Many people think the primary reason to hire a CFO is for their technical expertise.  That is probably true.  A CFO can help a company interpret their financial data, identify alternatives to improving performance, model the results of various alternatives or scenarios, and guide the company in achieving their goals.

In addition to these services, a CFO can help a company with introductions to other outstanding service providers.  When a company needs assistance, they often don't know where to look for help.

Recently, one of my clients that is growing rapidly asked for my input.  Because their business plan calls for significant growth in a very short period of time, I recommended outsourcing the accounting and the HR functions.  By outsourcing these functions at this early stage, the company could be assured that the functions could scale quickly.  In-house personnel would be overwhelmed quickly by the growth, whereas the outsourced service providers are already in a position to deploy as much resource as needed as my client grows.

We were able to refer this client to providers for accounting, HR/PEO, commercial insurance, commercial real estate, and start-up consulting.  These services providers supplement the services I provide giving my client the best team possible.  The end result is that my client engages this team of service providers for essentially the same cost as one employee, but we all have specialties that bring the caliber of service well above what one individual person could provide.