Interim management pomáhá rozvíjet start-upy
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BUSINESS
accounting and its rules are created to
faithfully represent the economic reality,
and financial management is used to
manage the business. And this goes
from planning, to comparing reality with
the plan and to showing the final results.
If a start-up is thriving and the founders go
to the market looking for investors to help
them expand, the first thing an investor
will ask about is accounting reporting.
Without a proper understanding of
the financial health of the start-up, an
investor will not be able to assess the risks
and make an investment decision.
Let's illustrate this with two cases.
The company is in the very beginning
stages. The founders operate as individuals
and keep, inaccurately to say, only single
entry accounts. The business seemingly
grows and they decide to go on an investor
platform to invest in growth. They are
experts at what they do, but they don't
understand putting together a financial
plan. At such a time, it is a good idea to seek
out an interim manager to help them put
together such a plan. They will translate their
intentions into the language of accounting
parameters, set up accounting dimensions
and help create a business plan for potential
investors.
A second example might be a situation
where the company has been running
for some time. The founders have even
been able to patent their ideas and it
would appear that their business will
now grow. Unfortunately, to patent their
idea, they went into debt with the bank
and growth is now being hindered by
loan repayments. If they would like to
accelerate their business further, they
will need not only a financial investment
but also to optimise their processes.
They keep double-entry accounts, but
only in the basic dimension. They do not
have a business plan in place and are
focusing all their efforts on sustaining
their business. In such a situation, it is
again wise to invite the help of an expert
who will help them check their internal
processes, set accounting parameters
so that they correctly reflect the various
sources of income and show adequate
costs. At the end, again, a business plan
will be drawn up that can be presented to
potential investors, as well as to banks, for
example, when applying for a change of
structure and extension of financing.
For these cases, entrepreneurs can seek
an interim manager who has specific
expertise. They will help the company
not only to set up processes, but also to
motivate people. Mentoring for the owner
is also usually included. The interim
manager joins the company for a specific
time, on a specific assignment with
assigned responsibilities, rolls up his
sleeves and gets to work. This can
significantly accelerate a company in
changing their situation.
Tomáš Krýsl
interim manažer, člen výboru
České asociace interim managementu
interim manager, member of the committee
of the Czech Association
of Interim Management