By David Richmond, Accounting Partner, Armstrong Watson LLP

A FINANCE director is like the co-pilot of a rally car – someone who takes all of the data available to him to advise the driver on the journey ahead and get the car to the finish line as efficiently and as quickly as possible, whilst always trying to avoid going off track.

In business, a finance director provides the business owner with valuable, understandable information which can be used to drive the business forward.

Most business owners would agree it is always helpful to have someone give you warning of a “hard right” ahead because without this the business could at best go off track, at worst be out of the race altogether.

A finance director shouldn’t be viewed as a cost to the business but rather an investment, as with the right finance director you should see a return on your investment.

For many businesses though, recruiting a finance director to be sat next to them every day is out of their reach. Typically, a full-time finance director would cost a business about £100,000, but there are many additional costs of recruiting at this level, including up to 30 per cent of the annual salary for a recruitment agency, plus holiday pay, pension costs, company car and medical insurance.

At Armstrong Watson, we offer Virtual Finance Director (VFD) packages to give clients the opportunity to take control over their financial data. We present up-to-date management information that can be used to create a roadmap for the business, including setting up the best key performance indicators. With regular meetings, we can help keep your business on track and navigate any twists and turns along the way. Our packages are designed with flexibility in mind so businesses can use the service as much or as little as they need it without any long-term commitments. Businesses can take a quarterly package or a monthly package, and depending on their business’s needs they can switch between the two. Typically, we see the best results from our monthly package however having a co-pilot sitting alongside you once a quarter can still deliver strong direction to the business.

For more information about our VFD packages and the difference this could make to your business, please contact David Richmond by emailing david.richmond@armstrongwatson.co.uk or phone 01756 620025.