The CFO role continues to expand, particularly at fast-growing, VC-funded startups. These companies lean on the broadening position to scale their operations and bring a data-fueled, strategic view to the business. No longer centered around accounting matters as the years-ago CFO was, today’s CFO responsibilities have grown from oversight of the finance function to frequently also overseeing HR, IT, operations, legal matters, risk and IT security management. At the same time, the CFO’s long view and expertise help the CEO and the company make smart decisions at critical moments to steer it toward successful milestones.
While the role can greatly vary from company to company and even from year to year, depending on the startup’s exact needs, the CFO handles the following as a matter of course.
1. Take the long view.
The market may change, demand may change, and expectations from the Board and investors may change. To keep up with all the shifts, a long view approach is vital. What are some of the future steps for the company and what can be done today to get there? It’s a constant question. Accurate and reliable financial reporting make it so the company can keep the various stakeholders informed and make better decisions.
A CFO’s mindset is strategic at all times. Close attention is paid to historic trends and current data points, to inform what moves to take. The CFO is prepared to execute quickly at critical moments by planning out potential expansions and investments, exploring scenarios and exit strategies, and determining how the company can prevent growing too fast or not fast enough.
2. Value top talent.
The finance function is not always fully formed at many startups. Certain skillsets may be missing. A certain level of expertise may be needed to move forward—but a full-time hire is not yet in the cards. Filling in the right layers through a CFO full stack team is a highly efficient way to address the talent gaps, with the right skills and expertise brought on only when it’s needed.
3. Oversee the capital structure.
Debt and equity financing falls under the CFO’s purview. As the advisor on the company’s capital needs, the CFO leads fundraising missions and converses with prospective investors to show them the company’s potential. The role extends to interacting with current angel investors, VCs, and the Board to go over the company’s priorities and any plans for transformative transactions. Simultaneously, the CFO keeps watch on smart spending, often with a controller’s support on budgeting and monitoring spending.
4. Tell the real story behind the numbers.
There’s a connection between the numbers and the narrative that can be shared with investors that only the CFO can meet. Understanding what the numbers say is one thing—but then being able to communicate them in a way that investors can understand and appreciate is a special skill.
5. Refine the business model.
The CFO’s analytical skills and understanding of business strategy steer the company toward growth milestones. There could be detours along the way. Startups need a CFO’s keen eye in analyzing revenue streams, key resources, activities and partners, and cost structure to make the right decisions on picking the right model.
6. Use technology strategically.
The CFO has a firm handle on the tech solutions that will keep not just the finance function running smoothly but the company’s operations as well. Evaluations of available systems will change as the company grows—rightsizing is a priority. The goal is to not overinvest in systems with all the bells and whistles that could overload the tech spending budget and not be used to their full capacity for some time.
Within the finance function, the CFO looks for opportunities for innovation and efficiencies. Automating core processes achieves both goals while ensuring the team accesses more reliable, timely data and freeing up their bandwidth to focus on more strategic matters. That’s when opportunities open up to explore how advanced technologies like AI can lead to a better understanding of client usage patterns, enabling the company to predict what will be in demand.
Today’s startup CFOs are also frequently chartered with managing the IT function. In that capacity, they manage IT security, handle IT compliance, to mitigate data breaches and cybersecurity risks. The right IT systems support proper workflows, helping to ensure the integrity of the company’s financial information.
The CFO Role Varies at Every Startup
What startups need out of the CFO role varies and can be met with a CFO full-stack team. Special skills can be brought in at just the right time and a part-time finance team might be best. Overhiring does not have to be a risk to take on as the company scales. The right people, processes and systems are a work in progress in the early days of a fast-moving company, and CFO expertise helps to ensure the right decisions are made every step of the way.
Tracey Hashiguchi heads up RoseRyan’s Emerging Growth Solutions area, which focuses on delivering all areas of finance and accounting that VC-funded companies need to go further, faster. This practice area delivers both the strategic and operational finance that growing companies need through its dedicated team of savvy consultants. Tracey develops RoseRyan’s strategy, programs and consulting team for helping startups get to the next stage of growth. Before joining RoseRyan, Tracey worked at Deloitte.
How CFOs Play a Key Role for Growing Startups
The CFO role continues to expand, particularly at fast-growing, VC-funded startups. These companies lean on the broadening position to scale their operations and bring a data-fueled, strategic view to the business. No longer centered around accounting matters as the years-ago CFO was, today’s CFO responsibilities have grown from oversight of the finance function to frequently also overseeing HR, IT, operations, legal matters, risk and IT security management. At the same time, the CFO’s long view and expertise help the CEO and the company make smart decisions at critical moments to steer it toward successful milestones.
While the role can greatly vary from company to company and even from year to year, depending on the startup’s exact needs, the CFO handles the following as a matter of course.
1. Take the long view.
The market may change, demand may change, and expectations from the Board and investors may change. To keep up with all the shifts, a long view approach is vital. What are some of the future steps for the company and what can be done today to get there? It’s a constant question. Accurate and reliable financial reporting make it so the company can keep the various stakeholders informed and make better decisions.
A CFO’s mindset is strategic at all times. Close attention is paid to historic trends and current data points, to inform what moves to take. The CFO is prepared to execute quickly at critical moments by planning out potential expansions and investments, exploring scenarios and exit strategies, and determining how the company can prevent growing too fast or not fast enough.
2. Value top talent.
The finance function is not always fully formed at many startups. Certain skillsets may be missing. A certain level of expertise may be needed to move forward—but a full-time hire is not yet in the cards. Filling in the right layers through a CFO full stack team is a highly efficient way to address the talent gaps, with the right skills and expertise brought on only when it’s needed.
3. Oversee the capital structure.
Debt and equity financing falls under the CFO’s purview. As the advisor on the company’s capital needs, the CFO leads fundraising missions and converses with prospective investors to show them the company’s potential. The role extends to interacting with current angel investors, VCs, and the Board to go over the company’s priorities and any plans for transformative transactions. Simultaneously, the CFO keeps watch on smart spending, often with a controller’s support on budgeting and monitoring spending.
4. Tell the real story behind the numbers.
There’s a connection between the numbers and the narrative that can be shared with investors that only the CFO can meet. Understanding what the numbers say is one thing—but then being able to communicate them in a way that investors can understand and appreciate is a special skill.
5. Refine the business model.
The CFO’s analytical skills and understanding of business strategy steer the company toward growth milestones. There could be detours along the way. Startups need a CFO’s keen eye in analyzing revenue streams, key resources, activities and partners, and cost structure to make the right decisions on picking the right model.
6. Use technology strategically.
The CFO has a firm handle on the tech solutions that will keep not just the finance function running smoothly but the company’s operations as well. Evaluations of available systems will change as the company grows—rightsizing is a priority. The goal is to not overinvest in systems with all the bells and whistles that could overload the tech spending budget and not be used to their full capacity for some time.
Within the finance function, the CFO looks for opportunities for innovation and efficiencies. Automating core processes achieves both goals while ensuring the team accesses more reliable, timely data and freeing up their bandwidth to focus on more strategic matters. That’s when opportunities open up to explore how advanced technologies like AI can lead to a better understanding of client usage patterns, enabling the company to predict what will be in demand.
Today’s startup CFOs are also frequently chartered with managing the IT function. In that capacity, they manage IT security, handle IT compliance, to mitigate data breaches and cybersecurity risks. The right IT systems support proper workflows, helping to ensure the integrity of the company’s financial information.
The CFO Role Varies at Every Startup
What startups need out of the CFO role varies and can be met with a CFO full-stack team. Special skills can be brought in at just the right time and a part-time finance team might be best. Overhiring does not have to be a risk to take on as the company scales. The right people, processes and systems are a work in progress in the early days of a fast-moving company, and CFO expertise helps to ensure the right decisions are made every step of the way.
Tracey Hashiguchi heads up RoseRyan’s Emerging Growth Solutions area, which focuses on delivering all areas of finance and accounting that VC-funded companies need to go further, faster. This practice area delivers both the strategic and operational finance that growing companies need through its dedicated team of savvy consultants. Tracey develops RoseRyan’s strategy, programs and consulting team for helping startups get to the next stage of growth. Before joining RoseRyan, Tracey worked at Deloitte.
Improving Your Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance Program: Make 2020 the Year
Complying with the Sarbanes-Oxley Act is always a complex and evolving process. It doesn’t matter whether your company has issued audited financial statements and management’s attestation of internal control effectiveness for many years or only recently embarked on the road to going public. Building and maintaining capabilities to comply with this law is a constant balancing act requiring an understanding of potential new costs, current risks of material misstatements, and awareness of internal changes that could have an impact on the efficacy of your program.
A quick assessment of your SOX compliance program can help you understand its strengths and weaknesses. Here are six ways to better balance the cost of your Sarbanes-Oxley program with the risks of material misstatements in your financial statements:
1. Expect additional costs from PCAOB inspections.
The recently announced 2020 budget for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board increased year-over-year, and the board reaffirmed its strategic direction. The trickle down effect of what’s uncovered during the inspections of external audit firms and any significant deficiencies identified in those inspections does help the PCAOB meets its goals of greater financial reporting transparency and protection of investors. However, inspections will continue to put upward pressure on the work performed by (and costs companies pay) their audit firms.
2. Start early.
Reduce the chances of errors, audit headaches and avoidable costs by executing a robust planning process toward the beginning of the year (e.g., just after filing the previous 10-K). This is the time to anticipate where additional focus will be needed in the coming year. Notable findings from recent PCAOB inspections revealed common challenges:
Revenue recognition, equity, inventory and liability accounting were noted many times across PCAOB reports. For small companies, controls to ensure proper segregation of duties and assessing the competence of financial reporting duties outsourced to a third party were notably reported as deficient.
3. Monitor and assess key staff turnover.
There are a number of considerations any time a person leaves a company, from making sure they exit properly to figuring out how their role will be filled. Departures of staff with key internal control responsibilities add additional risk to this situation. The impact of the change should be assessed quickly to ensure their internal control duties are performed in a timely manner and in a way that addresses the related risk.
4. Remember that segregation of duties is essential.
Trust is not a control, and a having a small team is not an excuse. Proper segregation of duties protects company assets. It’s an essential internal control to protect the accuracy of the financial statements. Application controls, when properly designed and monitored, can help to reduce the workload. However, automation adds other risks that need to be considered—proper access management and system administration. Delegation is another level that can be used to effectively manage cost and risk. Consider the portion of internal control tasks being delegated. Funneling detailed reviews through senior staff or management can address segregation challenges with surprising efficiency.
5. Understand IT risks.
Here’s an area that continues to evolve fast, raising the probability of misstatements if your company becomes a target of a cyberattack. Large banks and companies are no longer the sole targets—hackers have found success in targeting companies and municipalities of all sizes. Popular tactics like spoofing emails and social engineering are hardly new practices, but the sophistication of methods has dramatically increased. We have seen a rise in successful efforts to defraud companies in many forms, including misdirected payments to employees and vendors, demands to wire money now to continue key services, and threats to company data.
Know where the “keys” to the company assets are, and take steps to ensure they remain in control of the company. Have policies and procedures in place, and make sure they’re followed when using the keys to distribute company funds or assets. Keep in mind that this is not only about mistakenly sending out money that will likely never be recovered—ironically, if the lost money is not recorded accurately and possible disclosed, it could indicate a control deficiency and possibly worse.
6. Pay renewed attention to SOC 1 reports.
Financial statement audits are not the only audits undergoing increased scrutiny. The audit of a service provider’s SOC 1 reports are changing as well. We have observed an increase in the number and significance of findings in these reports. The findings include specific controls companies are expecting to rely on, general IT controls regarding access and change management, and sub-servicer control issues. All of these have the potential to reduce or even eliminate companies’ ability to rely on them. It is important to carefully analyze the controls being sought for reliance and have appropriate monitoring and backup plans in place to address unforeseen surprises. Remember, the SOC 1 reports are issued late in the year, leaving little time to remediate if there’s an issue.
What’s Missing in Your Sarbanes-Oxley Program?
While companies face continued upward pressure on the costs to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley, smart planning, sound decisions on what controls to implement, and a coordinated effort throughout the year can help keep SOX compliance costs in check. These can all be addressed when your Sarbanes-Oxley program includes experts who deeply know SOX and how to navigate the complex waters of financial statement risk management and compliance.
Ken Roberts is a RoseRyan consultant who works with companies of all types in our Corporate Governance area. He’s an expert in SOX and internal control testing, and he’s held CFO, controller and internal audit roles. He also has experience with M&A integration work and operational accounting. Ken previously worked at Ernst & Young.
5 Reasons to Love RoseRyan in 2020: New CEO Looks at the Year Ahead
Having worked with a range of companies in a variety of senior-level roles and as a consultant, I know it can sometimes take awhile to truly know a company when you’re new. How the company really operates and what its values are may take some time to reveal themselves. But I found the opposite to be true when I became a part of the RoseRyan leadership team in late 2018. Even during my very first meeting with the other executives here, I could tell that this firm is different. I had never before experienced the degree of candor and willingness to share information by senior leaders. The transparency stood out and was most welcome as I got myself acquainted with what this exciting, unique finance and accounting consulting firm is all about.
Now, as I start 2020 and step into the CEO role here, I am looking closely at all that sets our firm apart and how we can improve. It’s a job made easier by the firm-wide transparency encouraged by Kathy Ryan, who founded RoseRyan 26 years ago and will continue to oversee our overall mission and strategy in her new role as Chair. At RoseRyan, we all have the common goal of sharing information to improve our performance as individuals and as a firm. This allows us to make unified, smart changes, particularly as people feel free to share a different position than someone else during the decision-making process. The dialogue is much richer than it would be if we worked at a company where speaking up is discouraged.
In some ways, I shouldn’t have been surprised at the forthcoming nature of RoseRyan. For five years in a row, the firm has been recognized as a Top Workplace by the Bay Area News Group, an honor based entirely on the results of confidential employee satisfaction surveys. The surveys have revealed that employees feel we’re working toward the same goals. And I’ve seen it firsthand: As the discussions flow and a decision is reached, there is alignment around carrying out the plan. Whether we need to execute an internal mandate or we’re helping companies take on a big accounting change like the new revenue recognition or lease accounting rules, we’re the kind of people who get things done.
Plans for 2020: 5 Focus Areas
In my new role, the can-do attitude is infectious and has me thinking about what sets our consulting firm apart, and what we will focus on in the year ahead. I have a lot of plans on my plate as we plot out our growth strategy, explore opportunities in our solution areas for fast-moving companies, and build upon the solid foundation set by Kathy.
This latest observation presents one of the challenges I’m most looking forward to addressing in 2020. How can we meet our customers’ needs in the future beyond the services we’re currently providing? Our consultants are problem-solvers by their very nature, and often pick up on ways that they can offer additional expertise to customers. We’ll be exploring more of these opportunities as we continue to get to know our customers and take them further, faster, in 2020.
As CEO of RoseRyan, David Roberson leads the day to day business and builds upon the firm’s established reputation for taking companies further, faster. He also serves as CEO of Kukuza Associates, a RoseRyan subsidiary that provides accounting and finance services to cannabis companies. RoseRyan Founder and Chair Kathy Ryan named David to the CEO post in January 2020 to champion RoseRyan into the next era of growth. David previously served as a senior vice president for Hewlett-Packard Co.; president and CEO at Hitachi Data Systems, where he has previously held the titles of COO, CFO, CIO and general counsel; and he has served as a director of 12 companies including Brocade, Quantum, IGT, Spansion and IDT.
Beyond Financial Risks: Tapping the True Strategic Value of Internal Audit
How well do you know your business? Companies with a robust internal audit function have a strategic asset at their disposal, with access to perspectives about emerging risks and opportunities to help management make well-informed decisions.
Today’s version of the internal audit function can be anticipatory by nature. It can, among other things, shed light on operational improvements, help to protect the company’s competitive advantage and open up the business to new markets. Offering a different viewpoint, internal audit may bring emerging risks to the forefront of management’s attention, as well as reveal new opportunities that capitalize on the organization’s strengths; these insights can have a direct effect on a company’s ability to reach its goals and continue to grow.
So, why doesn’t every company have an IA function? Some don’t have the resources or the specialized expertise to get one going. Since IA doesn’t have to be a truly “internal” team, many companies find that a co-sourcing arrangement can offer the level of strategic support they need from their internal audit team. A mix of in-house and outsourced expertise can bring out the best of an IA function, including these benefits:
One part of the company, for example, may not realize the level of cybersecurity risk facing the industry. Another may not be aware of the lasting effect of super-low interest rates. And the main office may not fully understand customary business practices in some of the global regions that are tagged for expansion plans. Bringing up these topics, having these conversations, prods the various parts of the business to make priority decisions about their highest value projects. What should be tackled first? The IA function can help get these needed discussions going.
Taking an outward look, they’ll take note of opportunities, such as buying trends that could lead the company to market differently or expand its reach, as well as threats, such as a change in regulations or the economy.
Internal Audit: Viewpoints That Add Value
Internal audit pros may start out as gatherers, using their expertise to ask the right questions and collect data points and insights from various aspects of the organization and outside of it, to form a picture of what the major risks and opportunities are to the business. As companies grow fast, no one person knows everything about a company, what it is up against, and where improvements can be made. The internal audit function can fill in the gaps by informing and influencing how the company moves forward.
5 Tips That Will Greatly Improve Your Year-End Close Process
It’s getting to be that time of year again—heading into the holiday season and looking forward to celebrating with friends and family, while trying to stay sane with all the frenzy that comes with the territory. There is the push and pull between personal obligations and the need to wrap things up and make sure things are done right before the year ends.
Maybe you have holiday traditions that help you cope with the end-of-year stress. I kick off my holiday season on Black Friday—after getting up at dark o’clock and heading out with my niece for a quick stop at Starbucks, we then follow it up with a morning of shopping for the family we selected from our church’s giving tree. Reflecting on our good fortune and what small thing we can do to make someone else’s holidays a little brighter always helps keep things in perspective.
Such moments tend to be fleeting for those of us in finance, however. In addition to the personal stress tied to the holidays, the year-end close and prepping for the audit are also just around the corner. I polled some of our seasoned finance and accounting pros and asked for their best advice on how to prepare in advance and take some of the stress out of this season. Here are their top five tips for coping with the year-end chaos:
It can be a slog to get through year end, as you look over past decisions, stumble upon gaps that need addressing, prepare for scrutiny, and hope you can keep surprises to a minimum. Get through it with RoseRyan’s “Checklist for a Smooth Year-End Close.” This handy resource helps you set up a proactive process. And remember, RoseRyan is just a phone call away—our finance and accounting pros are masterful at streamlining and making sense of the chaos, and are ready to help!
Pat Voll is a vice president at RoseRyan, where she develops our specialized finance and accounting solutions that take fast-moving companies to the next stage of growth. She provides strategic guidance to several practice areas, including corporate governance, strategic projects and operational accounting, and she manages multiple client relationships, develops new solutions for the firm, and oversees strategic and corporate culture programs. Pat previously held senior finance level positions at public companies and worked as an auditor with a Big 4 firm.
Cleantech Open Judging: Winning Innovative Startups Are Breaking Boundaries
With the shifting focus toward new forms of energy and clean technologies, cleantech entrepreneurs are in a prime spot for getting their companies and innovations discovered. I was fortunate to see and hear what’s in store from these incredible companies when I recently returned as a judge for the western regional finals of the Cleantech Open in Oakland. These three remarkable companies are the regional winners and will go on to compete nationally at the Cleantech Open Global Forum:
Founded in 2005, this cleantech startup accelerator program brings top cleantech ideas to light on a nationwide scale, so it’s exciting to see what’s getting attention in the Western region. More than 1,200 early-stage cleantech entrepreneurs have made it through the program, and the CleanTech Open says most of them have survived the startup odds to raise $1.2 billion and create over 3,000 clean economy jobs. This year’s regional competition was as spirited as ever, with the companies’ focus ranging from artificial intelligence to high pressure water filters.
For my part, I greatly enjoyed being part of the two days of presentations and judging. I got to sit between two judges: a chemical engineering intellectual property attorney and a chemical engineer from Dow. The other judges were a mechanical engineer from Lawrence Livermore Labs and a process engineer. And I rounded out the judges panel with business expertise. My focus was in judging business models, ability to scale and business feasibility from working with hundreds of startups through the years among our RoseRyan client base. Helping companies think through their business viability and growth is essential for getting an innovative concept off the ground that can reduce waste, aid sustainability, perform efficiently and so on.
All of the companies presenting are attacking real problems, including:
The company founders presented their stories with passion. Their ideas are clever, realistic and can be implemented fairly quickly. I was most impressed with artificial intelligence being used to better predict climate events as well as robotic tools being used to help prevent fires and fix industrial problems before they occur. These are the type of companies that exhibit the spirit of Silicon Valley—a contagious positivity and a winning “we can get it done” attitude.
They exude tremendous confidence that they can address problematic issues now and into the future. RoseRyan has supported many cleantech clients throughout our history with our full stack CFO solution (outsourced CFO, Controller and accounting teams that grow as they go), and it is good to know that this industry’s future looks bright! I extend my congratulations to the winners and the following companies that were also recognized as finalists: Radii Robotics, RePurpose Energy and Skycool Systems.
Chris Vane is a director at RoseRyan, where he leads business development for our finance and accounting consulting firm’s high tech and cleantech practices. He’s also a director at RoseRyan subsidiary Kukuza Associates, which focuses on fast-moving cannabis companies. Chris can be reached at [email protected], or call him at 510.456.3056 x169.
FASB’s Lease Accounting Delay and Private Companies: You’ll Need the Extra Time
A huge exhale! You either heard it or experienced the collective sigh of relief last week when the Financial Accounting Standards Board announced the delay of some rule implementation deadlines, including the effective date for the new lease accounting standard. Now private companies have until January 2021 to adopt ASC 842. So, is now a good time for a vacation? Probably not. View this reprieve as less of a break and more of an incentive to get cracking on accounting for the leases in your company—including the embedded leases you may still need to identify. There is work to be done, and you now have a bit more time to do it right.
It turns out that private companies truly need this “extra” time to implement the new standard, which public companies found to be more confusing and complicated than first expected. Several aspects of the rule tripped up public company lessees as they scrutinized their right-of-use assets and associated obligations and considered whether to move them out of the footnotes and onto their balance sheets. They wrung their hands over looking more leveraged and the best way to explain that to their investors. And they found themselves right up against the deadline for powering through what turned out to be quite a complex effort.
Why Private Companies Need More Time
FASB’s announcement that it’s delaying the effective dates of the lease accounting rule (in addition to other standards for credit losses, hedging, and some insurance contracts) wasn’t a surprise. The board proposed making these deferrals back in August.
While it was fair to feel relief when the announcement came through, this isn’t the time to procrastinate. The time that FASB is giving private companies is needed—all of it. Implementing this standard is so much harder and trickier than you think. Public companies, whose deadline for the leasing standard was this past January, found this out when they went through their implementations, and they needed a lot more resources to dedicate to this big project.
With the new extension, private companies have an opportunity to benefit from what public companies learned during their implementation efforts, be more deliberate in their efforts, put a smoother process in place, and possibly experience fewer questions by their auditors than they would have under the original time crunch.
The fact is that implementing the new lease accounting standard is challenging. Public companies struggled with a range of issues, from spending too much time on immaterial arrangements to inadvertently overlooking agreements that needed a closer look. Common challenges with the new way of accounting for leases include:
Bottom line: If a contract includes a promise of an asset for a specific period of time, without substitution, it could qualify as a lease. This means companies need to look at their vendor arrangements for the possibility of embedded leases and come up with lease terms to describe those arrangements. Depending on the size of the company and its contracts, this could be a lengthy endeavor.
Lease Accounting: Next Steps
For private companies that haven’t yet started implementing ASC 842, now is the time to put a thoughtful plan in motion. Taking on the lease accounting standard can require input from all sides of the business while also educating other functions about what falls under the new standard. The finance team needs help, time, and resources as you work through understanding the various business arrangements that may contain embedded leases. There may be a need to revisit how agreements are made between the company and vendors. And you may want to include the insights of the IT team to bring in a new system.
Finance and accounting pros who have helped public companies through the process and know how to conquer the standard’s toughest challenges can be an incredibly valuable resource through it all.
For more key takeaways for private companies in the midst of adopting the leasing standard, check out the webinar “Get a Handle on Revenue Recognition and Lease Accounting Before It’s Too Late.”
As RoseRyan Director of Strategic Projects, Brooks Ensign oversees the growth and leads the team of a broad array of our finance and accounting solutions, including our highly regarded Technical Accounting Group. Before joining RoseRyan, Brooks served as an interim controller and SEC reporting consultant for both public and private companies. He was also the controller of Nervana Systems, an artificial intelligence startup that was acquired by Intel, and he led international corporate development transactions at Valeant Pharmaceuticals.
Assessing Your Startup’s Financial Health—Why a Diagnostic Does the Trick
Is your fast-moving company really poised for growth, or are missing pieces to the financial puzzle holding it back? You may be surprised to discover that despite the financial support and early success of your company, it could lack the financial and operational foundation needed to reach the goals expected or set by your VCs. Too often, as we’ve seen from serving over hundreds of fast-moving startups through the years, many startups don’t fully understand their financial situation. Sure, they know their product, they know what they’re trying to achieve, but they don’t know if they have enough cash to get there or whether they have the systems, processes and resources to be successful.
A quick, impactful assessment specifically created for startups can identify the missing pieces—and propel the company onward. The RoseRyan Rapid Diagnostic for Emerging Growth identifies critical gaps and assesses a company’s financial and operational health. It focuses on the 16 essential areas that all startups—from early stage to high growth organizations—need to address. This way, these companies can understand the critical finance and operational issues and risks that can be slowing down or endangering their growth. They also gain insights for ways to improve and proceed toward growth milestones. The point is to gain a perspective on your gaps to growth as well as how to better position the company toward meeting its objectives.
Why an Assessment Makes Sense
Many startups are hyper-focused on their product or their service—which they should be—but as they grow more rapidly than ever before, they tend to sideline their finance and business operations. But this is the time when they should be preparing to scale. The only way to scale is to understand where their business is at. This new tool helps them understand the 16 key areas of importance, by addressing strengths and weaknesses in the business.
The telling information revealed through the Rapid Diagnostic enables startups to be proactive and not reactive—especially as they prepare for key milestone events. Taking about an hour and a half, the Rapid Diagnostic involves an interactive, live meeting with RoseRyan, together reviewing your company’s current financial and operational situation. After 30 discussion questions, a score of the company’s financial readiness and a report are revealed.
The result? Likely a few “aha moments” for the entrepreneurs and key stakeholders involved. They begin to see where they should focus their attention—the finance and operational areas they might not have been currently focusing on—and perhaps should be.
Are your quality control processes tight and efficient? Do you have your arms around knowing how to handle fraudulent activity and ensure compliance is in place to have ease of mind? These are just some of the questions your company should be asking—and an assessment like the Rapid Diagnostic ensures you’re making the right queries.
The areas explored in the diagnostic represent the foundational operations every business should have a pulse on to be successful. These include everything from cash management processes, planning, regulatory preparedness and integrated tools and systems.
How the Assessment Works
For every discussion question, the company scores itself the 1-5 scale (5 represents “best practices”). The results are summarized on a dashboard with 16 financial areas scored, as well as a consolidated corporate score. Together we discuss the scores, which provide an excellent reading on the overall health of the company, where the gaps lie, and any potential risks to be aware of as the company grows and needs to scale. This is a proactive tool for startups to be in the know now and where they should focus to be successful.
It’s a start toward making improvements, if necessary, and creating an awareness of how your financial foundation can be strengthened. With expert insights and a fresh perspective, your startup will be able to minimize pitfalls and emergencies—and smartly chase after growth. For startups, request your Rapid Diagnostic for Emerging Growth here.
Tracey Hashiguchi heads up RoseRyan’s Emerging Growth Solutions area, which focuses on delivering all areas of finance and accounting that VC-funded companies need to go further, faster. This practice area delivers all the finance that growing companies need through its dedicated team of savvy consultants. She develops RoseRyan’s strategy, programs and consulting team for helping startups get to the next level. Before joining RoseRyan, Tracey worked at Deloitte.
How Corporate Governance Issues Tripped Up WeWork: A Wake-up Call to Startups
Boldness, skyrocketing growth, and claiming to be a tech company—for a time, WeWork had many of the signs of a typical Silicon Valley company. Except it’s based out of New York. It’s actually more of a real estate company. And it had serious corporate governance issues, which came to light when its S-1 filing revealed its $47 billion valuation was wildly unrealistic. In a little over a month’s time, WeWork’s valuation took a major nosedive, CEO Adam Neumann was ousted by the board, and the company is now in crisis mode with no IPO in sight.
Now the coworking space company (rebranded as The We Company) has new co-CEOs and the board faces a reckoning as the startup says it will “pursue more strategic growth,” consider making thousands of job cuts, try to not run out of cash, and slow down its expansion plans.
While these developments have been remarkable to watch, they also present opportunities for other startups to look inward, and boards of directors to give careful thought to their approach to corporate governance and their views of risk. When companies experience incredibly fast growth, it’s easy to lose sight of the big picture and to fully grasp the level and variety of risks that they are up against. These are some of the areas that other startups’ boards, including audit committees, should focus on as they review their companies’ growth strategies:
Corporate Governance Lessons Learned
Where does this leave WeWork? The company has pledged to operate like a public company, although there are no details on when it might go public. Meanwhile, it’s burning through cash, landlords are wary of making any more deals, and it’s become a credit risk to bondholders. And the company has a heavy load of lease obligations on its books (the changes in lease accounting rules had worked in WeWork’s favor in terms of attracting enterprises to use its office space and offload their own operating leases).
These issues are not easy to overcome when a company is growing like gangbusters and many metrics are pointing upward. Until a crisis hits, it can be tempting to think there is “no problem to fix.” But there were major corporate governance issues here all along—and the fixing began much too late, after the company took a huge hit to its reputation. For fast-moving companies looking for takeaways from this crisis, their boards of directors need to be assertive. That includes:
For WeWork, revamping corporate governance certainly became a priority at the last minute, with changes to Neumann’s voting rights (he’s still nonexecutive chairman of the company). For other startups on the IPO path, a careful look at their governance practices will be necessary as investors have higher expectations of a company that gets to that level. With all the attention WeWork is getting, in the immediate future, count on investors being more in tune with what makes for smart governance.
RoseRyan Director Christopher Ludwig heads our Corporate Governance practice, which includes our Sarbanes-Oxley Compliance and Internal Audit solutions designed for fast-moving companies. He has held compliance-focused and finance roles at KPMG, CafePress.com, The Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, and IBM.
It’s a Whole New World: What CFOs of Newly PE-Backed Companies Should Know
Congratulations are in order for the CFO when private equity funding comes in—but the celebration will have to be kept short. There’s a lot of work to be done, and your role will expand seemingly overnight to help lead the company through this transition. You’ll still have the same responsibilities but now, as a portfolio company CFO, you’ll have a whole new world to adjust to, as expectations will be different, reporting cycles will be shorter, and the demand for reliable, actionable data will be constant. You and your team will act as the bridge from the business to the private equity firm—and be expected to provide a steady stream of information about the business.
All of this change presents opportunities to better the company and streamline processes and make improvements that have perhaps been long overdue. But how to keep up with the change in pace, the higher level of complexity, and the increased scrutiny? From working closely with private equity and venture capital investors over the years, I can tell you that by focusing on the following five areas, you can set yourself up to meet expectations during this exciting time at your company:
Adjust to a New Frequency
Your sponsoring firm wants data—and lots of it. You may have grown accustomed to preparing for quarterly meetings to the board, but now you’re going to be asked to put together more reports and at a more frequent level. Monthly reporting is the norm at many PE-backed companies. This can put a strain on the finance team at first—until you can quickly find a way to greatly improve processes and the accounting system. Realize that better, deeper financial reporting will be in hot demand for the immediate future.
Know Your Cash
Companies will typically focus on the growth and revenue prior to funding. However, after the financing arrives, the CFO’s experience in managing cash flow and debt service is critical, especially if leverage is involved.
Cash forecasting becomes a core critical function of a funded company’s finance group, and most likely you’ll be required to furnish at least three reports to the senior management team: a full year forecast for long-range planning; a mid-term projection, covering three to six months (especially useful for managing seasonality issues); and a weekly report, which is meant to be the most granular, lowest level of cash flow forecasting but, in most cases, is the most important.
Know Your Covenants
Along with the infusion of equity, funded companies can typically find themselves significantly leveraged as well, going from something like 2-3 times debt to EBITDA to 8-10 times. It is easy to underestimate the significance of financial covenants in loan agreements and the implications of failing to meet them.
Be Efficient
The days of managing your financial reporting in spreadsheets is over. Investing in a new ERP system can achieve immediate returns by integrating all departments and functions across your company into a single system while still serving each department’s specific needs. It should be designed to help your business make smarter decisions, serve your customers better, and work more efficiently overall with automated processes and workflows.
Access the Right People
Having access to the right skills at the right time is always important—but it may be even more so at this point in the business’s lifecycle. With so much output by the finance team, you need to stock up on “doers”— people who will actually roll up their sleeves and do the work. You may need to fill in the gaps through outsourcing for a time, and you may need to pull in experts who are familiar with the exact needs of PE portfolio companies and can help you upgrade the way you operate in finance. Look for people who know how to manage and forecast your cash; interpret and monitor your financial arrangements; and identify inefficiencies in your financial reporting process right away.
Very likely, at this point these are key skills the company is lacking and unable to keep up with at the cadence level that your new investors want to see. By supplementing the finance leadership you have developed with strategic and tactical finance expertise, you can get at the timely financial information that the management team, board and investors need. You can do this while helping to unlock the value that made your business a smart investment in the first place.
Vineet Singh joined RoseRyan earlier this year as director of business development. He has extensive experience meeting the complex requirements of businesses funded by private equity and venture capital, as well as implementations of enterprise applications. He previous worked for eFront Financial Solutions, Brookfield Asset Management and Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce.