Its now almost 3 years since The CFO Centre have been associated with our company. During this period they have provided valuable support to the company, at times beyond the
standard call of duty.
Their supporting attitude & willingness to walk the extra mile, is a valued trait, which I am sure all their clients will readily acknowledge and appreciate.
As it happens in the growth journey of any typical start up, the role definition and requirements from key management personnel keeps evolving over the initial few years. During this period, the company is rapidly expanding, and also chartering into unknown territories. At times even the requisite skill sets to manage the tasks in hand changes. Managers and advisors who can keep adding value as the company keeps growing, are of immense value.
To their credit, they have been able to manage these transitions very effectively, and thus we have been able to extend the association over the last so many years. I can foresee the association to continue for next 2 to 3 years easily, even tough our needs will evolve much beyond todays scope of work.
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Three of us started this business in Jan 2014. Like a typical start up, at the initial stage, we had a good in-house accountant who was able to take care of basic accounting functions. However, we were a fast growing business, and had very clear vision of our medium and long term goals & requirements.
We were feeling the gap of having a CFO on board, but due to constraints, and also being able to have enough to do for a full time CFO, we were at a catch 22 situation. We wanted the skills sets of a CFO coming from a Corporate sector, yet we didn’t have enough to offer. The initial reasons for bringing in an CFO were to bring that experience, that management and oversight role to the in house finance function. We needed to sharpen our financial analysis in order to grow and meet our ambitious plans for the future. Also to make sure that our basic processors were doing what they should be doing.
Actually we were looking for a “part time CFO” who will think like a “Full time CFO” for the company….
I did some bit of search on Google and came across the firm called “CFO Centre”. Found that they were offering a solution, which probably best meets our requirement. And we got talking… and closed the deal over one meeting & few phone calls thereafter !
We chose CFO Centre because of the depth of their network and the success it has achieved all over the world. We are really happy with the decision as Rajarshi (the CFO from their panel ) has provided us the confidence to take aggressive /key decisions. He had to initially spend time to clean up our accounts but post that we are on track. He has set up processes, tightened our internal controls and have also streamlined our cash flows . His greater value is in the strategic advice, the analysis of the management accounts and the way he interacts with the other directors. .We had an initial contract for an year but we have no extended the contract for one more year . Having Rajarshi on board strengthens our belief on the growth of the business.
I would heartily recommend taking on a part-time CFO from CFO Centre. I would say that businesses ought to be specific about what they want, obviously choose the right individual and it will definitely benefit your business in the long run.
If you look at the headline cost they can seem high initially. However when you look at a value a part time CFO brings and the low risk attached to it, I think most businesses will find they can get immediate returns on their money spent.
Sanjoy Chakrabarty
CEO- Founder
Graphene Media P Ltd
