Real Business - A good time to be a part-time FD

A good time to be a part-time FD

If part-time finance director Jennifer Raines’s experience is anything to go by, it seems a number of companies are wising up to the fact that in these tough times, it helps to have someone on board who can tell you straight what your financial situation is.

Raines is the founder of Your Right Hand FD, which offers interim FD services to companies with turnover ranging from £250,000 to £6m. “Business has grown really steadily,” she says. “We’ve been putting on a new client a month.”

Turnover after the firm's year in business was £200,000

Raines says clients are coming to her wanting strategic advice as well as hard data on how their business is performing. “They want to know why their business is performing the way it is. They don’t just want an accountant putting numbers on their desk,” she says.

“For example, we recently presented the accounts at one of my newest clients – a recruitment business – where we looked at how much each person is contributing to the margin and then what their average daily margin amount is, and how that’s compared against prior months.”

Raines has one piece of advice for all companies during the downturn: “It’s never too soon to start looking after your cash. A business can be profitable and go under, while another business can be unprofitable but continue trading because it’s got cash.”