The Euro’s are in full swing, and with everyone looking forward to the England game tonight, there is just about time to squeeze in one more football analogy before kick off!
And that is, ‘How similar is Fusion’s CFO-as-a-Service (CFOaaS) to the role of the Central Defensive Midfielder (CDM)’. The CDM is one of the most important positions in football for many reasons; it is responsible for providing a shield in front of the defense, breaking up opposing attacks and starting counter attacks. It requires a physically strong approach and an assertive mind.
My personal favourite CDM is Busquets. Sergio Busquets is an education to watch, and Guardiola described him as “The Octopus of Badia” because of his outright control of games in several areas of the pitch at once, using his acumen to beat opponents into believing they had him cornered before leaving them on the floor.
Now that all sounds a little too aggressive when comparing Busquets’ service to his team with Fusion’s CFOaaS provision to its clients, but the principles of the analogy exist. Busquets builds the platform from which to propel the team forward, he is clinical in his delivery, and the definition of his end-product is beyond accurate. Now this sounds more like Fusion’s CFOaaS’s approach to business.
Our squad of CFOs focus on bringing a company’s Finance environment up to a point where full visibility on past, present and future performance can be measured and tracked, utilising the most relevant platform to drive a business forward; enough of the right information in the form of timely and accurate management accounts, a financial plan including a detailed cashflow forecast, budget, P&L, budget, and possibly a balance sheet if required. Just like Busquets adapting his style and always scanning the horizon, the flow of information can be light or heavy depending on the nature and lifecycle position of the business, and thus engineered appropriately for the needs of leaders.
Busquets and his team have a game plan. There is a different opposition each game, or a different territory or customer to tackle, so you need to the right financial and commercial advice to be a success. The success might come in a few different forms depending on the game – don’t concede, settle for a draw, don’t throw all your people up front but attack with pace and directness. This draws parallels to the strategy needed for a young business, which can be supported by an experienced part-time CFO who can operate the helm of the platform.
The game plan highlight belongs to the Founder, the CEO, the Managing Partner, but beneath that exists the elements of the plan including marketing, sales, people, and operations, and CFOaaS has a game plan for anything in a business, but it needs to be grounded in Finance to support great decision making, and calculated moves.
Busquets has it sorted in Miami right now and Fusion’s part-time CFO service has it sorted in business.
