Our Vision
iCFO envisions a customer base of overwhelmingly satisfied business stakeholders whose financial and operational goals and objectives are achieved due to our contribution as an invaluable team member in their enterprise. We will redefine the standard for service and results in the financial consulting industry.
Our Mission
iCFO - Redefining Service. iCFO is an innovative financial consulting concept that provides CFO, controller, audit and fraud analysis resources to businesses that need them temporarily or part time. Unlike standard consulting protocol, we will unleash our entrepreneurship and provide service with our customer's needs ahead of our own. We will deliver service solutions that are top notch, state of the art, innovative, relevant, useful, and cost-effective; and our seasoned business instincts will provide for ancillary value that is unanticipated by our customers.
What We Value
iCFO values our customers and solving their financial business pains. We expect our services to far exceed our customers' expectations. In this endeavor, we value integrity, dedication, solutions, creativity, innovation, intelligence, entrepreneurship, flexibility, diversity in people, teamwork, and the end product, great relationships. Through this we expect to impact people and their business aspirations in a powerful way.
Our Goal
In a medical analogy, we will act to solve any financial business problem by identifying the root cause of the pain once symptoms have occurred. We encourage our customers to get regular physicals of their business to proactively prevent or detect illnesses before they become problematic or serious. So, do you need a physical? Do you have any pain? Describe the symptoms? A solution is only a phone call away.
Services
iCFO services are performed in many circumstances.
Some such circumstances include:
Start-up companies that need a CFO but not full-time.
Business stakeholders and entrepreneurs with painful financial and operational symptoms.
CFOs, controllers or audit functions with excess internal service demand.
Companies with temporary vacancies for these financial management positions.
Mid-sized companies where part-time controller services are needed.
Virtual offices in need of a virtual CFO or controller.
Businesses that require ongoing third-party analysis to prevent or detect fraud.
Cost Commitment
We understand the constraints and pressures to manage the cost side of your business. We have been there. We will commit to only accepting an assignment if it is cost-beneficial to your organization. Our pricing will be flexible, fair, and adapted to your circumstances. We will perform preliminary consultations or analysis at no fee. And, no fee will be incurred without your direct and purposeful agreement. We will make your physical or symptom assessment painless and any solutions developed will provide value. So how can you afford not to call on us?
Stewardship
iCFO donates 10% of our income to charitable causes and at least 10% of our time. If your company would like to be a partner in this effort, we will identify impactful charities for your contribution of time or money. We will redefine business service delivery and change the world.
Financial Tip of the Month
HOW DOES A COMPANY MINIMIZE THE RISK OF THEFT IN THE REVENUE PROCESS? There are a number of ways to commit and hide fraud on the revenue collection process. This is especially an issue in small to mid-sized companies as their size often prevents quality manual and system internal controls. But it is also a problem for many of the larger companies I have dealt with as well. So what is the solution? Here is the (literally) hundred thousand dollar answer to minimize the risk for most fraud in this process:
For a small to mid-sized business - Have one person that is not involved in the financial function (like the receptionist) receive all funds (checks, cash, etc..) directly. We will call this the receiver. This may mean the receiver goes to a lock box or receives the mail from the postal service. It is important that only this person touches or has access to the funds. This person will then prepare what is necessary for the finance function to record the transaction. But, the finance people should not touch the actual funds. Copies, scanned copies, etc
is what should be provided to finance. The receiver will then prepare the deposit slip, endorses the check, and takes them directly to the bank. This will establish accountability to the receiver so if any funds are discovered missing one will know exactly where to go. And that is critical because no one wants to get caught in the act of fraud.
If one cannot establish quality segregation of duties, physically control assets, or establish preventive controls, establishing accountability and using detective controls is the way to go. The key is to find out you have an issue quickly, and then know who exactly is responsible. In the receipt process, the above will do exactly that. In addition, the receiver will know this so they will feel this responsibility. Again, no one wants to be caught in a fraud. This prevents the concealment and ability to deflect responsibilities.
Please note that many banks now provide scanners where the deposit is automatically transmitted to the bank via the scanning of the check. This limits the risks as the checks are not exposed to non-receivers during the delay in taking the deposit to the bank. This also will provide the necessary scanned image for the finance function.
This type of fraud is detected by analytically and critically reviewing the balance sheet, requiring the periodic preparation of the balance sheet account reconciliations and requiring independent reviews of these reconciliations. What is one looking for? Unexpected or unexplained "Debits". I will address what this is in my next update. But for now, take steps to protect the integrity of the balance sheet and the associated accounts.
For larger companies, a lock box should be considered. This achieves the same objectives.
Your tip from iCFO. Get rich and keep peoples hands out of your pocket!
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