As is the premise, accounting and finance division’s form the backbone & nerve center of any organization regardless of size, type, nature of businesses, and has a significant contribution in managing core financial decision-making, providing strategic direction to corporations, facilitate hiring, computing taxes and ensuring robust book-keeping practices are adhered as per prevailing regulatory requirements, while supporting day to day operations(Ey.com. (2018).

Given, the pace of technological advancements, traditional practices within the accounting industry are making way to accommodate better alternatives in areas related to smarter cloud-based accounting, payroll technology systems that ensures better data security, flexibility, credibility and greater accuracy from audit and taxation perspective, as organizations consider cloud-based systems purely because its cost effective, eliminates errors and is high on efficiency.(Summitcpa.net, 2018)

Never before has the role of a CFO been under such intense debate both internally and externally, as the pressure to manage costs, promote savings, design strategies to maximize revenues, ensure better financial control under an otherwise constantly challenging economic and business climate, heightened regulatory oversights and greater investor expectations has literally resulted in increased CFO visibility, while also quick attritions. (The-financedirector.com, 2018)

Enter the Virtual CFO [VCFO], and the immediate question? …Is this for Real? Yes…. Well, Corporates & SME owners have always had one challenge on hand. “time to track finances”, so except for controlling cash outflows and inspecting random invoices, the core aspect of monitoring budgets / taxes, preparing forecasting analysis and developing financial models to view the big picture are generally postponed….this is where ongoing financial advice is required, so the big fat question is, would an in-house CFO be productive and more informative as opposed to a VCFO? (Smart Company, 2018). Again, it largely depends on the size of operations and business requirements.

Here’s a look at the new age ‘outsourced CFO’ or ‘Virtual CFO’ when compared to an In-house CFO. The capability to cope with financial challenges is sometimes restricted to the expertise, experience and knowledge of an In-house CFO, while a VCFO is far more economical, supremely efficient, given that their ‘services involve highly skilled financial experts’ known for offering a boutique of financial assistance to any organization. Ey.com. (2018)

So, if you are an organization that is considering flexibility or some well-trained accountants to handle complex financial challenges, increase the productivity of your business, develop better business & operational intelligence on the strength of ‘fact-based decision-making’ either when investing or raising capital, VCFO would be an excellent strategic investment(Balog + Tamburri – CPAs, 2018)

Post by Dr Raman

References
1. Ey.com. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.ey.com/Publication/vwLUAssets/EY-virtual-cfo/$FILE/EY-virtual-cfo.pdf [Accessed 26 Dec. 2018].

2. Summitcpa.net. (2018). [online] Available at: https://www.summitcpa.net/hubfs/Virtual_CFO_Intro_Guide.pdf [Accessed 26 Dec. 2018].

3. Aristotle Consultancy. (2018). Virtual CFO or In-House CFO- Which is Better? – Aristotle Consultancy. [online] Available at: http://aristotleconsultancy.com/blog/better-virtual-cfo-house-cfo/ [Accessed 26 Dec. 2018].

4. Balog + Tamburri – CPAs. (2018). Virtual CFO – CPAs – Balog + Tamburri – Atlanta, Jacksonville, St. Aug. [online] Available at: http://flgacpa.com/virtual-cfo/ [Accessed 26 Dec. 2018].

5. The-financedirector.com. (2018). Make Way for the Virtual CFO – Finance Director Europe. [online] Available at: http://www.the-financedirector.com/features/feature40638/ [Accessed 26 Dec. 2018].

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