In today’s competitive business landscape, hiring finance professionals for SMEs has proven to be more of a liability than an asset. Four out of five SMEs have reported severe negative consequences due to bad hires in their financial departments.
With this in mind, business owners and leaders might want to rethink their approach to accessing finance expertise and avoid traditional hiring practices.
Why hiring finance professionals isn’t the best way forward
- The recruitment process is resource-intensive, time-consuming, and slow, often leading to substantial costs that go beyond an employee’s salary. Research shows that for every salaried employee recruited, the total cost of the recruitment process amounts to 6-9 months’ salary, and sometimes even double the salary. These costs include bonuses, recruitment expenses, national insurance, pensions, training, equipment, benefits, unproductive hours like sick leave, and lost productivity during training. By in-sourcing the right finance talent on a fractional basis, SMEs can eliminate these costs and reduce the time required to set up their finance function for long-term success.
- Hiring finance professionals can be challenging for SMEs, especially when decision-makers lack financial expertise themselves. Without a solid understanding of finance, it becomes difficult to ask the right questions and make informed hiring decisions. This increases the risk of making bad hires, leading to further financial losses and productivity issues. Even relying on specialist recruiters or seeking advice from bookkeepers and accountants doesn’t always address this risk, as they may not have a comprehensive understanding of the specific finance expertise needed.
- The true impact of a bad hire goes beyond monetary losses. An ill-fitting hire can result in lost productivity among other employees, increased time spent supervising them, damage to the company’s reputation with clients, higher staff turnover, and possible legal fees. Additionally, when a financial employee has access to the company’s funds, the risk of fraud and embezzlement increases significantly.
The alternative – Finance Function Success delivered by YRH Finance Team
To mitigate these risks and costs, SMEs might want to consider an alternative solution – working with YRH Finance Team.
By partnering with experienced finance professionals on a fractional basis, a business can benefit from professionalising their finance function without the need for direct employment.
YRH Finance Team carefully matches skilled finance professionals to suit the specific needs of the business. We provide ongoing support, can quickly scale up or down as needed, and offer an additional layer of protection against potential fraud.
We add value by understanding and defining what Finance Function Success looks like for your business, and we then identify, diagnose and fix the critical issues that are preventing your finance function from operating effectively.
Find out how we’ve helped hundreds of clients achieve finance function success, enabling businesses to make more cash, more profit, at lower risk. Alternatively, feel free to get in touch to find out how we can help your business today.
