This is part two of a seven-part series of tips for interim CFO’s at companies in the portfolio’s of private equity groups. These tips are intended for financial professionals who already have the skills and experience to be a successful CFO at a typical mid-market company. They specifically address the differences between being a CFO at a typical mid-market company and being an interim CFO at a growth-oriented mid-market company in the portfolio of private equity group.
Tip #2: Be the advance team
Picture yourself on the Starship Enterprise, about to be beamed down as a key member of an advance team whose mission it is to make the first contact with an alien planet. As the interim CFO, you need to be the advance team for the incoming permanent CFO and possibly also the incoming CEO, or other key employees.
- You need to determine the company’s top priorities. Do not assume the priority list Capt. Kirk gave you is complete. Do not disregard your instructions, but use your own judgment as well. Get as many of the top priorities completed as possible during your time and tee up the others for the incoming team. Make it so, Number One!
- Build a Starfleet Galactic Memory Bank. You need to obtain information and organize it in a way that will allow efficient access. Microsoft Sharepoint and Dropbox are two of the tools I recommend. You may need to dig to obtain the missing information. It may take you weeks or months to assemble and organize all the pertinent information (corporate documents, leases, contracts, tax records, employee files, sales history, etc.) but when you are done, the new team will have all it all at their fingertips. They will not appreciate you for it, but don’t take it personally. They didn’t fully appreciate Mr. Spock either, and he was awesome.
- Document things: the monthly close procedures, the GL structure, threats and opportunities, unfinished business, vendor assessments, etc., etc., etc. If you think your verbal instructions will be retained, you are sadly mistaken. The incoming team will be overloaded with new information and they will forget so much of what you tell them, you will wonder if you were speaking in Vulcan. Put it in writing. Keep a copy for yourself. Be prepared to refer to your own notes when they contact you with questions long after your mission is complete.
When you have determined the priorities, completed as many as possible, and organized the information that will allow the incoming team to hit the ground running, you can prepare to be beamed up.
The Middle Market CFO 