Case Study
NECEC Case Study
Jeff Haydock and his team at ecoCFO have been an invaluable partner as the outsourced CFO and financial management arm for NECEC. We rely on ecoCFO to efficiently and cost-effectively be our partner in planning, forecasting, tracking, balancing, and overseeing our finances, as well as reporting, reviewing, and budgeting with NECEC management and board members. They keep us on track managing our complex financial relationships and enable us to make our organization effective. I couldn’t recommend ecoCFO any higher as a business and financial partner.
About NECEC
NECEC’s mission is to create a world-class clean energy hub delivering global impact with economic, energy and environmental solutions. NECEC helps clean energy companies start, scale and succeed with our unique business, innovation and policy leadership.
NECEC comprises two sister organizations. The Northeast Clean Energy Council is a trade member organization and the lead voice for hundreds of clean energy companies across the Northeast, influencing the energy policy agenda and growing the clean energy economy. The second entity, the NECEC Institute, leads Cleantech Navigate Northeast and the Northeast region of Cleantech Open, programs that support startups in the region.
The Challenge
NECEC leadership decided it needed to outsource finance and accounting to keep costs low and focus its resources on its outward mission: promoting a clean energy hub in seven Northeast states, including the New England states and New York. At the time, the organization did not have any in-house financial expertise to guide all of its accounting needs, including accounts payable, accounts receivable, budgeting, and forecasting. NECEC needed assistance in creating new accounting systems and controls and acquiring a line of credit.
“Finance is an essential function for the organization, so it was important to find a reliable and trusted outsourced CFO and accounting department,” said Peter Rothstein, president of NECEC. “We are focused on growing the clean energy industry and the clean economy across seven states, so it’s important to have a strong partner to help us manage our finances and make sure we are on track.”
NECEC works with diverse companies in almost every part of cleantech, including solar, wind, energy efficiency, water, clean transportation, and energy storage. As a result, NECEC needed a finance partner that understands how these business sectors work.
And because the organization comprises both a trade organization and a nonprofit, NECEC needed to partner with financial expertise that understands both entities’ tax and reporting needs.
Why ecoCFO
NECEC chose ecoCFO as its outsourced CFO and accounting team because of ecoCFO’s expertise in the cleantech industry and its finance experience with both corporations and nonprofits.
ecoCFO has more than ten years of experience in financial services, accounting, federal, and state regulations and practical experience with solar, wind, hydro, CHP, energy storage development, financing, construction, and solar asset management.
And over the past decade, ecoCFO team members have also worked in water and wastewater treatment, waste management and recycling, EVs and batteries, sustainably produced materials, and cleantech nonprofits. The depth and breadth of the firm’s knowledge made it the right fit for NECEC.
Benefits
ecoCFO secured a line of credit for NECEC and instituted precise and repeatable financial reporting and forecasting. Today, ecoCFO maintains departmental budgets and forecasts and guides them through audits and reporting to the board of directors.
“ecoCFO is a much better partner for us because they also understand what is going on in the clean energy industry. They know the issues that we’re dealing with; they know the issues that our member companies are dealing with. They are a complete partner and advisor to us,” said Rothstein.
“Jeff Haydock and his team at ecoCFO have been an invaluable partner as the outsourced CFO and financial management arm for NECEC,” he added. “We rely on ecoCFO to efficiently and cost-effectively be our partner in planning, forecasting, tracking, balancing, and overseeing our finances, as well as reporting, reviewing, and budgeting with NECEC management and board members. They keep us on track managing our complex financial relationships and enable us to make our organization effective. I couldn’t recommend ecoCFO any higher as a business and financial partner.”
Next Steps
To learn more about how ecoCFO can help your financial and accounting needs, visit our services page