Know what stage of finance head you need for your company:

1. Outside help on limited part-time basis from either an outside accountant, CPA firm or a consultant.

2. Part-time or fulltime controller.

3. Part-time or fulltime CFO.

Have a sense for what stage you’re at. One of the mistakes we can see is waiting too long to move from one stage to the next.

On the other hand, having somebody good in the position could however delay when you have to go from one step to the next. Another factor can be how well are your systems performing. A good person with a good system providing good information can give you more mileage than you could get otherwise.

So how do you tell which might be the right particular stage for you? Here’s some things to consider:

1. How long has it been taking you to get your financials and how accurate have they been? If it’s taking along time or you’ve been having significant adjustments of fluctuations month-to-month, it could be a sign you need to take the next step up.

2. How much has your company grown? What size is it now? As you grow and add more transactions, it’s going to push you along the curve.

3. Systems. How good are your computer systems? Are they providing adequate information or is somebody having to work hard to get the information out of it, which requires a lot more effort on the person in that particular role?

4. Cash flow. How is your cash flow holding up? Do you run into circumstances where cash is tight and you have to scramble to either make payroll, meet bills or other obligations?

5. Financing. Do you have financing needs that are coming up such as your bank line or raising equity?

Some of those clues can give you an idea in terms of whether you need to step it up to the next level. If you’re falling short in any of these particular areas or your needs are changing that could tell you what you need to know.

Besides your gut check on how things are going, another thing can be to ask somebody on your board or, perhaps, your outside CPA or, perhaps, somebody out of your peer group or other business person where you trust their judgment they could give you a feel if they think it’s time to make a move.

Get the right head of finance that fits where you are at this stage of the company. It can be an investment that pays off handsomely and gives you better information and better cash flow and better financing to help you run your business.