Keeping it simple is one of the traits that I like to follow – it’s all too easy for us FDs to obscure and complicate matters through use of jargon and masses of numbers. Our colleagues really appreciate it when we break things down into small chunks, however, highlighting the issues and clarifying.

I’ve been looking at foreign currency issues with one of my businesses this week – typically we buy around €6million per annum in order to settle overseas bills as nearly all of our billing is in sterling. As we need to provide fixed price quotes to our customers, we are exposed to movements in currency over the period of the contract. With the Euro having moved around 20 per cent against the Pound over the last nine months the business needed to protect itself against this in order to avoid our profit margin being eroded.

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Many of you reading this won’t have come across the concept of a part-time FD; increasingly popular with SME’s, it allows a business to engage the expertise of a senior finance professional on an ongoing basis but at a cost that they can afford; it puts them on a equal footing with their larger competitors.

For me, a seasoned part-time FD, it brings variety from working with a number of different businesses each month, a plethora of e-mail accounts (!) but all the same issues that FD’s face everywhere. Whether it be the complexities of VAT, foreign currency risk or negotiations with banks it’s our job to deal with these for our businesses. Over the coming weeks I’ll be sharing with you some of the issues that I face day to day.

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