Do entrepreneurial companies with revenue below $30 million need to have a chief financial officer (CFO) as part of its leadership? That question is raised in the new book “Financial Superpowers – How to Take Your Business and Personal Wealth Next Level” by attorney and accountant Ronald Parisi, published by Lunch Break Books.
“Entrepreneurial founders need a lot more financial firepower to help them scale and then exit, than a traditional CFO can provide” said Parisi. “Entrepreneur founders are a unique bunch—they need current financials, sometimes up to the minute, to show them where the big opportunities lie, not rear vision financials that might be a month or a quarter old.”
While Parisi isn’t against the role of a CFO, he insisted that it is a corporate position best reserved for large corporations.
“Most traditional CFOs see their role as a ‘controller,’ which totally goes against the grain of enabling growth for an entrepreneur owner,” he explained. “For example, they might advise against making new marketing and sales investment because they’re most interested in resisting change to keep things on an even keel as they would for a large corporate. This kind of approach doesn’t work for entrepreneurial led companies.”
