Why Your Financial Team Is The Key To Your Success

Our finance teams are like our intrepid navigators, allowing us to plan for the future. 

Why CFOs and finance teams shouldn’t be overlooked for their critical contributions to almost any organization.

When asked to point to the organization's most important department or team, some leaders make the mistake of answering that question at face value. The truth is, there is likely no single most important team in your org. Still, each department is critical in its own way. For example — without your finance team, how can you ensure you have the financial resources to achieve your mission? Here are some of the reasons CFOs and their teams are invaluable to our missions:

1. Your finance team helps you make it happen:

Without your fiance team, cash flow is just an abstract concept. Remember, nothing gets done in business without resources. Even in nonprofits, institutions of higher learning, and credit unions, cash flow is a critical piece of the puzzle, allowing for agency and action. While, of course, a company can theoretically operate and even turn a profit with little financial oversight or management, it’s rarely a smart or long-term viable idea. Financial teams offer financial governance that allows us to keep track of our resources and assets — and stay compliant with applicable laws and regulations. Forecasting allows us to plan for down the road, and budgeting allows us to operate within our means. These are key processes, without which an organization’s ability to stay afloat can be significantly jeopardized.

2. Your finance team keeps you safe:

Governance isn’t just about asset allocation and cognizance. It’s also a sink-or-swim matter of adhering to regulations, laws, and even just ethical best practices. Your finance team helps keep your company safe from the inside. The consequences of non-compliance are far from negligible. Depending on your field and organization, these can range, from warnings or fines all the way to criminal charges and — of course, simple loss of reputation. That’s not to mention the role of budgeting and asset allocation — the processes by which you can ensure that you’re able to continue pursuing the organization’s mission each fiscal year. The bottom line is that your finance team is critical to your organization for its role in protecting it from risks, whether they’re the risks of noncompliance or the risks of untenable ventures and campaigns.

3. Got big plans? You’ll need a navigator:

Business development without your finance team onboard is a bit like trying to chart new territories without a navigator. Your finance team will often be critical — not only in making sure that you have sufficient cash flow to take on new territories or expand — but also to the planning process itself. Finance teams are invaluable parts of business development and they help with everything from day-to-day resource allocation to long-term budget forecasting that takes a wide range of external factors into account. They can be critical to your growth strategy — and often take the brunt of the stress when it comes to changes in direction. During times of growth and development, your finance team will be responsible for ensuring that you can still operate day to day and balance that with your long-term goals.

Don’t forget to thank your CFO today

It’s all too easy to overlook the crucial role your finance team plays. When it’s time to develop and pivot, they’re one of the most important teams in the process. While the rest of the org focuses on operations, marketing, and sales, they’re hard at work making sure that we can do it all again tomorrow. Don’t forget to let them know — without them, everything else might not be possible.

Getting ready for significant development? We’re here to help. We coach CFOs and finance teams to help them overcome pitfalls and obstacles to growth and development. Our approach focuses on key attributes and factors that lead to success in finance teams. We’re not here to overhaul your team or change anybody’s personality; we’re here to help your finance team leverage the strengths they’ve had all along. That’s the key to our success. Ready to learn more? Get in touch today.