by Ania Kubicki | Sep 22, 2009 | Archives
Firms Outsource a Top Job as Cheaper Than Hiring Their Own Executive By RAYMUND FLANDEZ This past year, Al Lovata, chief executive of Be Our Guest Inc., cut expenses for his party-equipment rental business by laying off staff and reducing workers’ salaries. He credits an “outsourced” chief financial officer with helping him prepare for the worst of the economic downturn. The Boston-based company had sales growth in the double digits for the past few years, when revenue fell flat last fall. Now, thanks to the part-time CFO’s guidance, the company is stable with revenue down 20% to 30%, but profitability higher than in the previous months, he says. If we hadn’t had this service, “we would still be struggling,” Mr. Lovata says. Brian Weitzel Mike Loria of Re.Source Partners Asset Management, in Detroit, consults his CFO, Sheri Pawlik of B2B CFO. Some small-business owners in need of accounting help to balance their books and guide them out of a financial black hole are renting CFOs rather than hiring them. The strategy comes at a time when the deep recession has forced small companies to look for money-saving alternatives that can yield good returns yet avoid substantial overhead costs. “They’re looking for ways to streamline and be efficient as they can,” says Glenn Dunlap, a co-founder of Milestone Advisors LLC, a small-business consulting firm in Indianapolis that provides CFO services. The average annual salary for a full-time CFO in a small- to medium-size businesses ranges from $94,250 to $175,750, according to a 2009 Salary Guide by Robert Half International Inc., a Menlo Park, Calif., staffing services firm that serves the...
