Zara Merricks, portfolio FD at the FD Centre
(part of The CFO Centre Group)
Zara works as a portfolio FD for between five and 10 clients at a time. She works for the FD Centre, the largest provider of part-time FDs in the UK and is delighted to see the rapid difference she makes to companies she works with. Since joining the FD Centre over two years ago, Zara is enjoying the opportunities that have come her way.
Tony Lewis, portfolio FD at the FD Centre in the South East
(part of The CFO Centre Group)
With 30+ years’ experience in the corporate world, both in the UK and globally, Tony has been there, done that, got the t-shirt. But by working for one of the top management consultants and supporting many US-listed companies, it’s very easy to be known for one particular type of situation.
Then there’s always the next client waiting for your support and advice.
Michael Citroen, portfolio FD at the FD Centre in the Thames Valley
(part of The CFO Centre Group)
Michael Citroen is 59 years old and a 14-year veteran of the part-time portfolio job world. The former Group Finance Director of a large privately-owned company relishes the challenge and excitement of working with SMEs in his role as a part-time FD.
“The FD Centre is very focused on helping its part-time FDs to win new clients”,
Jim Laslett joined the FD Centre in 2015 and has enjoyed the diversity that his new role brings.
(part of The CFO Centre Group)
After a chance meeting at a Christmas lunch in 2014, Jim decided to explore the opportunity of working with the FD Centre and later joined. Jim’s previous experience in retail and manufacturing has enabled him to look after a number clients from very varying industries – from an electrical wholesaler to a supplier of specialist products to fruit farmers,
Chris Willford, portfolio FD at The FD Centre in the Thames Valley
(part of the CFO Centre Group)
“Portfolio working allows me to keep close to the business I founded, whilst supporting other entrepreneurs and doing the things I love.”
Chris Willford joined the FD Centre back in 2016 after over 30 years working in FTSE 100 companies and the creation of a successful software business.
The quicker you want your company to achieve its goals, the sooner you should consider hiring a part-time CFO.
That’s because a part-time CFO will provide your company with the high-level financial expertise necessary to scale up (things you and your team may not even be aware you need), for a fraction of the cost of a full-time CFO.
Hiring a part-time CFO provides your company with many advantages that really help it to grow and stand out in any marketplace.
A lack of cash can not only stall your company’s growth but also place its very existence under threat.
It doesn’t matter how profitable the business may be; cash flow problems can place it under severe pressure, according to the CFO Center’s Chairman Colin Mills in his book ‘Scaling Up How to Take Your Business to the Next Level Without Losing Control and Running Out of Cash’.[1]
“You might think you’re immune from danger because your business is experiencing a high level of growth,
Babies, as any hollow-eyed new parent will tell you, often sleep for just a few hours at a time which is why ‘sleeping like a baby’ is a practice best avoided if you have a growing business to run and need to be on top of your game during working hours.
Instead, sleep experts recommend you look for ways to get between seven and nine unbroken hours of night-time sleep.[1]
That’s because sleep is believed to be crucial to your physical and mental well being.
If you consider what sets companies like eBay, Alibaba, Netflix, Google, Starbucks, Apple, Cisco and Dell apart from other companies, their ability to continuously innovate and create high growth will probably come high on your list.
So should the fact they’ve all successfully transitioned from start up to scale up status without losing their ability to be dynamic and entrepreneurial.
Then there’s the fact they’ve helped create thousands of full-time and part-time jobs throughout the world.
The idea of hiring even a part-time CFO may seem to some SMEs a bit OTT—like paying Quentin Tarantino to make a 90-second home page video or booking Wembley Stadium for the company’s five-a-side friendly football match.
But for companies whose ambition is to get into and survive the coveted scale-up phase, hiring a part-time CFO makes perfect sense. They know that they’re getting a finance veteran, someone with big business experience, who can provide the guidance they need to grow rapidly and help them to avoid the costly mistakes that so many ambitious SMEs make as they attempt to move into the Big League.
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