Miriam Connole thought preparing budgets for a large insurance company was tough enough, considering all the unforeseen risks that can come into play. But then she became CFO of Burford Capital, a London-based start-up that provides seed money for litigation services.

Calling it a lumpy business, Connole says the challenges of a start-up can make mundane tasks — like budgeting — all the more difficult. “After budgeting in big organizations, it was so much easier to see the link between a pound of expenditure and how that would drive an extra pound of growth.” Connole became CFO of Burford in February after stints as finance director and CFO, respectively, at two London-based insurance firms, Friends Life Group and RSA Insurance Group’s Central and Eastern European regions. She also has held previous posts at AIG.

Budgeting at a start-up, though, is a much more inexact science. Without the years of historical data to back up one’s judgments, planning for the budget is “about justifying and feeling it’s the right level of expenditure for the level of growth.” So Connole has to remain flexible: “You have to be fluid. A start-up is a more proactive argument.”

That need to adapt quickly to one’s surroundings is by no means unique to growth companies. If the recent recession taught CFOs and upper management one thing, it was that they have to be nimble and plan for every event risk imaginable. But while a few years ago that meant creating risk-averse contingencies for every aspect of the budget, today those same CFOs are peppering their budgets with all kinds of growth contingencies.

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