About Jim
Strategic CFO
BlueprintCFO
A veteran outsourced Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and financial advisory, Jim Downes has served business owners and management teams for over 20 years
Jim Downes – My Story
He has worked with more than 200 companies, specializing in fractional CFO activities and as a CTP (Certified Turnaround Professional). Possessing extensive experience in consumer products, manufacturing, trucking, food processing, and e-commerce, he has been featured in Forbes as an economic thought leader.
Jim began his career as a Certified Public Account at Plante Moran CPAs, the 14th largest CPA firm in the US. Beginning as a part-time CFO before becoming a full-time Vice President, Jim helped launch his first outsourced accounting client, Urban Science, an automotive technology/consulting firm in 1985. During his tenure, the company grew from less than $1 million to over $50 million in annual sales, winning the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2001.
Jim founded the Acumen Group, committed to providing part-time CFO services and financial advice to middle-market and privately held businesses in 2001. In 2007, he joined BBK, an international turnaround consulting firm as Director. During the Great Recession, he positively transformed numerous businesses facing financial distress and severe cash shortages.
Jim relocated to California in 2009 to open BBK’s Los Angeles office. When KPMG acquired the company in 2014, he was named Director of Restructuring and Turnaround Services for the West Coast. At the same time, he also became a nationally certified turnaround professional (CTP). Recently, Jim completed the training to become a Professional Implementer of the EOS (Entrepreneur’s Operating System) and became certified in CRO Thinking from Revenue Science.
Why Work With Me?
Jim’s unremitting passion for working with business owners seeking to build great companies led him to open Blueprint CFO in 2020. A forward-looking strategist, Jim, and his team provide a competitive advantage over typical CFOs. Leveraging data, they go beyond the numbers to make their clients ever more profitable.
Details of Practice
We work with entrepreneurs as their financial partner to help them grow their business and achieve their financial goals. Standing still doesn’t cut it and we help our clients get moving and accelerate their progress. It all starts with data, data that describes the current reality and data that defines where you want to go with your business and what you have to do to get there. Your accounting should be the scorecard that shows you if you are on plan or not but dig even deeper to show why the numbers are what they are. Let’s get your business moving and create the blueprint, define the key data to be tracked, and implement a scorecard to growth.
Certification
- Certified in CRO Thinking