Financial outsourcing: Check your business pulse

A. When was the last time you based strategic business decisions on reliable, quantifiable financial data that you were confident in? If you are not making data-driven decisions daily, outsourcing this critical function is the fastest way to make a gap a point of strength.

After 10 years of working with healthcare businesses—from assessing financial performance for credit worthiness to equipping them with finance/accounting horsepower—I continuously come across decision-makers who lack the information and team necessary to achieve profitable growth. With on-demand marketplaces of highly-vetted finance experts who already have experience in the healthcare industry, HME businesses can capitalize on affordable access to industry game changers. First, check your business's pulse. Ask yourself questions like:

• How confident am I in the reliability and quality of accounting inputs?

• How long does it take for me to receive month-end financials? (If it's longer than 10 days, let's talk yesterday.)

• How do my ratios and margins compare to my competitors? To industry bench practice benchmarks?

• What financial insights do I need to gain a better understanding of where my company has been and where it's going?

• How will my next growth initiative affect my bottom line? Should I diversify into retail models? Remote operations?

• Is the talent within my accounting/finance team up to par and capable of tackling the next stage of growth or regulatory shift? What about my processes & systems?

Confidence in your finance function drives businesses toward accurate and timely data, trackable metrics, and a rock-solid growth strategy, all while hedging against competition and regulation. A dream team of outsourced bookkeeping, tax advisory, CPA/controller, and CFO professionals provides:

Flexible bandwidth without long-term commitments

Access to industry subject matter experts

Opportunity for your business to scale and evolve over time.

Katherine Kinley is senior financial consultant at Paro. Reach her at Katherine@paro.com.