What does the term CFO Consulting really mean? As I have found over the last while, it means different things to different people.
So for the sake of clarity, this is what it means (and doesn’t mean) to me.
CFO Consulting is:
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Working with CFOs to help them be a better CFO for the company they are working for, through
- Executive Coaching – helping them become a more capable and effective CFO.
- Training & Development – teaching to and increasing the knowledge, skills and abilities of the CFO.
- Talent Management – providing CFOs with all the processes necessary for a more efficient and effective Finance team – including Talent Assessment, Talent Planning, Talent Succession for the entire the finance group or for specific individuals within finance.
CFO Consulting is not:
- Interim CFO
- Part-time CFO
- CFO Career Coaching
Personally, I find Career Coaching for CFOs to be a needed and valuable service to those senior finance executives who need to plan their career. One such person that offers these services is Cindy Kraft (CFO Coach). She does an excellent job and I highly recommend her.
I’m not knocking those who work delivering Interim CFO or Part-time CFO. At one point in my career, I used to deliver Interim CFO and Part-time CFO services, so I do understand what is involved. There are many good companies and individuals that offer these services. My only issue is that calling these services “Consulting” is not appropriate. Calling them CFO Services is a better name for it.
This is my point of view. What is yours?
Thanks for the mention, Samuel!
Samuel, I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of what CFO consulting is and is not.
The problem is, the public at large doesn’t know the difference, and really doesn’t have a basis or any other metric to discern such differentiation, especially smaller mom-and-pop and “adolescent” stage businesses. If an interim CFO were to solicit CFO services to one of these businesses, they would automatically interpret such services as “consulting”, or at a minimum, deluxe CPA firm services.
The problem here is that CFO services are still largely unheard of as a whole, much less CFO consulting. However, I predict that by the end of the decade, the business community, large and small will be much more familiar with such services, and thus will probably be better able to discern the two, but the “CFO for small business” concept is currently still in its infancy, and probably will be for quite some time, so CFO consulting defined as an interim CFO will probably prevail for the time being. Kudos to you however for at least attempting to nip this in the bud. In any event, we’ll see how this plays out.
Jason
Thank you for sharing your thoughtful insights on the subject.
The good news is that more companies than ever are taking advantage of “CFO Services”. 10 years ago the concept was novel. Today the concept is proven. And, as you say, in 10 years from now, “CFO Services” for smaller businesses will be more common.
The reasons for my post were twofold. Frist was to clear up the discrepancy of what “CFO Consulting” means. Second was to identify that CFOs need help in accomplishing their goals, and that while many service providers are trying to sell them “solutions”, no one is saying to the CFO “Hey, I understand you, and I’m here to help”. That is the essence of what I am trying to accomplish with CFO Consulting.
Thanks again Jason,
Samuel
Greeting from Malaysia
Finally found a group of fellow having the same thoughts and passions.
I have been promoting my CFO services and as expected, mostly first question being asked is want is CFO..
For those people having a hard time to understand, I opt to say business consulting … Focusing on financial related matters
Regards