A common problem is that an entrepreneur is ready to introduce management accounting and delegate its maintenance to a specialist. But he does not do this, because he is afraid to “buy a pig in a poke” and does not know how to evaluate a candidate, since he himself is poorly versed in finance. If you have financial problems, you should contact Payday Depot. So how do you distinguish a strong financier from a weak one?
Make sure the candidate can count
Experience shows that even a red diploma from a prestigious university does not mean anything. Only that the person fulfilled the requirements of the teachers and passed the sessions well. But here’s the problem – how to check a candidate if you yourself are not strong in finance? As the owner, you are primarily responsible for the profits. And they are interested in you having it, you could manage it and it was considered correct. Therefore, it is logical to test the abilities of the person to whom you are going to entrust control over finances.
Conduct an interview with a financier
The ideal option is if the interview will be conducted by a familiar specialist. He will ask the candidate narrow-profile questions and professionally evaluate the answers. And you will be provided with feedback regarding the theoretical knowledge and practical skills of the applicant.
Find out if the candidate is a process worker or a result worker
There are two types of people – those who enjoy the process of solving a problem, and those who think by the result. It is very important to entrust the finances of the company to a person of the second type. What the specialist focuses on determines his own result. To understand who is in front of you, ask a simple question – what is the product of the work of a financier?
Give a test task
If you see potential in the candidate, the person impresses you and you are ready to take him to the team, offer a test task. You can even pay for it if the result is valuable to you. For example, ask for a financial model of your business. This is a parametric table that shows all the key indicators that affect profit. Or offer the candidate to optimize your expenses. And if you have a trading company with a warehouse, entrust him with an ABC analysis. At this stage, communication with the applicant is tested:
- how he sets the terms of reference;
- how he formulates questions when he collects the necessary data;
- how he responds to your uncomfortable questions;
- how to present results;
- how you understand everything he says.
One of the functions of such a specialist is to teach the owner financial literacy. By hiring a person who is unable to speak about finance in an understandable language, you risk getting some tables where some numbers will spin. But what to do with all this and how it works, there will be no clarity. It will turn out that management accounting is just “to be”. The point of such an account is zero.