I think we hired a tosser. Now what?

Dear Aunty B,

I have reached a milestone – I can at last afford to hire a CFO. I finally have an accountant in the business who can make sure everything is being done properly.

Anyway, my problem is this. He has got everyone’s noses out of joint with his attitude to the way we do things, which admittedly were made up as we went along (but by the book!). He is always going on about his experience when he was working for such and such a big-name firm and everyone gets the idea we are a bunch of cowboys that are lucky to be graced with his presence!

I have tried having a few discussions with him telling him to tone it down but he just launches into complaints about people and systems. He is also questioning stupid stuff like why we pay for people to park their cars in a carpark which is a 10 minute walk away (it’s cheaper!) when they could park next door and therefore arrive at work earlier.

But then he will turn around and tell us we don’t have enough of a buffer and wants us to stick piles of money in the bank when we have long-term contracts signed and don’t need it.

I am trying to work out if he is a tosser or we need bringing into line (my staff think tosser).

AH,
Geelong

Dear AH,

Lucky you! I want one. Look, this is tricky. The one place you need the serious tosser is in the CFO’s chair. And maybe you are a bunch of cowboys who need a few lessons before the Triple As come calling (ASIC, ACCC and ATO). And your new CFO is going to take the business to a whole new level.

On the other hand you could be right. You might have hired a risk averse big business devotee who cannot abide the thought of working in an entrepreneurial company. They look at the numbers and they feel very uncomfortable not seeing any revenue figures three months out. They can’t deal with the uncertainty of an entrepreneurial venture and in order to feel more in control they start to put in unnecessary structures and processes and carry on about things being “unprofessional”.

What you have to do is work out whether you have the big business tosser or the entrepreneurial savior. How do you do that? Lots of meetings where you listen to what he wants to do and you in turn explain your culture and why it’s different to working in large ventures.

I suspect that in the end you will move him on and replace him with someone more your pace but who has a focus on improving your finances and your processes.

Be smart,
Your Aunty B

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