Our current Finance Director has been with us for five years, but as we prepare for an exit, we need strategic financial forecasting and capital allocation, not just balance sheet reconciliation. She is struggling to step up. Do we redefine her seat, or is it time to hire a strategic CFO and move her to a Controller seat?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

You must design the chart for where the business is going, not where it has been. If your five-year plan or exit strategy requires high-level capital allocation, financial modeling, and strategic tax planning, then your Accountability Chart must have a true strategic Finance Director or CFO seat with those specific roles defined.

Once the seat is defined, run your current Finance Director through the GWC™ tool. If she is excellent at accounting, compliance, and reconciling the books, but struggles with forward-looking strategic forecasting, she does not have the capacity for the new seat. She is a Right Person in the Wrong Seat.

The solution is to create a Controller or Accounting Manager seat reporting to the Finance Director seat. Move her into this newly defined Controller seat, which she GWCs perfectly. Then, initiate a search to hire a true, strategic CFO or Finance Director to fill the top seat.

Do not delay this decision out of loyalty. Keeping someone in a seat they cannot fulfill is unfair to them and dangerous for your exit. A strategic buyer will immediately spot a weak financial seat, which will severely damage your valuation during due diligence.