Engagement Models

Every company’s needs are slightly different, and if you have never had a CFO before, you may not know what to expect from a CFO. To that end, Viewpoint has developed three strategies designed to meet you where you are today. The components of each strategy were developed based on Viewpoint’s decades of successful management:

• Entrepreneur - Helps a company establish a solid foundation for financial oversight, visibility, and control. Designed for the company whose needs are basic and straightforward.

• Executive - Designed for a company whose needs are more complex, especially if significant growth is either expected or underway.

• Enterprise - For a company committed to building the infrastructure and executive capacity to take a more proactive and strategic posture in its growth and development.

See below for further detail on the components of each strategy:

• How long do you wait for financial statements each month?

• When did you last actually “close” your books?

• How often do you get calls from your vendors about missing payments?

Viewpoint will assess your current accounting processes and procedures, and will provide guidance to you and your team on appropriate controls, processes and documentation.

• Do you know and understand what covenants your bank has placed on your company debt?

• Does your business use debt appropriately and efficiently based on your goals and priorities?

• What does your debt structure say about the quality of your bank relationship?

• Do you have the debt capacity you need to grow? 

 Viewpoint will review your debt and overall capital structure annually to ensure your debt load (and availability) match your needs and objectives and that you don’t encounter any “surprises” with your credit facilities. Viewpoint will make recommendations for improvements as needed.

• Do you know what happened in your business over the last month?

• Do you know how that will impact you in the coming months?

Viewpoint will use the monthly financial statements generated by your accounting team to provide summary of key performance metrics and ratios, along with a comparison to the previous month and prior year. This will help you focus your near-term efforts.

• Does your annual budget process actually meet your needs?

• Once completed, how do you use your budget to drive activity during the year (if at all)? 

Viewpoint will lead your budget process, building a budget template and gathering input from key leaders within your company to help you plan for the year ahead and make decisions about investments, critical hires, and new opportunities.

• Did your business perform as you expected last month?

• Did the business generate or consume cash? Do you know why?

• Do you know what to expect this month?

• What immediate actions should you take as a result?

 Viewpoint will lead a review of the prior month’s operations with you and your leadership team to compare performance to expectations, identify any concerns, and determine any adjustments or areas of special focus for the coming months. Viewpoint will work with you before the first review to develop a relevant standing agenda for each monthly review.

• Do you have visibility into upcoming performance in your company?

• Will you run into either cash or profitability problems?

 Viewpoint will prepare and maintain a rolling forecast based on historical trends and management’s expectations for coming months, to identify potential future cash flow needs that could impact operations.

Proactive and productive relationships with your banker, attorney, and accountant are essential in your business life.

• Do these key partners function as vendors or advisors? 

• How often do you meet with them?

• Do they have the access and ability to understand your business and provide valuable guidance, or are they kept at arm’s length?

 Viewpoint will provide support to these key relationships and, if desired, interface directly with these partners. Viewpoint will also participate in planning meetings, discussions, and relationship reviews as needed.

• How does your business compare to other companies in its industry peer group? 

• How do your key vendors (and your bankers) view your company?

 Viewpoint will prepare a benchmarking study based on available data according to your primary NAICS code. This information can be used to identify variances (favorable or not) from similar companies in your industry, and areas where improvements can be made.

• How long does it take you to realize your business has veered from its desired path? 

• How often do you take a step back to review the company's performance, measure progress against objectives and work "on" the business instead of "in" the business?

 Viewpoint will facilitate a 3-hour meeting with your leadership team each quarter. Rather than focusing on historical financial performance, we will touch lightly on the financials and spend most of our time “on” the business – industry/competitor developments, status of priorities and key initiatives from the prior quarter, and setting priorities for the coming quarter.

• Do you set aside time each year to review your company's successes/ challenges over the previous year, where you want to be in 1-3 years and what steps you need to take to get there?

• What strategic opportunities and gaps exist that should be addressed?

 Viewpoint will participate in (and facilitate as needed) an annual planning meeting with your leadership team to evaluate current position, set strategic direction for the coming year and beyond, and develop priorities for the year.

• Is your insurance program a tool actively used to protect you and your business, or is it just a line item on your P&L to be managed every year?

• Does your broker keep you informed as to the evolving risk landscape and the levers available to control costs and exposure?

• Do you have a rolling multi-year plan for reviewing your P&C coverage and your employees' benefits options?

 Viewpoint will review your insurance coverage and broker relationships to ensure your bound coverage matches your expectations and contractual obligations.  Viewpoint will also make recommendations, as needed, for changes to your annual renewal process to avoid last-minute surprises.

Finally, Viewpoint will work together with your broker to facilitate your annual renewal process and build a rolling 3-year calendar of key dates and milestones to maximize the value of your insurance and risk management program.

One reality of the role of a CFO is that things always come up - potential acquisitions, large customer opportunities, customer issues, etc. Each client package provides for a set amount of “unstructured” advisory hours at no additional charge to the client.