Temporary financial executives: who are they and who use them?

• Author: Davidson, Margaret

Temporary financial executives: who are they and who uses them? Arun Deva worked for Touche Ross & Co. for about a dozen years, before its merger with Deloitte Haskins & Sells. But as a partner in the large accounting firm, he found the work had become fairly routine, and he yearned to get more involved in the operating end of the company's business.

Today he's working with the kind of challenges he enjoys, helping smaller businesses handle their rapid growth or troubled financial situations--filling in on an interim basis. He jumps in and makes the financial decisions needed, sometimes in the role of chief financial officer, and then it's on to the next project.

He is one of a growing number of financial executives formerly with large corporations who are now working temporarily for smaller companies in need of their expertise. Some, like Deva, plan to continue that interim work indefinitely. Others, perhaps forced out of previous jobs by mergers, takeovers, or the downsizing of staffs during the '80s, are accepting such positions only until they can land suitable permanent employment.

For the temporary worker, the arrangement offers the possibility of constant new challenges with freedom from many of the political in-house battles confronting the permanent workers fighting for promotions and raises. And it provides the potential for a more flexible lifestyle, giving workers free time for family and other outside interests. For the unemployed in search of a full-time position, it offers a way to pay the bills and make contacts. And for those who have retired from the race, it's a chance to keep a hand in their profession and share the expertise they have gained over the years.

Employers of temporary financial executives can gain from the arrangement, too. Lower benefits costs and more flexible use of workers are among the advantages. Individuals can be hired as needed, eliminating salaries during times when they aren't needed and reducing the possibility of layoffs. Temporary staff can fill in for employees on leave or can handle new jobs until the company decides whether a full-time position is warranted. Startup companies and corporations facing special problems, such as Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, can draw upon the expertise of temporary financial officers who have in the past worked for some of the country's most prestigious corporations.

The use of temporary executives is part of a trend, begun during the past decade, that involves the increased use of the "contingent" workforce, which includes part-time employees, consultants, and subcontractors as well as temporaries. Richard S. Belous, an economist with the National Planning Association, reports that 52 percent of new jobs created in the 1980s were contingent positions, and these have increasingly been high-level jobs.

Of course, interim executives have been used in the past but generally without the formal job-matching arrangements now...