By Mark B. Zinman, CPA | Zinman & Company PC

For many companies, hiring outside financial expertise provides access to organizational benefits they might not otherwise be able to afford in-house. One highly beneficial outsource option is the CFO – giving smaller companies access to the skill set that are a given among the big players.

There are CPA firms that you can turn to that do a lot of outsourced accounting work. Smaller companies can benefit from the entire CPA knowledge base encompassed in that firm. So, a business would not only be hiring a “CFO,” but it would also be tapping into the firm’s broad collective knowledge. The CPA firm you choose may be well-versed in banking, financial statements, management presentations, etc. among its highly talented staff, giving you access to multiple experts, not just one particular person. Additionally, the responsibility for accounting and reporting is on the firm, not one employee.

The benefit of outsourcing multiple duties, at least for our clients, reduces overall expenses as compared to hiring an in-house CFO. For smaller businesses, that savings can be crucial. An in-house CFO or accounting department would process the payroll, the payroll taxes, workers compensation, and employee benefits. But then you will still have to hire an outside firm to prepare taxes and handle other compliance items. One hired firm that handles everything has more synergy, and could potentially reduce the overall cost to the organization.

Outsourcing duties even works in instances where there are required financial statements. For example, one of our larger engagements has us running an entire accounting department. While the business has accounts payable and accounts receivable in house, we help manage those areas. Additionally, we facilitate management of the company through a management committee that meets each week. Because of financing, they have to have reviewed financial statements; because of our involvement, we do not meet the independence test, so our client hires a separate accounting firm to provide independently prepared financial statements. Even with another firm engagement, their reviewed statements are probably about a third of what they were paying with their own staff because we prepare everything for the other accounting firm, right up to a complete financial statement.

There are certain words that have different meanings to different people. Outsourcing and consulting are two of those type of words. No matter what you call it, CFO outsourcing (or consulting) is not an off-the-shelf product but a service, therefore no two client solutions look the same. This accounting service can be, and should be, customized to fit exactly what the client needs, expanding or contracting based on on-going need. Each engagement should be completely unique to the business and their situation.

Mark B. Zinman, CPA, is the managing partner of Zinman & Company PC, specializing in the areas of business management/consulting and tax planning. Zinman is an AICPA and PICPA member, and a member of PICPA’s Image Enhancement Committee.