When you’ve grown accustomed to a certain way of approaching things, the words ‘different’ and ‘change’ can be daunting to say the least.
Adam Norich can attest to this. As Managing Director of UGT International, a homewares importer based half an hour outside of the Melbourne CBD, his job is to evolve with the times and keep across trends in the market.
But when it comes to crunching numbers, he admits he’s always been a little “old fashioned”.
“I’m not big on titles,” Adam said.
“We’re a business that has grown steadily for many years and we’ve always had an external accountant and an internal bookkeeper.
“Unfortunately our bookkeeper came to retirement and as a 32-year-old family business we wanted to replace them with an all-rounder, but the trouble we found was that often people were either too senior and didn’t want to do the bookwork or too junior and wouldn’t have been able to provide sound financial advice.”
Enter stage left, CFO On-Call, and more specifically, outsourced CFO partner Michael Granek.
As a people person, Adam wasn’t sold on the virtual aspect of the company, but Michael’s experience in the field was enough to earn him a chance – and he certainly hit the ground running.
“Coming into any family business isn’t easy, but as our bookkeeper retired rather abruptly Michael had to come in, roll his sleeves up and really work in the company rather than on it for the first few months,” Adam said.
“He wasn’t against that, but what struck me immediately was seeing how much he cared about the company and the people – that’s an important thing to me.
“Yes, he provided great financial advice and strategy – his influence has helped us to improve procedures and policies and set professional budgets for the first time, and he has been an asset on the tech side of the business which has taken the pressure off me.
“But for me, everything comes down to personal connection and showing ethics and that attitude of caring about what you do, and Michael embodies that.”
UGT International continues to go from strength to strength, with Michael’s passion, dedication and hard work a significant reason for this.
“The concept is great, I’d highly recommend it,” Adam said of CFO On-Call.
“Even though he was only part time, there was rarely a time that you would call Michael and he wouldn’t pick up – and even when he didn’t, you’d hear back from him inside half an hour.
“This has been a great experience for us.”
