The role of chief financial officer (CFO) is in the midst of a dramatic and exciting change. Far more than number crunchers, the CFO today often plays a key role at the head of the corporate table to guide a firm into new territory. From diversifying supply chains to shifting business models to progressing towards digital transformation, finance chiefs are far more invaluable and strategic to their firms than ever before.
But for small and medium-sized businesses (SMB) that may not yet be in a position to hire a full-time CFO, missing out on that value can be a serious disadvantage.
That predicament has created an opportunity for the proliferating on-demand economy. As more employers turn to gig workers, independent contractors and part-time professionals to fill their talent gaps, access to financial expertise can be a helpful way to meet their needs.
Anita Samojednik, CEO of Paro, says the market for on-demand financial professionals like CFOs fits squarely within the broader digital transformation shifts occurring within the financial back-office. But it also highlights another trend among the CFO and corporate finance professional community, she told PYMNTS: More finance leaders are embracing the opportunity to join the gig economy.
Irreplaceable Human Expertise
As has happened during other periods of accelerated technology adoption and automation, the digital transformation of the financial back office has raised new questions about the role that human expertise plays in a modern business.
Chief financial officers are rising to the occasion, displaying their irreplaceable value to the organization. As Samojednik noted, technologies are automating the mundane and lower-value workflows, enabling finance leaders to take on far more strategic initiatives.
“Technology is evolving and learning, but it’s never going to be self-sufficient,” she said. “The pairing of artificial intelligence and the human is really what you’re after.”
These technologies are “making the human more intelligent,” she continued, and lay the groundwork for finance experts to add value.
Just because a CFO isn’t permanently situated within the back office or on a firm’s masthead doesn’t mean that CFO cannot deliver value to an enterprise either. Samojednik said Paro prioritizes its discovery and matchmaking process to optimize which finance professionals get matched with which businesses depending on their needs.
For some SMBs, that could mean relatively straightforward bookkeeping and accounting services. For other SMBs — or even larger enterprises with a shorter-term project in the works — that could mean hiring a CFO or other financial professional to solve complex problems or guide growth trajectories.
“These experts are working at the intersection of functional knowledge and industry knowledge,” she said. “Typically, they’ve already solved a number of those complex problems for other clients of theirs.”
When matched appropriately, on-demand financial guidance and strategic analysis can fit seamlessly within a businesses’ existing back-office technologies and often offer a more budget-friendly path to problem-solving and growth.
CFOs Take The Independent Route
The value proposition may be clear for the businesses in need of temporary or on-demand talent — especially in a job market as tight as today’s.
But discussions of the digital-first CFO often explore the role of finance chief as a cemented figure within the C-suite. Maybe they have been with a company since its early days or are stepping in to immerse themselves within the culture of a company to lead it towards its goals.
Yet Samojednik said that increasingly, finance professionals are looking to take their expertise on the road.
“It is a very, very strong trend we’re observing now,” she said. “The experts who want to work on their own terms. They don’t want to work for a large corporation — they don’t want to be dependent on just one company.”
For the CFOs and other finance professionals on Paro, she noted, these experts are not in-between jobs. They are deliberately choosing the freelancer path by choice in pursuit of the benefits it can offer, including flexibility and freedom.
As a third-party matchmaker, Paro aims to tackle some of the headaches of freelancing. It handles payments and collections on behalf of hirers and talent, meaning freelance CFOs don’t have to send invoices or chase down late payers, services that Samojednik said makes these experts more productive. At the same time, they can set their own price, which is then used in the platform’s matchmaking progress.
When the smaller frictions of gig work and freelancing are tackled, CFOs may find this career path an even more attractive way to deliver value to the enterprise.
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