Sam McQuade CFO discussing interim CFO benefits for AI in 2023: Periods of Restructuring: Restructuring a company requires in-depth knowledge of processes (see above), an ability to assess how to optimize capital structure, and an understanding of cost optimization and cash flows. During a restructuring, CFOs must detach from the established norms of the business and help reorganize activities and finances toward the new vision. Filling a Leadership Vacuum: It is common during leveraged buyout (LBO) processes to change the companies’ management structure. A CFO may resign during these times, or investors may look to start a clean slate and appoint their chosen figurehead. Such events may result in a period of flux between appointments. It may be necessary to have an interim figure to keep the business on an even keel and start implementing new strategies. The hiring process for a critical position like a CFO can take up to a year. Plugging an experienced fractional CFO into the role can be done relatively swiftly and provides invaluable flexibility and optionality for business owners.
?Is A Fractional CFO Worth It? Startups can get overwhelmed with managing their finances on top of other responsibilities. Accurate, real-time financial data and strategic financial insights can mean the difference between make-or-break decisions. But, an in-house finance team with a CFO comes with a price tag of hundreds of thousands of dollars in salaries and benefits. A fractional CFO for startups provides the insight, expertise, and resources needed to keep your finances in order without needing a full-time team or a significant financial commitment. With their full range of services, you can rest assured that your finances are in capable hands. See even more information at Sam McQuade CFO of Panterra Finance.
Searching to hire your first CFO or need interim coverage? We provide CFOs for urgent short term objectives and longer term engagements. Customizable with transparent pricing so you cover your business and don’t have to get into a potentially very bad and expensive full time hire. Sam McQuade CFO has successfully scaled his decades old ideas into an innovative full-service Financial Partner Solution for incubators, startups, emerging business concepts as well as well-established international companies, corporations and organizations with the introduction of Panterra Finance. The Panterra Finance professional executive team members are equipped to provide an industry leading concept of an on demand Fractional CFO and Interim CFO during pivotal transitions.
The CFO is the top ranking executive related to managing a company’s finances. This includes managing all aspects of financial and cash flow planning, as well as analyzing its financial position. A CFO is comparable to a treasurer or controller. However, unlike a controller or accountant, a CFO is responsible for financial planning, while the other two are in charge of bookkeeping and the company’s financial statements. Big public companies may have defined the CFO role, but the chief financial officer position is becoming increasingly common in midsize and even small firms. Recent postings for full-time CFOs on job-search sites include an emerging air mobility design and manufacturing company in Massachusetts with fewer than 20 employees and a 94-bed community hospital in Hawaii.
The CFO helps select skilled staff for the finance team and works with departments to allocate budget for human capital management. CFOs put complex data — current, past and predicted financial results — in perspective and help the CEO make sound financial decisions: Should we introduce this new product or service? Can we afford to on-shore our supply chain? What are the tax implications of our employees working from anywhere?
Another purpose of a DAO is to automate decision-making. In a traditional organization, decisions are made by a small group of people. This can often lead to delays in decision-making. With a DAO, decisions are made by the code that governs the organization. This makes it much faster and easier to make decisions. In business environments, it frees up space for people to focus on other things. It has opened up opportunities for more decision-makers to get involved in the governance of a DAO. The most notable example is the MakerDAO, which is a decentralized autonomous organization that governs the Dai stablecoin. The MakerDAO has a voting system that allows anyone to participate in the governance of the organization.
Are you looking to expand your business overseas? Our experts are able to help you at any stage. We will first start by understanding your vision and global tax and cash strategy. Once aligned, we will help execute the financial, legal, compliance and talent solution activities to build your entity and team.
A lot of our clients at Panterra Finance ask us about DAOs, what they are, and how they work. So we thought it would be helpful to write a blog post explaining them. Before getting into DAO, a brief few things about blockchain. A blockchain is a decentralized and distributed digital ledger that records transactions on many computers so that the record cannot be altered retroactively without the alteration of all subsequent blocks and the collusion of the network. Sounds complicated? Let’s take an example to understand this better. Suppose there are two people, A and B, who want to transact with each other. A wants to buy a product from B worth $100. In the old way of transacting, A would hand over the $100 to B, and B would hand over the product to A. This process is called ‘centralized’ because there is one central entity, in our case, a bank or PayPal, through which both parties have to go through to complete the transaction.
A full-time CFO may be a luxury few small businesses can justify. A feasible and recommended alternative to a full-time resource is a fractional CFO. This has the advantage of bringing a senior-level financial expert to the table but at a fraction the cost of a full-time resource. A fractional arrangement can work well indefinitely, and right up until a full-time CFO is needed. By basing key business decisions on relevant and accurate financial information, the business owner can avoid costly mistakes and reduce the risk of loss. Key decisions include those about financing the business, expansion or downsizing, whether to enter a new market or produce a new product; make or buy decisions and capital investments, to name a few.
Vision, Roadmaps and Business Plans are typically good collaboration processes, however alignment on meaningful strategy is driven by relationships and the CFO cannot over-communicate in this area. In an era of “greenwashing”, the CFO has a real opportunity to lead since success will ultimately be measured with scorecards and transparency. Sharing the Sustainable Story with financial support is the most credible way for stakeholders to see progress.
Smaller companies, incubators and startups could not match the salaries that the full time CFO commanded on the world financial stage. The seeds for the concept of an Interim or Fractional CFO were planted in the mind of Sam McQuade almost 3 decades ago when he first entered the world of International Finance as an Entrepreneur Consultant in Geneva Switzerland after achieving his MBA/MA at European University. During this tumultuous time at the turn of the century on the international financial scene, Mr. McQuade was ahead of his time. He offered as needed financial consultation services for international behemoths the Swiss based Nestle Corporation and the US based medical device corporation Stryker. The focus of his services, which would years later be foundational in the concepts of Panterra was a new model in product development, manufacturing and marketing. See extra details on Sam McQuade.
Fractional CFOs can help companies: Develop existing employees and hire new ones that bring essential knowledge and skills; Implement systems that will support sustainable growth; Improve visibility and analytical capabilities to convert large amounts of data into actionable information; Explore causes of revenue leakage, cost overruns, and operational friction in a growing business and develop potential solutions. A fractional CFO is also often brought into an organization to help achieve a particular goal, such as raising capital or preparing for a sale, merger, or acquisition. Most fractional CFOs have helped raise hundreds of millions of dollars of debt and equity funding for multiple companies, and have helped oversee a number of mergers and acquisitions.
