Ever been stuck in a bit of a pickle?
For example:
- a staff member has left, and you haven’t found the right replacement, or
- you’ve decided to restructure and you’re not sure what you want your team to look like yet, or
- you don’t have an employee with the right skill set to complete a specific
project, or - an employee is sick and there’s no one to stay on top of the financial reporting processes and things are falling behind.
A secondee could be a good option for helping you solve these problems. They can provide breathing room and capacity, allowing you to make the right strategic choice for your business.
A secondee is someone who is transferred temporarily to alternative employment away from their primary job. The original employer usually remains the legal employer but the secondee can be instructed by the organisation they are being ‘lent’ to. This means the business can access a range of skilled and experienced staff on short notice for a specific period or project.
Many firms are able to provide this service, including accounting firms. Which provider is best comes down to the specific needs of your business.
The arrangement can be flexible where you can customise the role and hours to suit your business – being part-time or full-time or anywhere in between. Fee arrangements can also be flexible, based on an agreed hourly or daily rate or a fixed fee covering a period of time, that provides an ‘all you can eat’ element. From stepping in to help with monthly or year-end reporting, technical accounting, process reviews, budgeting and cashflow forecasts, they will have the skill set to cover a variety of roles.
There could also be the option that, if your business isn’t large enough to support a full time CFO, you could get access to a ‘virtual CFO’. A virtual CFO comprises someone who can review your financials and provide valuable input a few days a month to support you and your finance team. It’s also a great opportunity for your advisor to gain further insight into the day-to-day operations of your business. This can enable them to give you further valuable feedback on your processes and structure of your finance function.
By bringing in an experienced professional, it takes the pressure off the finance function and gives your employees the chance to upskill and get some valuable mentoring from an external professional. It provides the opportunity to network and build relationships with a professional outside the business, and gain access to new resources and networks that could help develop both the employee and the business.
There can be benefits to getting a secondee from a larger firm. They generally have a wider variety of experience across all sorts of businesses and industries. Plus, they have a larger firm to support them in the event anything unusual crops up. This can help take the burden off management and ensure focus remains on the important aspects of operating the business.
We are seeing an increasing number of secondments occurring. From our point of view there is an opportunity to experience working directly with other businesses and learn a new thing or two as well. Secondments can vary from maternity and sick leave cover, to changes in finance teams, and all look slightly different depending on what the client needs or wants. So, if there is a role you need filled and you want to take the pressure off, reach out to your trusted advisor and they might just have the person for you.
The comments in this article of a general nature and should not be relied on for specific cases. Taxpayers should seek specific advice.
