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Corporate finance roles

Producing reliable accounts, explaining results and anticipating liquidity needs are complementary tasks. Finance recruitment benefits from starting with the decision to inform and the information missing to make it.

A function that supports the management of the business

Corporate finance covers the production and reliability of financial information, analysis of business activity, forecasting and liquidity management. Finance leadership coordinates these responsibilities across the business’s remit. This family concerns internal finance functions rather than capital markets banking or wealth management roles.

Distinguish recurring work, such as preparing accounts and monitoring cash, from one-off projects. An external growth transaction may require specific expertise without redefining the whole team. Also clarify who prepares the information, who checks it and who makes decisions with leadership.

Understanding the different roles

Produce accounting information

Accounting produces the accounting data needed for the business’s decisions and obligations. To define the role, specify the transactions to handle, the entities involved and the closing work assigned. The quality of information provided by other departments is part of the scope to organise.

  • Accounting

Analyse results and prepare forecasts

Management accounting analyses costs, results and variances against forecasts. FP&A combines planning, forecasting and financial analysis to inform decisions. Their remits may overlap: allocate deliverables and stakeholder relationships rather than creating two competing responsibilities.

  • Management accounting
  • FP&A

Anticipate cash flows

Treasury monitors liquidity and anticipates cash inflows and outflows. To define the need, clarify the payment dates to track and the information to obtain from sales or operational teams. Monitoring profit and monitoring available cash answer different questions.

  • Treasury

Coordinate the function and its projects

Finance leadership connects accounts, forecasts, liquidity and business decisions. For a Finance Ops remit, describe the operations and processes assigned. For an M&A project, define the boundaries of the transaction-related work and how it fits with recurring finance responsibilities.

  • DAF / CFO
  • Finance ops
  • M&A & corporate development

Job profiles in this family

Recruit according to the difficulty to resolve

Closing the accounts involves extensive manual reworking

If data arrives incomplete or late, identify its origin and the missing checks. A need for accounting production or more reliable processes must be distinguished from a need for overall financial management.

Leadership lacks visibility over the coming months

If results are available but forecasts are difficult to use, clarify the assumptions to develop with operational managers. A management accounting or FP&A remit can cover this analytical and forecasting work.

Cash movements are poorly anticipated

If receipts and payments are difficult to forecast, organise monitoring with the teams that hold the information. Define the payment dates and alerts to track before choosing the role’s level of responsibility.

An acquisition needs to be prepared

If the project requires specific financial work, list the analyses to carry out and the expertise already available. Clarify what will be handled by the internal team, through a dedicated assignment or by external advisers, along with the coordination expected.

Clarify deliverables and responsibilities

Name the recipients of the information

Specify who will use the accounts, analyses and forecasts. Describe the decisions expected to avoid reducing the role to producing tables with no identified use.

Define collaboration with operational teams

Clarify who supplies sales, spending and activity data. Give the finance role access to the stakeholders needed to understand variances and discuss assumptions.

Distinguish responsibility from outsourced work

If some work is outsourced, describe what remains to be managed internally: data quality, approval, timing and use of the results. The remit of the role you recruit for must take this support into account.

Frequently asked questions

Does a reporting need mean you should recruit a Finance Director?

First determine whether the need is to produce information, analyse it or make decisions across the finance function. A leadership title is justified by the mandate assigned; missing reporting does not define that mandate on its own.

How do you assess a candidate for a poorly structured finance remit?

Present an anonymised example of incomplete or contradictory information and ask how they would approach the analysis. Examine the questions they ask, the checks they propose and the stakeholders they want to involve. Make clear that they should explain their assumptions rather than fill in missing data.

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