What separates a small business from a middle-market business? Join us as Brendan Anderson explains how a traditional finance function can be virtually almost absent from many small firms, but must eventually take root if a firm is to grow to into midsize.
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Small Firms vs Middle-Market Firms
“Small businesses lack good and timely financial statements … and this goes deeper than the monthly financial statements. It’s really about generating data that lets you and your management make good decisions. As businesses grow, entrepreneurs don’t always change the way in which they are operating the business, and it’s this lack of an operating system that distinguishes small business.”
Making Room for a CFO
“We feel that having a top-level financial person is imperative to growing businesses. This is easier said than done. First, most entrepreneurs don’t want to pay for this top-level person. What they fail to realize is that the top-level finance person contributes way beyond finance. They actually create massive time savings for the entrepreneur by driving data, and they question the direction of the company using real data. But what we find is that the entrepreneur often doesn’t want to be held accountable to the facts.”
Mentoring Round
Business Book Pick
The Great Game of Business, Expanded and Updated: The Only Sensible Way to Run a Company
