Executive Interim Management
Finance Directors & Project Management

Our register of Finance Directors offers qualified accountants with experience of senior management in industry and commerce who may be available for interim management roles on a self employed part time or full time basis.

These are people who have seen it and done it before and are used to working in a high pressure environment that requires them to "hit the grounding running" and provide value and solve problems from Day 1.

Reasons for using interim managers

1. Improving performance - using an experienced senior manager who is outside of your line management on a particular improvement project brings incredible focus to the project. Quality improves and timescales reduce.
   
   Without such a person, the day-to-day commercial and staff issues interrupt the best laid plans. That's why day after day, experienced line managers go home knowing that they have not achieved what they intended to - they have been forced to focus on the urgent and delay the important.
   
   An interim manager solves this problem and is able to provide dedicated, focused time on your improvement project and can be extremely effective working as the project manager, making sure that people are sticking to deadlines or evaluating alternative approaches if timings do slip.
   
2. Bringing in specific skills to projects - your management team is very suitable for the regular management of your business but a particular project often needs a particular skill that your management team may not have.
   
   You could find exactly that skill you need in an interim manager so there is no reason to struggle with the issues of trying to train an already busy executive in new skills.
   
3. You need a stand-in while new executive is found - it's inevitable that staff leave and often it happens before you can find the right replacement.
   
   Interim managers offer an extremely flexible solution as they are often available immediately and can help ensure a smooth transition by going through a handover process with the person leaving and the new appointment.
   
4. Restructuring & turnarounds - if your business is not performing as well as you would like, there is an inevitable increase in the amount of financial analysis required, both to understand what has gone wrong in the past and the action plan and financial forecasts for the future.
   
   Our interim managers can give you a high powered, action focused service whilst also providing an invaluable independent and objective view. 
   
5. Acquisitions - if you are considering making an acquisition, our experienced financial directors can assist you in the evaluation of the target companies and in the acquisition process.
   
   If you have already bought a company, you now face the challenge of how to manage it and possibly integrate it into your existing organisation. Again our interim managers can help you make sure that your new company is integrating smoothly and effectively with a strong emphasis on delivering financial performance.
   
6. Growth - perhaps your business has experienced a remarkable short term growth and you have outgrown your current processes, systems and procedures.
   
   Our interim managers can give you that short term assistance to make sure that you are put back in control of your business and that you are able to make sure that top line growth does come through in extra profit and cash.

Do you need a full time or part time interim manager?

It's natural to think in terms of a full time position but do you really need a full time interim manager?

There are some big advantages in finding people who are interested in part time interim roles and that's why various statistics I've seen indicate why between 30% and 40% of interim roles are on a part time basis.

The first key advantage is flexibility. Projects and assignments don't usually fit a nice neat "5 days per week for 10 weeks" box.

More often you usually want somebody for a couple of meetings one week, an intensive three day analysis task the next week, a few branch visits the next week.... Unless your project is entirely standalone, projects have to work around other people's time commitments and the flow of work just isn't even or fixed each week.

The second key advantage is that you can get a smooth handover at the end of the project. Full time interim management is too black and white. It's on or it's off. There is no middle ground but wouldn't it be better if you could arrange a gradual withdrawal and handover of responsibilities and know that the person could come back if there were any unexpected problems or difficulties.

Third there is the cost/value relationship. Any good interim manager will have a high hourly or daily rate and costs can mount up quickly. That's not a problem when the time is spent on high value activities with long term benefits but it does become a problem when the potential impact of tasks reduces because the person is trying to fill their weekly time commitment.

Isn't it better for you if you are able to focus your interim manager on the vital high value tasks but you also have an arrangement that if there is no work requirement, there is no time commitment from either side?

Remember "part time" does not mean half-hearted or any indication of a weak commitment to your objectives. You will be dealing with a senior, experienced professional with the work standards and values to match.

See our register of Finance Directors of experienced qualified accountants around the UK. The people who are on the list have signed up as virtual Finance Directors and part time Finance Directors.

That means that they are committed to self employment with a portfolio of clients who receive specialist care and a high quality financial management service.

Individuals may be available for a full time interim role depending on current client work-load but it is more likely they can offer part time interim support. This virtual FD role is a bridge to help a company move from being a small business to being a much larger one who need their own full time FD.

If you have general questions about interim management or you'd like to be added to our register of Finance Directors, please give me, Paul Simister a call on 0121 554 4057.

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Last updated 2007-07-06