Scaling in 2024? CFOs, You Need This ➡️

As your business grows, so do operational demands. As a finance leader, you likely feel the heat when ramping up to satisfy those increasing needs. 

But investing in new resources brings the company additional risk, especially in times of economic uncertainty (like today). How do you strike the right balance between prioritization, creating operational efficiencies, and hiring?

With over a dozen acquisitions in his portfolio and having led many finance teams through periods of high growth, Andy Young, CFO at Horwich Farrelly, joined us on the latest episode of The CFO Show to talk about how you can scale up efficiently while also satisfying demands and avoiding employee overwhelm.

Time to take on your risk intolerance

Being brave in the job may seem like a strange requirement for a finance leader, especially when taking risks isn’t part of the training. 

No matter how scaling happens — organically or through an acquisition — risks are impossible to avoid. Often, CFOs can spend so much time planning, forecasting and delaying change that they ultimately cost the company the benefits they could have achieved otherwise.

Want to protect operations as much as possible and enjoy the benefits of scaling? 

➡️ Don’t fear the change
➡️ Prepare for what you can, jump in quick
➡️ Don’t trade progression for planning — learn and iterate along the way
➡️ Understand you can’t plan for everything and there will be surprises

Build a lean, specialized team focused on the acquisition

Navigating change requires a specialized team that is adaptable, flexible and knowledgeable. These people should be well-versed in procedures and can shift tasks when needed.

According to Andy, it’s more beneficial to build a team dedicated to the acquisition and jump into integration full force. Once an acquisition is completely integrated, these individuals can be shifted back to their regular roles and teams.

Prioritize, prioritize, prioritize

When your operational demands increase by 100%, it doesn’t mean you have to increase your team by 100%. That wouldn’t be efficient or profitable. As your business scales, getting the help you need when you need it at the proper scale is likely difficult. 

The solution? Prioritization.

Treat your operations as a triage. Handle the most important tasks first, and if you can, put the least important on hold temporarily. Help can come in later to help catch up on the low-priority backlog. And who knows — you might just identify antiquated processes you can toss out the door permanently.

With the right prioritization, constraint can work for you. 

Become a master at change management

Managing change in finance requires both large and small-scale focus. At times, it will feel like things aren’t working. Hang in there — tides will change. 

In the meantime, you have to become a master at change management. To do that, you have to:

➡️ Let your people know they aren’t alone
➡️ Work with your people, not from the other side of a desk
➡️ Foster a culture of problem-solving, not finger-pointing
➡️ Make your ‘why’ behind changes crystal clear

You can start by communicating with teams and leaders in a way they can understand and retain. Until you master this communication, you cannot successfully be a better business partner. 

In case you missed it…

Startups in highly regulated industries have to strike a tough balance — keeping operations both lean and compliant. Sruthi Lanka, CFO at Public.com, joined The CFO Show to share what it takes to fortify your organization against unforeseen risk management challenges with an in-depth look at Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) and internal controls.

What’s next…

The decision to take a company public cannot be made overnight. A company that has its sights set on going through an IPO needs to be doing several things in advance to prepare for the possibility. In the next episode, we are joined by Donna Dellomo, Senior Strategic Advisor for Lovesac, to break down what a CFO needs to do in the initial step of preparing for an IPO.