This means you don’t have to choose a controller vs CFO when you work with us because you’ll get both capabilities under one roof. When looking to hire a controller, seek candidates with at least ten years of cfo vs controller experience. They should be able to show a progression in their responsibilities and an eventual transition into management. They should also be able to provide references who can attest to their trustworthiness, technical abilities, and management skills.
You undoubtedly experienced the pains and frustrations that come with starting a business, but you will experience a different kind of tension as your business grows. But how do you know whether a CFO or controller is right for your business? Hardware founders should focus on product development rather than finance problems. A successful ecommerce strategy can allow entrepreneurs to reach a global audience with minimal overhead costs. One team to help with both setting up and managing payroll and HR policies to designing your benefits package and negotiating rates with your carriers.
How to Find a Virtual Financial Controller and CFO
- The CFO controls and manages everything related to finance in a company.
- They must be able to understand and analyze financial statements and have strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
- The CFO is responsible for directly or indirectly managing all financial professionals in the company, including accountants, analysts, FP&A professionals, and controllers.
- At this stage, it becomes necessary to produce audited financial statements for investors and ensure adherence to revenue recognition principles.
Growing businesses may need more than just a bookkeeper or a team of entry-level accountants that process the day-to-day transactions. For companies looking to reach financial milestones or take the business to the next level, it may be time to consider hiring a chief financial officer (CFO) or a controller. We often encounter business owners trying to figure out their organization’s structure and which roles they need to hire or outsource. They might even be considering allowing a finance department employee to take on more strategic or supervisory finance responsibilities to save on the cost of another full-time hire. Controllers focus on internal communication with departmental managers to ensure financial compliance and reporting accuracy. In contrast, CFOs engage with both internal teams and external stakeholders, such as investors, analysts, and auditors, to represent the company’s financial standing.
What Are the Key Responsibilities of a Controller?
Whenever corporations need a public face for any speaking event, the chief financial officers also step into this role. They can announce new partnerships, discuss implications for security breaches, and provide answers to shareholders on behalf of the CEO and the organization. They are usually CPAs (Certified Public Accountants) with 10 to 12 years of experience in accounting, and a master’s degree in business administration, accounting, or similar areas.
What is the difference between a Bookkeeper, Controller and CFO?
To help clients, prospects, and others, Hanson & Co has summarized the key considerations below. They are among the most influential people in a company’s accounting and finance department. Organizational structure varies between companies, but positions responsible for various aspects of the company’s financial components typically report to the CFO. These could include roles such as controller, treasurer, director of finance, tax manager, chief risk officer, or investor relations manager. While the role is primarily defined by their controllership of financial data, it has been evolving to include more strategic inputs as well. Modern-day competition has forced more strategic inputs to be a part of key roles, but in terms of financial strategy, the CFO remains the final boss, so to speak.
There’s value in hiring both a controller and a CFO to capitalize on the benefits of AP automation fully. A controller can manage automated processes and data daily, while a CFO provides strategic oversight, financial leadership, and alignment with automation-driven decisions. For companies focused on growth, filling the controller and CFO roles provides a more robust financial infrastructure capable of supporting expansion and compliance in an efficient manner. It’s often assumed a controller and a CFO are two sides of the same coin, but each role is distinct and critical to a company’s financial health. Though the two roles collaborate closely to efficiently manage and align financial operations to the company’s strategic objectives, they each serve specific functions in an organization’s hierarchy. A controller is a senior accounting and finance professional responsible for overseeing an organization’s accounting operations, financial reporting, and internal control procedures.
How Different is the Role of a Financial Controller to a Chief Financial Officer?
If you’re unsure when to hire a controller, CFO, or both for your organization, we break it down in this section. They ensure each of the points where a transaction is recorded and processed is under perfect control of the procedures and regulations. Managing the budget, training the accountants, monitoring the cash flow, etc. are all regular duties of an FC.
More about the evolution of financial controllership can be found in this report by Deloitte. No, the controller is not higher than the CFO in the organizational hierarchy. The CFO reports directly to the company’s CEO, while the controller reports to the CFO. The CFO is a senior executive position that oversees the entire financial department of an organization.
CFOs manage relationships with investors to ensure sufficient capital support for the business. They foster trust and secure funding by communicating the company’s financial health, investment opportunities, and risks. The duties of a Controller may be better described as administrative or operational. Typical activities include internal controls, general bookkeeping, and generating reports for internal and external use. Internal controls include ensuring the separation of duties on key financial processes, authorization, documentation, security, and reconciliation of books. Vacations and time off will not leave your company high and dry when you rely on internal controls.
Let’s compare what to consider when hiring either of these positions and how a CFO or a controller can help your business. A controller will develop efficient and effective strategies to increase profit margins, increase employee productivity, and find cost savings through cash management. Evaluating your organization’s AP automation capabilities will help determine whether hiring a controller, a CFO, or both is the right approach to optimizing AP automation for financial success. However, being a strategic financial decision-maker is only one aspect of the job.