We shared this article titled “Not All CFOs Can Handle M&A“ in CFO Magazine on our LinkedIn page. The article provides reasons why companies might not want to rely on their CFO for M&A purposes without external support from M&A professionals.
Accordingly, here are four points that summarize the essence of the article:
- Although the job of a CFO requires a broad range of abilities, one area that is frequently beyond the typical CFO’s skill set is the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) process.
- In addition to being pricey, a CFO with deal experience is rarely needed — the company would end up paying handsomely for skills that are only relevant for a short amount of time before he or she goes back to other day-to-day responsibilities.
- A better option might be to outsource the additional deal-making skills only for the period that they’re needed. This is appealing for three reasons:
- Hiring a new CFO that is suitable for M&A is resource intensive.
- No training is required, as the current CFO already understands the business and will complement an outsourced M&A professional or boutique advisory firm.
- The company would be outsourcing the deal-making to experts that know how to obtain the best deal for each situation – essentially more than paying for the arrangement.
- M&A professionals and investment bankers (like Coventry League, an M&A and strategic finance kiosk) and business brokers have two things many businesses don’t:
- Time, and
- M&A expertise.
If you want to learn more about why M&A professionals and advisors – especially small firms such as kiosks – almost always perform better than an in-house CFO for M&A and how to recognize the talent among the pack, then read our evergreen post from June 2014 titled, “Do You Need A Contract CFO Or Investment Banking Kiosk?”
