At EFM we’ve found that sometimes business owners can be unclear about the differences between and the value to be gained from the support of a bookkeeper, financial controller and finance director.
This is our short guide to what they do and how businesses can benefit.
A bookkeeper records and processes the financial transactions of a company, be it organising supplier invoices, generating a company’s own invoices, managing the payroll and preparing VAT returns. Poorly managed books have a knock-on effect throughout all levels of a business and in some cases can lead to costly fines or penalties. At EFM we recommend you use an experienced bookkeeper.
Primarily, a good financial controller processes the data generated by a bookkeeper into a set of accounts – this could be a set of management accounts or more specialised analysis, such as calculating performance of certain services, departments or employees.
Typically, a finance director or CFO is a senior, board level executive who takes a proactive role in developing a company’s strategy with an eye to its finances. A finance director provides expert input in areas as varied as pensions, business plans, financial systems and property contracts. Utilising the data generated by the bookkeeper and financial controller, a finance director can take decisions on the strategic direction of a company.
Often, there is confusion between the input of a finance director and an external accountant. An external accountant can provide compliance and tax based services, whereas an FD gives commercial, board-level guidance to the day-to-day running of a company.
All three roles are important to a company.
It’s vital that businesses do not fall into one of three very common traps:
Profitability-driven finance leader with expertise in all facets of accounting, financial management, financial analysis, and controllership within corporations with extensive regulatory compliance…
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