Before you hire a CFO, write down the decisions
A job description that asks one person to reconcile every account, raise capital and set strategy can attract three very different candidates. Start with the decisions you want off your desk. Then work backward to the authority, time and support the job actually needs.
Draft the mandate before you interview
- List the next three material decisions, who decides today and the date each answer is needed. Examples include a new location, a seasonal borrowing request or a product line with unclear margins.
- For each decision, name the output you expect: a base and downside forecast, a borrowing recommendation, or a margin analysis tied to the books. Pick who supplies the inputs.
- Separate the owner’s approval from the CFO’s authority. Who can commit spending, negotiate terms or change a forecast assumption? Write that down before promising autonomy.
Match the seat to the frequency of the work
If the constraint is a backlog of reconciliations, start with accounting capacity and close ownership. If decisions arrive around a monthly review or a defined financing project, test a fractional scope with named outputs. A full-time role is easier to justify when daily operating decisions, leadership of a growing finance team and ongoing lender or board work consistently fill the calendar.
Use one interview question that exposes judgment
Ask: “Our largest customer wants longer terms on a bigger order. What would you need before saying yes?” Listen for production capacity, gross margin after the extra work, timing of collections, borrowing headroom and who owns the customer relationship. A strong answer names the missing facts and explains which one could change the decision.
Finish your hiring brief with one test for the first quarter: an owner and decision date for each major commitment, supported by numbers your accounting team can reproduce. That gives both sides a concrete definition of the job.