Gold Coast SMEs can now afford a CFO

MEDIA RELEASE 30 September 2008

Gold Coast SMEs can now afford a CFO
The services of a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) are within reach of SMEs thanks to an innovation by accounting firm Azure Group which has established a Gold Coast office. Azure provides its clients with an outsourced CFO giving access to strategic commercial advice and implementation.

Gold Coast accountant Steve Smith has joined Azure Group at their Southport premises and will offer strategic financial advice in the capacity of CFO to a number of clients.

According to Azure Group's CEO and founder Michael Derin, small to medium sized businesses tend to just make do with their internal finance people and accounting advisors and miss out on strategic level advice.

"I started Azure Group in Sydney six years ago with the idea of offering strategic level commercial advice to SME clients. The fundamental thing that I identified was that SMEs rarely get that level of assistance because they can't afford or attract an experienced full-time CFO normally only afforded by a large corporate and they can't find it in the consulting world," said Derin.

"When we first began, the CFO outsourcing idea was not something that anyone else provided so we started by offering accounting services with a pro-active approach. Over time we worked with our existing clients to offer CFO-level advice and have grown from there," Derin said.

Azure Group already has Southport's Insurance House of Australia signed up for its CFO service and Steve Smith has begun working with them. Smith has been operating his own accounting firm on the Gold Coast for many years and sees the opportunity to work with Azure as a great next step in his career.

"I met Michael Derin from Azure last year through a mutual friend and we realised that we had a similar business philosophy and could work together. Michael worked on the Gold Coast himself for a few years and really understands our local market.

"Working as a CFO within organisations is a next extension for me. I've been working in a proactive way with many of my clients on their tax and accounting needs for a number of years and am excited about taking my work to the next level," said Smith.

"I will be working with our clients to help them plan the financial direction of their business and look at their forecasts and budgets and identify gaps. Unlike straight accountancy work, CFO work goes beyond just number crunching and looks at revenue streams, capital raising and recommend strategies," added Smith.

As well as the CFO outsourced service, Azure Group is an experienced chartered accounting firm that provides ongoing service and handles one-off projects for clients. It provides its clients with proactive compliance advice to ensure that a client's tax position is considered throughout the year, not just at tax time.

For more information on Azure Group, visit www.azuregroup.com.au or call (02) 9238 1188.

Released for Azure Group by Dennis Rutzou Public Relations (www.drpr.com.au)
For further information please call Nicola Rutzou or Joanna Gitsham on (02) 9413 4244.

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