Why are CFOs ad interim so in demand in the current corporate crises?

The CFO plays a critical role as companies begin to adjust to the new challenging economic environment, including inflation, higher energy and borrowing costs.

The Covid 19 pandemic made many CEOs, owners and board chairs realize that their CFO in the corporate body was more of a technician and boring number cruncher than a crisis-tested leader in a corporate crisis. Consequently, there needs to be an upgrade in the job description of a "modern CFO." Fur few CFOs have ever faced stagflation, which is inflation combined with the prospects of recession. As a result, good CFOs are rare in a corporate crisis.

The modern CFO not only leads the finance organization, but is almost the deputy CEO, and in many cases is also the chief transformation officer. It's a challenging, demanding job.

Modern CFOs are no longer boring number crunchers; they now sit in the hottest chair in the boardroom. During the pandemic, they had to raise tens of millions of EUR to close operations and lay off thousands of employees. Budgets were cut and banks were asked for credit lines to keep the company afloat. Now they must deal with economic prospects that hardly anyone could have imagined before Covid-19.

Thinking long-term

With central banks still raising interest rates, any company unlucky enough to have to refinance in the coming months faces a hefty interest bill.

In the coming months, CFOs will increasingly have to prove themselves as they seek new financing. Banks will impose more stringent requirements on loan terms. Loans have become much more expensive. Even those companies that were fortunate enough to raise debt capital when interest rates were low will face the challenge of finding debt gears for growth financing.

Plan for all scenarios

Chief financial officers used to have a reputation as mere bean counter. The corporate CFO challenge in today's environment is ensuring liquidity. In the uncertain times and stagflation, he must "keep calm" and take an anticipatory, entrepreneurial perspective. However, how quickly stagflation recedes requires some scenarios and factoring in all scenarios, including a pre-mortem.

A pre-mortem serves a similar purpose as risk management. Unlike risk management, a pre-mortem focuses on the worst-case scenario. However, not every risk mentioned in a pre-mortem has a high probability of occurring. And even if they do, they may not be severe enough to significantly impact your business objectives.

Crisis-proof CFOs ad Interim in demand are needed

At SEViX, we must state that companies are now looking for CFO ad interim who are better suited for crises. Companies have found that their previous CFO was "the person responsible for simple revenue growth rather than the person suited for real challenges and leadership."

For companies in crisis, CFOs will play a larger role as the focus shifts from a company's P&L to cash and liquidity. During a restructuring, the CFO is the person creditors really want to talk to.

Does the current situation of your company cause you sleepless nights? With the right CFO ad Interim, team spirit with passionate teams, back support, we solve your problem. ?This also applies to you.

Contact SEViX to find out which SEViX partners can help you.

Email: [email protected]

More about SEViX is here: https://sevix-group.com/