SaaS Outsourced CFO Services—Detailed Writing Samples
This is a collection of six guides that I co-wrote With Dave Robinson for Driven Insights and that are published on their blog. These writing portfolio samples are based on a theme of outsourcing Chief Financial Officer (CFO), accounting, and financial services. I wrote these guides for businesses that want to:
Understand if outsourced CFO services are right for them.
Define the accounting, bookkeeping, and financial management services they will need.
Compare different roles including accountants, controllers, and CFOs.
Build a SaaS finance and accounting team.
You will find links to each published sample below.
Intent of this writing on outsourcing CFO services for SaaS businesses
The overall intent of this work is to build trust with Driven Insight’s customers through sharing helpful, useful information, and to show thought leadership as an outsourced CFO service.
The other aims of this writing are to:
Provide supporting information on how outsourced CFO services work.
Educate the reader about key finance and accounting services.
Compare and contrast different roles within an outsourcing financial services company.
Break down and provide helpful explanations of complex SaaS finance responsibilities.
Help the reader achieve a specific outcome through a step-by-step approach to outsourcing their SaaS finance requirements.
Decrease the hassle, friction, and effort of outsourcing SaaS accounting and financial management.
Demonstrate thought leadership, particularly in the areas of outsourced CFO.
Drive better business intelligence and decision-making within SaaS businesses.
Mitigate risks associated with outsourced services.
Links to my published writing on outsourced SaaS finance services
Here are links to my published samples.
OUTSOURCED CFO VS. IN-HOUSE: WHAT’S BEST FOR YOUR SAAS FIRM?
“As your SaaS business grows, your finance and accounting capabilities are being stretched thin. Frequent errors, omissions, and inconsistencies point to the need for more experienced SaaS financial leadership, and that means adding or replacing a CFO. You have a couple of options—you can hire a full-time, in-house CFO or address your needs with the flexibility of an outsourced CFO service.
Deciding between them can be challenging. Should an early stage SaaS firm with limited resources hire a full-time CFO? Can a fractional CFO provide the level of attention your business needs? How will you fill other finance and accounting roles as you continue to grow?”
ESSENTIAL SAAS CFO DUTIES FOR EACH STAGE OF GROWTH
“Your SaaS business is growing, and each stage brings new finance and accounting (F&A) challenges. As your focus shifts from achieving product/market fit, to building a repeatable sales process, to scaling the business, F&A roles and responsibilities must evolve. Each of these stages highlight the need for experienced financial leadership in the form of a SaaS CFO or Controller in different ways.
We’ve talked about SaaS CFO duties before: How they align SaaS accounting and finance to drive growth, the best SaaS CFO interview questions, and the advantages of outsourced CFO services.”
DOES YOUR FIRM NEED A SAAS ACCOUNTANT, CONTROLLER, OR CFO?
“When it comes to SaaS accounting and finance, three key roles, with increasing levels of seniority, are: SaaS accountants, SaaS controllers, and SaaS CFOs. Determining which is best for your business at any point in time can be tricky. However, choosing just one may not be the only option.
In this article, we’ll detail the roles of accountants, controllers, and CFOs for SaaS companies, as well as how to determine your needs. Most importantly, we’ll share the strategy high-growth SaaS firms are adopting to ensure they never have gaps in their F&A function again.”
HOW TO BUILD A SAAS FINANCE/ACCOUNTING TEAM BY GROWTH STAGE
“What SaaS finance and accounting hires should you prioritize? When should you bring in additional help? Is it too early for a CFO? Should you rely on outsourced finance and accounting services or hire strictly in-house?
Right-sizing a finance and accounting team can be particularly challenging for a SaaS company. Rapid growth often means hiring quickly to satisfy immediate needs, but a forward-thinking approach will pay major dividends. In this article, we’ll break down the key roles and responsibilities for each growth stage, so you can put the right team in place today and expand it seamlessly.”
WHEN ARE FRACTIONAL CFO SERVICES RIGHT FOR A SAAS BUSINESS?
“As your SaaS business banks its successes, you’re looking beyond accounting and basic finance to the next stage. You need experienced finance leadership and a Finance and Accounting (F&A) team prepared for the unique challenges of SaaS growth.
One option is to hire a full-time CFO—but an increasingly preferred option is to use a fractional SaaS CFO service. When is the right time to hire a CFO? How is a fractional CFO different from a full-time CFO? Which option is right for you, now and down the road?”
33 SAAS CFO INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (AND ANSWERS TO LOOK FOR)
“Deciding to hire a SaaS CFO is a major step for your business. Whether you’re getting out of the scrappy “everyone does everything” startup mode or you’ve had a cash injection, a SaaS CFO shows you’re ready for the next step. The right individual or outsourced CFO service will drive your growth, lock down your financials and departmental KPIs, and prepare you for an eventual exit.
But, before that can happen, you need the perfect candidate or the best fractional CFO service you can find. That means interviews. And SaaS CFO interview questions. If you’ve not hired for a CFO position before, that can be daunting. If you’ve mis-hired before, it can be even scarier.”
More information about these portfolio writing samples
Here’s some more details on these pieces.
Learn about my client, Driven Insights
I created these samples for my client, Driven Insights. Find out more about them here.
Freelance writing services for these portfolio samples
I provided this content writing as part of the following services:
Writing expertise and topics for these portfolio samples
This content writing fell into the following topic areas:
Business: Employment and Work
Finance: Accounting and Taxes, Financial Management
Technology: Software as a Service
Type of writing
My writing for Driven Insights is ghostwritten. The main author of these pieces is Dave Robinson, an expert in SaaS finances, and I provided co-authorship assistance. This content was provided via a marketing agency, Brand Theory.
Similar portfolio samples
Discover more of my writing portfolio samples in related areas.
All logos and trademarks are used under fair-use guidelines. In all cases, my clients have paid for my work and they have complete ownership and copyright of the writing samples published by them and linked from this website, and no ownership is claimed or implied by me. Links to samples are included as per my freelance writing contract with clients. Linkage from this website is intended to provide my clients with greater SEO ranking through backlinks, and to demonstrate their expertise through my work. All excerpts from samples are placed inside block quote elements to prevent any possible duplicate content penalties. Any statistics mentioned are sourced from SEM Rush in mid-2022. For more information, please see my disclaimer.
By Paul Maplesden