As the devastating effects of the ‘twin crisis’ unfold before our very eyes, thousands of CFO’s will find themselves working remotely to start with and as many businesses are forced to cut costs, eventually many will be reduced to part time (or even let go).
If a company can survive the biggest crisis in it’s life with a Virtual part-time CFO, they won’t ever go back to a full-time internal CFO.
In other words, full-time Joe (or Jo) (because of the crisis and through no fault of their own) will become part-time Joe.
Many of these CFO’s will have comprehensive educational backgrounds, top tier qualifications and an average of 25 years of corporate industry experience. Top shelf people who know their jam and have lots to offer. Far from feeling threatened or looking to benefit from someone else’s misfortune, the Association of Virtual CFO members feel for anyone that’s been affected by this twin crisis. We are reaching out to offer you comfort and a place to find support amongst like- minded professionals.
And whilst it’s going to be tough to do anything in the coming weeks (and maybe months) the first thing part-time Joe is going to do is look to become full-time Joe again.
Joe is either going to need to leave the part-time job and find a full-time job, or add another (or several other) small client to their book. If in becoming full-time Joe again, they take the route of having a small portfolio of clients, by default Joe will have become by definition a Virtual CFO.
Whilst 2 weeks ago, full-time Joe may have never imagined being in this position, by now it’s fast starting to sink in that this is the ‘new normal’.
But the experience we’ve seen hundreds of Virtual CFO’s go through over the past 6 or 7 years have is that at the start, until you have clients and a track record of running your own business, it’s been hard to win clients. We’ve seen some very capable people give it a go, but things still haven’t worked out for them in the end. Capability and qualifications aren’t enough on their own.
Clients want comfort that if Joe gets run over by a bus that someone else will pick up the pieces.
Clients are also going to have plenty of Joe’s to pick from. It’s sad but it’s happening, every day I see a message or hear about someone that been effected. If you haven’t been yet, fingers crossed you don’t.
Collectively, amongst our elite peer network, The Association of Virtual CFO’s have over 500 years of industry experience spread across over more than 20 industry verticals.
We cover more ground and dig deeper than any other organisation in the country and our aim is to recognised as the mark of quality within the Virtual CFO sector
This gives our members a very compelling point of difference in the market and provides comfort for clients.
We are also the only group whose sole focus is to advance the emerging Virtual CFO sector within the accounting profession. Together our members ‘never walk alone’.
Think about this, if part-time Joe is pitching for the same client against an Association of VCFO member of identical capabilities, ceteris paribus – who do you think gets the client?
David Dillon is a Fellow of CPA and CA, has an MBA and over 30 years of corporate experience. He has been the Managing Director of Custodian Backoffice, a specialist Virtual CFO business since 2014. He is also a committee member of the Virtual CFO Association + Author of “3-Levers” https://mailchi.mp/1453761b50c9/cfy6cguw3u “Profit Metrics” and e-book “So, you want to be a Virtual CFO” https://vcfoassociation.com.au/so-you-want-to-be-a-virtual-cfo/