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Exploring the Roles, Responsibilities, and Advantages of a CFO for Businesses

Exploring the Roles, Responsibilities, and Advantages of a CFO for Businesses

Atlanta businesses have to navigate a diverse landscape of local, state, and federal tax laws and regulations. While businesses have many options regarding whom to hire to manage the company’s financial actions, hiring CFO services in Atlanta, GA, could be the best choice for the owners.

CFOs allow businesses to focus on their core competencies while they handle accounting, taxes, payrolls, and other financial tasks.

Roles and responsibilities of a CFO

A CFO plays a twofold role in a company. A CFO looks after finance and accounting-related work while acting as a strategic financial advisor to the CEO. Here are some major roles of a CFO:

  • Maintaining stable cash flow and meeting the revenue goals.
  • Advising the department heads and assisting them in revenue maximization and expense control while maintaining the company’s reputation.
  • CFOs also form a skilled finance team that works with other departments for budget allocation and human capital management.
  • A CFO helps the CEO by presenting complex financial data comprehensively to facilitate decision-making.

Apart from the roles mentioned above, a CFO has the following primary responsibilities as well:

  • Liquidity: CFOs are responsible for ensuring liquidity in the company. Liquidity refers to the company’s capability to pay off short-term liabilities, i.e., the liabilities that could come due within a year.
  • Return on Investment (ROI): CFOs calculate the return on each of the company’s investments, which is an essential KPI for any new project or product.
  • Forecasting: Financial forecasting is also a vital part of a CFO’s responsibility, which includes predicting the likely future financial outcomes based on the company’s past performance and various other macro and micro economic factors.
  • Reporting: A CFO is also responsible for preparing various financial reports, such as balance sheets and P&L account statements. These reports help stakeholders understand the company’s current financial position and make decisions accordingly. 

Benefits of hiring a CFO

A CFO plays a vital and critical role in any organization by bringing skills and experience to the table. While there are several benefits of hiring a CFO, the most prominent ones are as follows:

  • CFOs possess the leadership skills they can leverage to assemble an adequate finance and accounting team to meet the company’s needs.
  • CFOs bring along industry knowledge, which allows them to frame the KPIs and performance metrics to benchmark the company against the competitors.
  • A CFO’s experience may be useful when it comes to finding investment opportunities and using capital.
  • CFOs can assess the risks related to debts, liquidity, supply chain, etc., and propose corrective measures.