
Nearly every manager who has gone through a budgeted cost-cutting exercise has experienced the unrealistic expectations of doing the same or more work with fewer staff members. Simply speaking these exercises are nearly never successful and within short intervals, staff are rehired or temporary staff added to process necessary workloads.
To achieve lasting overhead cost reduction, activities must be changed and eliminated. Only then can budgets truly be reduced and lasting savings achieved. This technique has been called activity-based budgeting, zero-based budgeting and much more. Regardless of the names, the approach provides lasting cost savings that benefit the bottom line.
CFO Synergy has been active in cost management for over 20 years. All the techniques have been used to successfully control overhead costs. They can work if applied correctly.
Implementing systems and training
A change to new software systems can create turmoil in an otherwise stable company.
Unfortunately, software vendors or even corporate systems experts know so much about a system, that they do not understand the needs of the local staff person who is not familiar with what has to be done. Brief training courses often do not provide the user retention needed to successfully implement the systems.
CFO Synergy has experience in "real life" training seminars. Systems implementation seminars are geared to the specific needs of users to ensure a thorough understanding of the requirements, the processes and the benefits expected from a new system. Through careful tailoring of systems training, the chances of success exponentially increase.
Costing, quoting and sourcing decision systems
As businesses struggle with shrinking margins, the need for real and accurate costing becomes an essential characteristic for successfully quoting and managing programs. Effective systems and procedures are needed to manage quotes to customers, source from suppliers and measure costs. This will lead to increased profits and reversing problematic situations.
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CFO Synergy provides world class specialists in costing, quoting and sourcing systems. Some of the articles about Jim Smith describe the background and successes achieved through advanced cost management techniques.
"Real Life and Common Sense Ideas for today's Chief Financial People"