Managing Through Economic Uncertainty With The Help Of Credo’s Fractional Cfo

By Author: Mary Rose Somera
Total Articles: 94
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When it comes to specific financial matters, entrepreneurs frequently rely on their external accountant as their primary financial advisor. Even while your relationship with your independent accountant is of the utmost importance, it might not provide sufficient resources to deal with a big economic disruption such as a deep recession.

As a fractional CFO, Credo can help you go over your quarterly goals and metrics to make sure they are just right for the uncertain economic times ahead. In spite of the fact that they will still be in line with your long-term objectives, your short-term objectives can be modified so that the emphasis is placed on the short-term successes that are necessary for riding out a storm.

Growth Metrics

Metrics for growth can be changed so that getting new customers doesn’t matter as much. For instance, advertising costs could be cut by putting team members in charge of creating organic content and cold-calling campaigns. During times of economic turmoil, another approach could be to spend more time with existing clients and deepen relationships.

Workforce Goals

Your ...
... goals for your workforce can also be changed. Sometimes, high-cost structures like salaries can be changed to focus on variable pay like production incentives or short-term bonuses based on non-financial metrics like quality or learning. As an alternative to layoffs, you could offer temporary vacation extensions or leaves of absence.

Goals for Innovation

The goals for innovation can be changed from making long-term, disruptive products to making internal process improvements that improve products and services that already exist. For example, instead of putting a high priority on a new go-to-market strategy, make sure that the products you’re sending to your current customers have great customer experience features, like after-sale service.

Business Strategy

Your CFO should work with you to re-evaluate your business strategy and make sure you add as much flexibility as possible while staying focused on results that are good for both your customers and your employees. This is where a part-time CFO can add a lot of value, but it requires more skills than a controller for example.

The CEO’s top-of-house objectives shouldn’t be changed to deal with short-term recessionary pressures. Nevertheless, you should revisit your quarterly goals in light of the current situation. As a fractional CFO, Credo can work with you to make sure you’re thinking creatively about how to prepare for possible storms in the future. When you work with Credo CFOs, you can be certain that that you are investing in the agility and adaptability of your business.