The 25th Hour

How Business Owners Can Create a Valuable 25^th Hour

For most middle-market business owners, time is their most valuable asset, but daily schedules are frequently overtaken by routine activities, unexpected fire drills, and crisis management.

When this occurs too often, owners should challenge themselves by asking the question:

What would I do with an extra hour each day?

For those who do not have a quick reply, consider these valuable or rewarding answers:

• • Review the strategic plan for progress and alignment
  • Engage with management and staff
  • Strengthen customer relationships
  • Analyze results and make tactical adjustments
  • Develop the next phase of growth
  • Step away from the business with confidence, knowing it is running smoothly

Finding your 25th hour

While this sounds ideal, the harder part for most owners is making this extra hour a reality. Business owners can reclaim meaningful time by rethinking how finance and accounting responsibilities are handled.

Many owners spend hours each week managing financial processes, reviewing reports, overseeing cash flow, troubleshooting accounting issues, or making decisions without the benefit of timely, well-analyzed data. These tasks are essential, but they are rarely the highest and best use of an owner’s time.

Engaging a fractional controller or fractional CFO can significantly reduce, or eliminate, the time owners spend managing or performing these functions themselves.

More than delegation: Strategic leverage

The value of a fractional finance leader goes well beyond task relief. By leveraging the expertise of an experienced controller or CFO, business owners gain:

• Stronger financial oversight and controls
• More reliable, timely financial reporting
• Improved cash flow and forecasting
• Better-informed strategic decision-making

Just as important, owners gain back capacity. The extra time gained can be dedicated to higher-impact activities like planning for growth, streamlining operations, or any of the previously referenced activities. Alternatively, it can allow you to step away from the business more often, knowing that financial decisions are being carefully reviewed and risks are well-managed.

Fractional Accounting & Finance leaders: Smarter use of resources

When a business cannot afford an experienced full-time Controller or CFO, a fractional model is a practical way to replace lower-return uses of an owner’s time with higher-impact focus without adding unnecessary overhead. For many owners, engaging a fractional controller or CFO is the step that creates their own version of an extra hour a day benefiting both the business and the life they are building alongside it.

Interested in Client Accounting & Finance Services for your business? Keiter provides flexible access to highly skilled accounting and finance professionals without the overhead of hiring a full-time controller or CFO. Contact your Keiter Opportunity Advisor| Email | Call: 804.747.0000 to learn more.