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Being decisive about when to hire a Virtual CFO for your firm or whether or not to hire one? Well, determining how to hire a virtual CFO has always been an overwhelming task for many organizations.

Knowing when to associate someone on the team to fill the Financial Officer role, how to get the best aspirant, and what to expect during and after the hiring procedure from the applicant are some of the complex concerns & decisions that weigh heavy on CEOs.

 What Is a Virtual Chief Financial Officer (VCFO)?

The term Virtual chief financial officer (VCFO) refers to a senior-level executive impeccable at governing the financial dealings of your company. They perform all the roles and responsibilities of the CFO of your company, but from a distance i.e., remotely. You can hire them on a project basis, part-time basis, or on special mergers or acquisitions you’re planning for.

The Virtual CFO acts as a treasure since they are responsible for managing the accounting & finance divisions of your company, analyzing strengths and weaknesses, recommending corrective actions, managing financial risks & mitigations, and ensuring that all the financial reports are accurate and finished on time.

When to hire a VCFO?

 When you’re wondering when to hire a VCFO for your organization, here are a few guiding questions to ask yourself to deal with such circumstances:

• Are you capable of securing and progressing ahead of a Series from an expansion and growth perspective without a VCFO?
• Would a current accountant be able to assist you with every smaller or bigger decision regarding your workflow and increased bandwidth?
• Do you have any know-how to model for future strategic planning based on previous evidence of the organization?
• Do you have complete knowledge of cash flow, profit, and loss, risk mitigation, forecasting, analyzing financial data, bottom line, etc.?

 The Hiring Procedure for CFO-

Once the role is specified and the degree of required industry exposure is determined, the process of hiring begins-

• Use an Executive Search Firm

Executive recruiting firms are accustomed to working with CEOs so they understand a CEO’s needs in their next VCFO. Furthermore, they gain far more expertise than anyone in the organization in interacting, interrogating, and examining the applicants, making the best choice for getting your organization’s next VCFO.

If you go with one of these firms, you don’t have to stress about looking through all the applicants. The firm does all the groundwork from posting and analyzing applications to administering interviews and working with you to choose the appropriate candidate for the VCFO position.

You must sanction their preference and complete the hiring process by having the selected candidate on board.

• Network with your Business Contacts

Networking is crucial to businesses since you get to interact with people having different skill sets and interests. Check through your contacts to look if anyone might be suitable for the role and connect with them to discuss the openings.

Let your business connections know that you’re looking to hire a CFO since they might know someone interested in grabbing the opportunity. 

• Freelancing Platforms

Outside of personal networking, there are numerous dedicated platforms available that provide you an opportunity to look out for candidates that suit your requirement for Virtual CFO profiles. The criteria they put up for you to evaluate candidates’ profiles include applicant reviews, particular workstream projects, skill specializations, and previous job experience.

The platforms you can consider include-

Fiverr

Upwork

Truelancer

Freelancer

• Word of Mouth/Recommendations

While there are numerous sites available to check for the desired application in the Virtual CFO industry, you can still use the word of mouth or recommendations strategy for outsourcing a VCFO for your organization.

 This criterion gives you the benefit of knowing about the candidates’ firsthand experience on any particular project or workstream through references & recommendations. It gives you a way to connect with applicants and make decisions by relying on both logical and emotional levels.

• Industry Specific Sites

Making connections with professionals in your target specific industry is a great method to gather leads. You can enroll in trade and industry associations to connect & hire a like-minded individual to help you manage your organization’s financial health & strategies. You can look out for applicants in industry-specific sites to find higher qualified VCFO candidates with diversified expertise & skill sets.

• Social Sites

The sheer number of people using social media channels like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, provides you with opportunities to join groups & connect with preferred candidates. All such channels are highly considered for career networking & recruiting strategies.

You can learn about candidates’ background information, testimonials, skill sets, and expertise. You can search using specific keywords related to your industry and share post for the kind of candidature experience you’re looking for.

What to look for in a candidate during the hiring procedure?

• Evaluate for Exposure in Financial Modeling

Applicants retaining vigorous financial modeling skills can help enhance the foretelling risk and opportunities of your company, thereby supporting the CEO in finalizing capital allotment.

• Evaluate Interpersonal Expertise

The potential to exhibit ideas & findings clearly cannot be exaggerated for C-level roles. VCFOs should be able to relay critical data that includes tangled financial information and convert it to simple narrations that provide a realistic outlook of your business conducting to their associates & senior managers.

• Eagerness to Adapt to the changes in technology

With emerging technology in every industry, a VCFO is expected to be receptive to all digital advancements and have the openness to adapt ingenious solutions.

Companies look for aspirants that have intuitive insight into both financial analysis and big data working.

• Check their Network of Advisors

With experience working as VCFOs for various industries, the organization finds this beneficial if the applicant has connections with people such as auditors, bankers, equity firms, lawyers, and consultants. 

Having a team of advisors on board will be beneficial for your organization as it can help you make key decisions with complete confidence and strategic planning.

• Examine the Past accomplishments of applicants

What the applicants attained in their past positions is also crucial. An applicant’s success demonstrates his experience in tackling uncertainty, decision-making ability, risk assessment, mitigation, and finance management in their previous organization.

Conclusion

One vital thing for your business to thrive is the flexibility to change business conditions. Skilled  Virtual CFOs can help ensure your business has financial system scalability in areas from payment processing and payroll to human resources and accounting systems and managing expenditures.