Don’t hire a hairdresser to fix your car

Of course not!

It sounds preposterous – most hairdressers would, presumably, know very little about car mechanics and most likely make things worse.

And yet, I see companies doing the equivalent of this all the time…

A few years ago, Insight Associates was looking to hire a finance assistant and we were seriously considering a junior accountant, fresh out of university…

…When all of a sudden he let us know he was taking a job as an in-house financial manager with another company.

I was perplexed because that position requires years of training and experience, well beyond his entry-level skill set.

This company essentially hired a hairdresser to fix their car!

Why would a company choose to do that, you may wonder…

…The answer is simple: They didn’t know what to look for in a qualified candidate.

It’s easy to make a mistake and hire the wrong person if you don’t really understand the job they’ll be doing….

…or what kind of experience or qualifications they really need to do the job well.

Most entrepreneurs and business owners are not trained in the complexities of business accounting or financial management.

Your strengths and talents lie elsewhere – that’s why you’re a business owner, not an accountant!

Now, because you are at the helm, you can most likely sense when you’ve outgrown your financial provision or when something is seriously wrong with your company’s finances.

You don’t need an accounting qualification to know when you are losing control of the ship…

Like when an unexpected bill threatens your financial stability or you find out your bookkeeper hasn’t been 100% accurate with your figures…

Or some big financial opportunity pops up and you’re not sure whether you’ve got the financial runway to dive in.

Those things are easy to spot…

But when your finances aren’t working and it’s time to find the right help, do you really know how to identify and hire the right person to steady the ship?

For many, the answer is no.

Because unless you’ve actually watched the inner workings of a finance department up close, you won’t be familiar with what it takes.

And that can spell disaster in short order.

Let me give you another example…

A few years ago, I consulted with a company about their finance department, which desperately needed restructuring.

The CEO was eager to find a replacement for the departing Finance Director and thought the best thing to do was to start advertising straight away.

So, I asked him a couple of basic questions:What are the specifications of the job?

And how will you know when you find the right person?

After pondering for a moment, he admitted he had no idea.

He knew he needed someone in place – but didn’t know what skills were really required.

Imagine, had he plowed ahead, what disaster may have awaited.

The reality is, unless you have successfully run a finance department, you don’t know what it needs to look like, or whether your Finance Director is doing a good job (or not!).

As the business owner, you most likely don’t have those specialised skills, as I said.

But it’s exactly what Insight Associates does.

We run the finance department for dozens of companies and know just what needs to be in place to meet and exceed your goals.

So if you know, in your gut, that your company’s finances should be run more smoothly and efficiently…

And you realise that there is work to be done, to improve your company’s financial provision…

Or you are thinking about restructuring or making changes to this department….

….don’t try to revamp your finance team yourself.

You don’t want to run too far without the right financial team in place, so get in touch now and let’s put yourself on the right path.

I look forward to talking soon