Part Time FD – When Half is Better than a Whole
Any MBA or business studies course will point out the importance of having a properly controlled and well disciplined accounting function. There have been many catalogued disasters where lack of this vital process has resulted in the ultimate demise of the largest of organisations let alone the new start-up.
But who is this colossus, on whose shoulders can be borne the weight of investors’ trust, with responsibility for accounting for the Sales Director’s complex deal, whilst massaging the CEO’s ego? Interestingly, apart from the odd Monty Python-like parody little time has been spent analysing what sort of person wants to become an FD and what makes a good one. The starting point is to understand the origins of the typical FD. 80% of graduate Chartered Accountants come from a mathematical, accounting or scientific background – people who like definite answers to a problem. Many of these individuals ‘fell’ into accounting unable to decide what to do in life. Accounting offered a safe option, good pay, good prospects, something one could succeed at, but still a qualification with so many options open. Our budding FD still didn’t need to decide what they really wanted to be when they grew up!
The best FDs I have met combine two other significant qualities. Firstly, they have the ability to picture the story behind the numbers, their favourite word is ‘because’. After every accounting fact the FD relays comes a ‘because’ statement. The second quality is the ability to communicate this picture in a way that everyone in an organisation can easily understand. An FD that resorts to complex jargon to explain a company’s performance doesn’t understand what is actually going on behind the numbers.