Dr Jeff Cornwall

“Maybe it’s time for you to get a Controller.”
Entrepreneurs who experience significant growth in their business may eventually hear this advice. Financial management in a growing business can become strained, and eventually it can become time to upgrade your team. What exactly does a controller do in a business? And how much will one cost me?
The titles bookkeeper, controller and CFO can get tossed around rather loosely in small and growing ventures. But, these titles have specific meaning. And which type your business really needs can vary from situation to situation.
A bookkeeper performs basic financial record keeping and can create simple financial reports. A bookkeeper does the following basic tasks:
– Keeps accurate records of financial transactions and can create basic financial statements (Income Statement and Balance Sheet) using accounting software.
– Performs basic A/P management — makes sure bills get paid and records these entries into the accounting system.
– Performs basic A/R management — if the business has to send invoices to customers to get paid, sends out invoices usually once a month.
Moving up to a controller adds more power to your financial management. In fact, a good controller can often pay for herself in a growing company that needs more advanced systems by helping to keep costs under control and by helping to better manage cash flow. A controller does the following tasks:
– A controller will either perform all of the functions of a bookkeeper, or supervise the staff that does.
– They can create customized daily, weekly and monthly financial reports to meet the specific needs of your business.
– They have the knowledge to choose and maintain financial software.
– They can take over the basic cash flow management of the business. Major cash flow decisions will still be up to the entrepreneur, however.
Some businesses eventually need a Chief Financial Officer. But many very large organizations don’t have one, so don’t assume that your business will. We never had one in our business even though we got quite large and complex. A CFO does the following tasks:
– Performs all functions of a Controller.
– Is able to structure and negotiate complex financing, including debt and equity.
– Can create complex financial projections to aid in strategic decision making, and is an active player in the strategic management of the business.
– Manages banker and other financial relationships for the business.
A senior bookkeeper can cost between $30 – $50,000, depending on the local market and their work experience. A controller can cost at least twice that. And an experienced CFO can cost twice as much as a controller. Again, salaries can vary widely between various cities, and experience levels will also be a major contributor. So talk to other entrepreneurs in your area who have larger businesses than yours to get an idea of the local market salaries for these positions.
Use your CPA firm and your network of fellow entrepreneurs to find a pool of applicants. Placing a general ad should be your last resort, as it will be difficult for you to differentiate between the actual skills and competencies of the candidates.

During the growth of a business, you as the entrepreneur must face some basic questions about how to successfully build a team while at the same time redefining your role in the business. It is a transition from a business led by an entrepreneur to a business led by a professional team.
The first step in this process is to understand the difference between operational and strategic leadership. Many entrepreneurs start their businesses because they like the hands-on part of their business. Engineers like to engineer. Furniture makers like to build stuff. However, at some point in the growth of the business the entrepreneur begins to move away from the hands-on part of what they company does. This can be a painful and frustrating period. Keep this in mind when you decide how far you want to grow the business. It is alright to keep it at a size that allows you to stay involved in the hands-on. But if you intend to grow, be ready to move away from the operational part of the business and become a strategic leader. Lead and manage using your vision for the business, and create a team that can fulfill that vision at the operational level.
Just what this strategic role looks like will vary from company to company, and from entrepreneur to entrepreneur. For many entrepreneurs, this may be their first time as a CEO of a company of any size. That title means very little in the early days, but as the company grows it takes on more meaning. Defining your role and your style as the CEO of your company takes planning and specific effort on your part. It may even feel a bit awkward at some point, but you have to establish what your role will be as the CEO.
Carefully review your strengths and weaknesses vis-a-vis the needs of the growing business. Use your management team to bridge the gaps that are created by the role you define for yourself. Assess the potential of current employees to fill those gaps. But be ready to bring in outsiders, as it is rare that all the talent you will need is already on your staff. Create a plan to develop current staff and recruit new talent with clear priorities for their roles and objectives. Set specific milestones, most likely tied to sales growth, for when you will need to be ready to hire new members for the team.
With each person we hire, our culture can change just a little bit. And over time, this can lead to a business that does not look like we had intended or envisioned. One area that you must keep control of as a strategic leader is your culture. Your values shaped the culture of your business as it began, but to maintain that culture you must actively manage it during growth. You do this through who you hire, what you reward, what you celebrate, the structure you create for the business, and your communications to employees. Be deliberate about the culture you intend to build in the business and think about how each action you take over time can effect this culture.
Be ready to delegate key roles to your team. Letting go is tough for most of us. We have been with our business all the way through its growth — through the good and the bad times. But at some point, if we want our business to grow successfully, we have to begin to delegate. At first it will seem that no one can do what you do as well as you can. But just like raising a teenager, at some point you have to begin to let go so they can learn and grow up. Your business will go through this same difficult transition. If you don’t begin to let go your business may never successfully move into its next stage of development.
Finally, as you grow your business and your team remember that ultimately it is still your business. I remember how at some point in the growth of our business it seemed that I was chasing everyone else’s goals. Our banker, our CPA, our attorney, fellow entrepreneurs, and our management team all seemed to have their own vision for what we could become and ideas for where we could take the business. While it is good to listen to such advice, the most fundamental aspect of becoming a strategic leader is to be ready to establish a clear and compelling vision and set a course to take the business toward that ultimate goal.
(Thanks to Eric Tam from McMaster University in Canada for suggesting this topic).