One of the things we pride ourselves on at EFM is that our outsourced Finance Directors (FDs), Chief Financial Officers (CFOs) and other Finance professionals bring truly diverse experiences to the role – so when it comes to embracing and resolving challenges in small business environments, they’ve got a wealth of insight to draw on.
New Associate Adam Lindsay certainly fits this bill, with a career that took him from fashion retail to leading the Finance function behind the launch of a major US theme park – at the height of the Covid pandemic!
About Adam Lindsay
Throughout his career, Adam has regarded himself as a business partner as well as a Finance professional, always seeking to understand the business’s operations and objectives so he can add value to them.
He recalls, in his early days on a CIMA graduate scheme in UK fashion retail, working across multiple functions in the business – everything from warehousing and distribution to supply chain and purchasing strategy – and being excited by the fact that he could actually ”see and touch what drives the cost.”
This insight stood him in good stead for many other roles later in his career, where he took on business-critical Finance projects and travelled the world carrying out internal audits to ensure financial efficiency and compliance.
It was this breadth and depth of expertise – he prides himself on being the “go-to guy in the Finance team for the rest of the business” – that led him to be brought in as Head of Finance (and later interim Finance Director) to prepare the financial systems, processes, and operational Finance team for the Day 1 opening of the New York Legoland theme park, in the difficult circumstances of the Covid pandemic.
But despite his proven ability to lead and steer Finance successfully through high-pressure and high-stakes business phases, working closely with the folk in the Boardroom, Adam knows that there is often value beyond the bottom line.
He recounts, for example, the story of how he advised management to go ahead with a special customer event that wasn’t profitable on paper, but was an invaluable training experience for staff that would likely equip them better to run profitable events in the future. The hidden KPIs, he says, can be the most influential.
What Adam will help EFM to do
Adam sees his role as an EFM Associate as a privilege – because it connects him to the owners and founders who had the vision and courage to start and run their own business.
And in this role, he is very clear that his duty is to “help those people wear all the different hats they have to” – something he knows more than a little about himself, having worked across many departments and functions in his career.
Understanding the business, what it needs, and how to deliver it is key, he says – but he’ll also be highlighting new opportunities for growth and profitability, and sense-checking those he encourages the founders, owners, and their teams to bring to him.
By nature, a collaborative person and a team player, Adam relishes the prospect of immersing himself in a business’s fortunes and driving outcomes that really move the needle – much more fulfilling, he says, than working in a corporate environment where success is measured by dry financial formulae alone.
In his own words
Adam says: “I’ve been lucky enough in my career to witness first-hand how and why businesses do what they do, and why – and I see Finance as a powerful enabler in that process, not merely a way of measuring it or making it compliant.”
“As an EFM Associate, I can bring that belief to bear where it will make most difference to small businesses, without burdening them with the unneeded expense of a full-time Finance Director. Exciting for me, cost-effective for them!”
Click here to view Adam Lindsay’s EFM Profile.
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