Outsourced CFO Services in Chicago, IL
For 36 years and running, Lewis CPAs helps businesses balance revenue with inputs, capital formation, and credit leveraging. Historically, these arts were the responsibility of a chief financial officer (CFO). Today, companies that can’t justify hiring a CFO can do likewise with CFO services for small business. Don’t worry, while we are Chicago-based, we help organizations all over the United States become more efficient, and thus, more profitable.
Get in Touch TodayExpert Outsourced Chief Financial Officer Solutions
A seasoned and savvy chief financial officer is a strength and comfort to any small business. Strength and comfort, however, often come with a sticker price beyond the company's financial capacity. Rather than employ a mediocre CFO, many enterprises bring in an outsourced or fractional CFO from the outside. In fact, outsourced CFO services are growing in reputation among businesses that carefully watch the bottom line. On any number of commercial fronts, utilizing CFO advisory services makes good sense.
For one thing, small business CFO services help to build a company's efficiency in the industry through the prompt payment, and collection, of bills and invoices. More than that, CFO consulting services can bolster in-house accounting staff with expertise and knowledge of best practices. This allows leaders to concentrate on strategy and overall vision. As an outsourced chief financial officer, Lewis CPA does not just review the books and ledgers. Instead, we examine organizational charts and workflow for a comprehensive knowledge of how the firm works.
With almost four decades of successfully meeting client expectations, Susan S. Lewis LTD. Is a resource on which business leaders come to depend.
How to Know You Need CFO Services
Maybe things are running smoothly with the staff you have. People are receiving their paychecks, no checks are bouncing, and you seem to have enough in the bank. Yet the present does not always indicate the future. By thinking more about the future and the future .of the organization, you can achieve great profits and more efficiency. Outsourced CFO services ensure better prospects by performing the following functions:
- Bringing 36 years of financial decision-making at the highest corporate levels
- Coupling a command of financial issues with the client's knowledge of the industry
- Tailoring our schedule to client needs, e.g., one day or multiple days
- Leaving the client the option to dissolve the relationship at any time
- Confirming a reliable yet adaptable cash flow
- Providing valuable advice, drawn from a huge pool of past clients, about raising capital, managing debt, and consolidating operations
Our Outsourced CFO Services
The tasks assumed by CFO services can be few or many, from clerical to advisory. Getting them done at affordable rates is a win-win for executives with many concerns and responsibilities.
Business Assessment and Strategy
We assist companies to determine optimal practices for financial management. Also, we tailor financial reporting regimes for each business. Moreover, we review insurance policies, helping negotiate premiums with providers. Finally, we appraise operations to discover and remedy duplication and waste. Services like this can pay for themselves as waste is easy to miss, especially if you don’t have a competent CFO who is checking for these issues.
Financial Reporting and KPIs
Scrutinizing transactions helps to understand what a company requires to do business. Plus, careful examination discerns where improvements will be effective. Looking at each fiscal period brings previously unseen trends to light. Other activities include budget creation, forecasting, and comparisons of plans versus executions. We strive to make key performance indicators (KPIs) move in a positive direction.
Strategic Planning
A CFO consulting service can afford business leadership more than evaluate operations and improve productivity. We can also aid in moving a company toward its stated vision with a fresh perspective.
Creation of Management Reports
When management meets with investors to update them on key performance indicators, CFO services will prepare the necessary reports and even develop systems so that this information is revised more frequently. CFO advisory services personnel are present at such meetings upon request. In no way do they usurp the executive direction of these meetings.
Forecasting and Budget Preparation
Prophecies are only worthwhile if they come true. We have a record of projecting company performance in terms of months, quarters, and years. Always starting with the goal in mind, we keep assumptions to a bare minimum and consider multiple scenarios when predicting.
Finance Optimization and Transformation
Serious business leaders think about earning more while spending less. When Lewis CPAs make a top-down evaluation, we do so with the intent of finding out which processes and functions excel and which need revision. Profits grow when we streamline performance.
Forecasting and Budget Preparation
Prophecies are only worthwhile if they come true. We have a record of projecting company performance in terms of months, quarters, and years. Always starting with the goal in mind, we keep assumptions to a bare minimum and consider multiple scenarios when predicting.
If your company needs financial reinvigoration from the best outsourced CFO services, contact us today: (630) 552-6531.
Benefits of an Outsourced CFO
Saving Money
As noted above, a competent CFO who knows the ropes does not come cheap. Finding outsourced CFO services that work according to the client's budget and need costs less. Since the client directs the number of hours worked and the specific tasks to address, funds are directed per the parameters set.
The Value of Time
The office has an odd but irresistible way of pulling people off task, i.e., out of their lane, so to speak. Employing an outsourced CFO service keeps the work of financial supervision on point and on time, without distractions or diversions. In this way, financial matters consume fewer hours for fewer dollars.
Confidentiality and Security
Often, financial issues are sensitive and need only a small circle to have awareness of them. This is easier done when financial decisions and transactions are made apart from company staffers, who inevitably hear or see details they are not authorized to know.
Handling Large-Scale Transactions
When a firm is engaged in a major financial move, for example, a merger, it is all hands on deck with regard to the top-tier executives. Hiring CFO professional services brings assurance that the daily accounting and reporting will not get neglected in the process.
Tailored CFO Services for Your Business
Financial management is rarely a one-size-fits-all endeavor. It looks different among the diverse businesses to which it applies. This is why CFO services must be flexible, so they are ready to adapt to a range of businesses.
CFOs in retail know this: Retail accounting is distinct from other enterprises because it places a value on an inventory's retail sale value as opposed to the wholesale purchase value. This fact, and other details, affect the approach we take.
Lawyers want to practice law, not crunch numbers. Many specifics demarcate law firm finances from other businesses. Financial stewards must know that no interest can apply to funds being held in a trust, for example.
Home builders and commercial construction businesses are project-based. This means they measure profit per job. This could be one building or development. Materials cost and taxes are common issues demanding expertise.
Because non-profit organizations have multiple donors and finance sources, they often keep multiple sets of ledgers, whereas for-profit companies maintain one general ledger. Knowing retail particulars is especially essential at tax time.
Why Outsource Cash Flow Management to Us?
Lewis.cpa understands the pressures and opportunities inherent in operating a small business. Knowledge, fit, and effectiveness are the hallmarks of our services.
Proficiency
Adaptability
Results
Flexibility
Client Reviews
IRS Tax Audit Representation FAQs
What Are CFO Services?
CFO services are many and various. Above all, managing and improving cash flow is the priority. Yet these services also involve financial planning, reducing debt, utilizing credit, analyzing company operations, and forecasting future earnings. Recommendations and consultancy also compose the many roles of a CFO.
How Much Do CFO Services Cost?
We can do a few things or many things to maintain or improve the financial health of a small business. On the one hand, typical accounts payable and receivable functions, payroll administration, and general bookkeeping are routine roles we fill every day. On the other hand, we perform forecasting and advisory jobs for clients seeking to expand their enterprises. So, costs vary, but we are confident we can save your business money in the long run.
Ready to Start?
If the financial side of the business needs to be set in order or is consuming too much time, you may consider relying on outsourced CFO services. Lewis.cpa can serve as an occasional aid during crunch time or as a long-term partner, helping you to reach the profit level that assures your company a stable future.