Financial Infrastructure 360º
A comprehensive foundation for growing and scaling your business.
Certain systems within your organization keep everything running smoothly, yet they often go unnoticed until they break. These systems are the foundation of your company. They create efficiencies and empower you and your team to do the fundamental work of running the business, interacting with customers, and closing deals.
At The CEO’s Right Hand, we refer to this as your financial infrastructure – the foundation that keeps your company’s economy healthy. It is one of the first things we look at when a client engages us for fractional CFO services because problems with your financial infrastructure can have wide-ranging effects on your financial stability. We examine each system that affects your organization’s efficiency to identify issues that inhibit your ability to grow and scale. Then we work with your executive team to explore, recommend, and implement solutions. Below are some common areas of focus:
Human
Capital
Identify talent gaps and prioritize your hiring plans while also refining your organizational structure, compensation and motivational strategies, and reporting mechanisms.
Technology
Solutions
Ensure that you have the right finance, accounting, and operational systems to grow and scale your business. Move away from siloed technologies in favor of integration.
Data
Management
Examine the accuracy and timeliness of your data collection activities and implement any necessary changes to ensure that your data is clear, concise, and trustworthy.
Policy
Development
Clarify expectations and avoid audit problems with written guidance for travel, entertainment, customer interactions, accounting, manufacturing, and inventory management.
Procedures and
Processes
Document your methods for managing finances, onboarding new customers, and hiring and training critical staff to ensure that your entire team knows what to do and when.
Internal and
External Reporting
Create systems to support your reporting requirements so you can deliver timely and informative financial statements, KPI dashboards, newsletters, and annual reports to stakeholders.
Build a Strong Foundation to Grow and Scale with Confidence
Learn more about Financial Infrastructure 360°™! This resource contains everything you need to know, including real-life examples, details on each essential component, and a free self-assessment worksheet.
What to Expect from a Financial Infrastructure Assessment
Our mission is to help your company grow and scale. A financial infrastructure assessment is simply the first step toward accomplishing that goal. First, we clarify your objectives. Then we work with your staff to examine your data, processes, policies, reporting, and systems. Finally, we document our findings and present them to your executive team. We describe where you are today, where the opportunities lie, and our recommendations. Then, together, we identify and prioritize strategies for improvement.
At The CEO’s Right Hand, we offer a full range of strategic, financial, and operational services. We’ve built and sold our own companies, so we know what it takes to construct a desirable business and what it’s like to be in your shoes. Our services work together to help your organization move forward.
Schedule a free consultation today to learn more.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How do I know if my financial infrastructure can support my growth plans?
The best way to evaluate your financial infrastructure is to look at each function in light of your goals and plans. For instance, if your sales team successfully hits their numbers (effectively tripling your order volume), can your systems handle it? Can you meet the demand without increasing the number of mistakes or accidents? And will tripling your order volume mean you need to triple your workforce, or can you harness economies of scale?
Issues with your financial infrastructure, like a slow collection or payment process, will only become more troublesome as your business grows. So, it is best to identify and address problems early before they spin out of control.
What are the benefits of an improved financial infrastructure?
A well-designed financial infrastructure will be capable of handling swings in demand. That’s what building a scalable business is all about. The policies and procedures we put in place will make expectations clear, allowing you to spot any discrepancies as they occur (if not before). You will have a solid plan for hiring and onboarding new people and the ability to scale back quickly if there is an unanticipated shift in the economy. And finally, with up-to-date systems and strong data accuracy and reporting mechanisms, you will always have the insight you need to make decisions.
What is the difference between financial infrastructure and other types of infrastructure?
When examining your financial infrastructure, we focus on the elements of your business that are related to finance and accounting. In other words, the people, processes, and systems that affect your ability to run your business efficiently, fund operations, honor financial commitments, and track the economic health of your company.
Other infrastructures within your business, such as your sales, marketing, and product development functions, may fall outside our scope. However, we will explore any areas of overlap.
