When your business gets to a certain size, hiring your own finance manager goes from being a luxury to a necessity. Finance managers are critical for the smooth growth and profitability of a larger business, and they are one of the reasons larger businesses thrive the way they do. But did you know that you don’t have to wait until you reach that size to hire one? That you could, in fact, gain all of those benefits as a smaller business, and without spending a small fortune hiring someone in-house? An outsourced finance manager is the perfect solution for businesses who want to get ahead and accelerate their growth in the most efficient way possible. Here are just 4 reasons you should consider using an outsourced finance manager this year.
Make informed decisions about your business
When you’re running the business, you want to make the best decisions possible at every stage. But that can be a challenging thing, particularly with the future looking as uncertain as it is now. Having a finance director on your side can help hugely here, as they can pull together a wide range of information for you to base your decisions on, in a format that is easy to interpret and understand. This allows you to make important decisions about your business based on financial facts. Something as simple as having an up to date set of management accounts can give you a huge amount of confidence in your decisions and some solid facts to work with – so you have a clearer understanding of the implications of your decisions before you make them. It’s by no means fool proof, but it gives you the best odds possible.
Access to expertise (without the price tag)
Finance is by no means a simple industry. It’s one of the reasons almost all businesses will hire dedicated finance staff or teams – because they need people whose expertise is numbers, and not necessarily what the business does. An outsourced finance manager is an expert in finance, which means by hiring one you are getting unique access to expertise you would otherwise struggle with. And because outsourcing is cheaper than hiring internally (we talk about that in a second), you don’t have to worry about the hefty price tag that goes with the best industry knowledge. They will also be up to date on the latest financial trends, business practices and governmental requirements and changes, which means you do not need to worry about investing time into learning about them yourself, and instead can just focus on ensuring you use that information in the best way.
Cut your costs
One of the main reasons businesses wait to hire a finance manager is that it can be quite costly. It’s a position that requires a lot of expertise, and that comes with a price tag. But using an outsourced finance manager removes a lot of these costs, and you only pay for the time you use. Outsourcing, when done properly, almost always decreases costs, since you don’t have to pay things like sick pay, holidays or pensions, and it removes the need for a lot of the overheads of an internal employee. So you can get all of the expertise and benefits without the extra cost.
Not only that, but some of the functions a finance manager performs can really help a small business when it comes to cutting costs across the business. For example, management accounts allow you to review your businesses operations and resources from a bird-eye level, and really understand the cost of doing business the way you are. Management accounts will clearly spell out the cost of producing goods and services, which means you can look into cheaper raw materials or negotiate more effectively with suppliers to bring your total costs down – and your profits up.
Free up your time
As a business owner you have a lot of plates to keep spinning at once. And unless you happen to be an accountant, finance is probably one of the last things you want to deal with in your business. But deal with it you must, because without good financial foundations your business will quickly cease to be. Hiring an outsourced finance manager frees up your time and energy to focus on providing your business function, spend time on your core business and generate profit. All while knowing that the financial details are being handled by an expert.
At Purple Lime, we understand that it can take some businesses a long time to need a full-time finance director in-house. However, every business can benefit from some specialist advice when it comes to financial strategy, which is where an outsourced finance manager can be the perfect fit. We provide a range of services under our outsourced finance manager function, including a finance director service, business planning and forecasting, board management and meeting attendance and more. If you would like to know more, follow this link or please get in touch by emailing hello@purplelime.uk.com or calling us on 01249 263 333.