Controller's Group Brings Financial Pros to Tri-Valley

By George Walsh, Hacienda Network Staff Writer

Company Provides Contract, Direct-Hire Placement Ranging from Support to CFOs

Finding someone to fill any temporary position can be a challenge, but finding someone you can trust to temporarily take care of your company's financial activities can be seemingly impossible. If your needs include a certified public accountant or even a chief financial officer, a recent addition to the roster of companies doing business in Hacienda may be able to help. Controller's Group Inc., a new tenant at 4305 Hacienda Drive, specializes in providing pre-evaluated accounting and financial professionals for positions ranging in length from short-term projects to permanent placement.

"We provide accounting and finance staff on either a temporary, a temporary-to-permanent, or a direct-hire basis," says Nancy Abruzzo, East Bay area vice president for Controller's Group. "The job titles of people we place range from accounting clerks for accounts payable and receivable, all the way to corporate controllers and directors of finance."

While, at first glance, it may be surprising to hear that a company would hire a temporary controller or CFO, situations often occur that make it necessary. "Accounting is the lifeline of a company," Abruzzo says. "The director of finance may go on maternity leave and be gone for three or four months but while she's gone, the business needs to continue operating." Other factors can also come into play that require a seasoned finance professional. "The Sarbanes-Oxley SEC requirements say that a company always needs to be responsible and aware of what is going on financially in their organization and have procedures to assure that appropriate controls are in place," Abruzzo adds. "Because of these new requirements, we're getting a lot of requests for higher-level financial professionals to come in and write the policies and procedures that will help companies comply with these standards."

Controller's Group is expecting to expand by 200 percent in 2005 and Abruzzo credits this growth to the personnel that is placed as well as the company's full-time employees. "When you work in a service like ours, talent is everything. Our recruiters are some of the best in the industry. Having an experienced staff is a huge advantage. There are a lot of candidates who have a good resume but are not as good as they appear on paper. There are other candidates who are 'numbers' people through and through, meaning that they don't write good resumes but have stellar job skills. When clients come to us with requirements, we're able to meet them because we can identify the appropriate candidates for the position."

The Pleasanton office of the Controller's Group currently employs six people (not including the professionals the company places) and its facility in Campbell employs another 24. The ten-year old company chose its Pleasanton facility for its central location and the fact that the area is experiencing business growth. "We have hundreds of clients in the area and we've only been here a few months," Abruzzo says. "We place professionals in private, public, large, and small companies in a variety of industries ranging from biotech to manufacturing to retail. In our Campbell office, around 75 percent of our clients are return customers. We expect to earn similar loyalty from our customers here in Pleasanton."

Photo: The Hacienda staff of the Controller's Group at their 4305 Hacienda offices.

Also in this issue...