Speaker: Eddie McDougall, CFO: Sam Lo
What would you like to say to your CFO?
Eddie McDougall: Hi everyone. I'd like to say a huge thank you to Sam Lo, Martin Law, Elsa Tang and Gary Chan from The CFO Centre team. All of them contributed in really meaningful ways for my business, digging us out of the rough and taking us to greener pastures. Thank you very much. And I look forward to working with you guys again.
What one or two big issues/untapped opportunities were you facing before you started working with us?
Eddie McDougall: During the engagement of CFO Centre, the CFOs engaged in two major activities over the course of 18 months. One was a rights issue. We were raising capital during the peak of Covid 19; a very difficult task to convince investors and new shareholders to come on board and believe in our business. Secondly, they were instrumental in cleaning out the back of house. Our accounting was a mess. It had to be cleaned up and they rolled up their sleeves and got the job done.
What specifically have been the benefits to your business?
Eddie McDougall: One of the benefits of engaging CFO Centre was it allowed me to have the people that were top of their game advising me about our financial position. And it also allowed me to focus on doing what I do well: making and selling wine. Without their help, I would have been stressing and dilly dallying in amongst the detail of financial numbers and wasn't doing the job that I set out to do.
What have the benefits been to you personally?
Eddie McDougall: One of the major benefits of engaging CFO Centre, and this is for me personally, is that I was able to obtain a peace of mind. I was able to step away from the business knowing that our financials were well looked after by a professional, credible and highly experienced CFO.
What would you say to others looking to take on a part-time CFO?
Eddie McDougall: As an SME, by engaging CFO Centre, I was able to instil a level of financial discipline that was never once there. We were reporting better information to our shareholders, our board meetings were productive, my management meetings with our sales team were productive and we were able to achieve targets and budgets that we never thought we could, simply because we were set in a disciplined way.
