Business owners often lament the lack of proactive problem-solving and a sounding board for key business decisions, despite having accountants or bookkeepers to keep financials up to date.

This is a common complaint we hear at Lumos Advisory FZ-LLC with prospective clients.

When we ask them to explain, they say finance department often waits for business owners to sound the alarm rather than proactively and pre-emptively identify problems and find solutions. This often stems from the finance staff lacking adequate skill set to:

1. put together a comprehensive policy and procedures document with robust internal controls ensuring checks and balances,

2. deep dive into business analysis (e.g., understanding drivers of unit economics, performing breakeven analysis by service or product), 

3. build carefully planned budgets, and construct a detailed cash flow forecast, 

4. have a proper Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) benchmarking for key operational and financial metrics, and 

5. consistently track performance against budget, perform a variance analysis and reflect revisions in assumptions to align the budgets with reality.

This indicates a clear VOID in Financial Planning Analysis and Controls (FPAC) in most SME businesses. While hiring a Senior Finance Director or CFO may be worth the chance, SME clients lack the budget for such full-time roles. Business owners say, “why incur such high costs that the business cannot justify”. We concur, however THERE IS A VIABLE OPTION THAT COULD WORK. “Have you ever considered fractional or outsourced CFOs?”

Why one may ask – the answer is simple. We consider an outsourced or fractional CFO as a strategic thought partner that analyses trends, forecasts budget and cash flows, evaluates investment opportunities, optimises growth strategies, and strengthens performance. SMEs must harness financial data and turn them into actionable insights. An outsourced or fractional CFO helps business owners make confident, well-informed decisions about prudently allocating capital, effectively managing and mitigating risks, and profitably scaling operations. They challenge status quo, ask uncomfortable questions, and integrate financial planning with long-term strategy, providing clarity, control, and strategic direction to the business owners as needed. 

We at Lumos Advisory LLC FZ Advisory FZ-LLC aim to be a strategic thought partner to our SME clients and guide them every step of the way, so that owners can transition to “work on the business, not in the business".

Introduce Lumos Advisory LLC FZ Advisory FZ-LLC to any business owner who needs a fresh viewpoint and value.

#fractionalCFO #outsourcedcfo