CFO - stress - $$ = ?

You're a chief financial officer or financial manager who found yourself out of a job recently. Unemployment -- though it's now available for more weeks than ever before -- isn't gonna cut it. While you're waiting, how about a little part-time work? Best of all: you'll still be a CFO….sort of. Increasingly, small-and-growing companies are outsourcing the 'head of finance' position, says the Wall Street Journal.

One such outsourcing firm, B2B CFO Partners of Phoenix, now caters to 650 customers (up from 320 two years ago) with more than 100 "CFOs-for-rent" on call. It's certainly a win for a small business, which can get away with paying up to a few thousand dollars (depending on the time commitment necessary) for what could easily require $10,000 or more per month. Furthermore, there are those who say that an outsourced officer provides more of an objective view without the promise of performance-related perks dangling in front of him or her.

For the executive with no immediate high-paying prospects, think of it as a recharge. There won't be that ultra-pressure, or an ultra-complicated balance sheet to sort out, and you'll likely need to be a bit more creative with investments and/or in trying to stretch a limited budget. And who knows where a successful limited tenure could lead?

--Posted by Todd Obolsky, Vault Staff Writer