Fractional CFO
Your books say what happened. A CFO tells you what to do next.
Most owner-operated businesses reach a point where the monthly close is accurate and still not useful — nobody is turning it into pricing decisions, hiring decisions, or a straight answer about runway. That is the job. Senior finance judgment on a monthly retainer, without a full-time CFO salary.
What the gap actually looks like
The month closed clean. Nobody knows what it means.
These are the four questions owners bring us, and none of them are answered by a correct set of books on their own.
How long does the cash last?
A P&L can show profit while the bank balance falls — timing, debt service, deferred revenue and seasonality all sit between net income and cash. You need runway under a base, a slow and a good case, refreshed every month, not recalculated in a panic.
Which revenue actually makes money?
Most owner-operated businesses run several streams through one P&L line. Until each stream carries its own direct costs you are averaging a profitable line with a losing one and calling the result a margin.
Can I afford this hire, or this price change?
A hire is a fixed cost against a variable contribution. A price change moves volume. Both are model questions, and both get decided on instinct when there is no model to ask.
What will a lender or buyer conclude?
Outside parties read your statements without your context. Clean books are necessary and not sufficient — the presentation, the adjustments, and the story around the numbers decide whether you get the terms.
What a CFO engagement covers
Ongoing judgment, not a one-off deliverable.
The model is maintained monthly and the standing decisions around it are part of the retainer.
Engagement scope
Three levels. Pick the one that matches where you are.
Scope is what drives cost, so this is the honest way to compare — what is included at each level, then a quote against your actual complexity.
Close Only
You need reliable monthly financials and nothing more yet.
- Monthly close and reconciliation
- Accrual-ready financial statements
- Chart of accounts built for your industry
- Quarterly review call
Close + CFO
Most commonYou have books but no one turning them into decisions.
- Everything in Close Only
- Driver-based forecast, maintained monthly
- KPI and margin reporting by revenue stream
- Cash-flow and runway scenarios
- Pricing and owner-compensation guidance
- Monthly CFO call
Full Back Office
You want the entire finance function off your desk.
- Everything in Close + CFO
- Accounts payable run and vendor payments
- Business tax prep and year-round planning
- Lender, investor and board reporting packages
- Acquisition and financing diligence support
Every engagement is scoped to your entity count, transaction volume, and close complexity, so we quote after a call rather than publishing a package you would outgrow. The call is free and you get the number in writing.
Who does the work
Named senior people, not a rotating pool.
You should know whose judgment you are buying. The full team is on our about page.
Finance leadership across M&A, capital markets, fundraising and FP&A, including scaling a business past $60M in revenue and time in investment banking, private equity and venture.
Industrial engineer with investment banking and private equity experience, focused on financial modeling and investment evaluation across global projects.
Over 23 years in U.S. taxation including 16 years at Deloitte India, with deep expertise in global mobility and high-net-worth individuals.
Qualified Cost Accountant with 11+ years across financials, bookkeeping and reporting, spanning manufacturing and outsourced finance operations for large enterprise clients.
Getting started
From first call to a model you trust.
Questions
Straight answers before you book.
What does a fractional CFO actually do that a bookkeeper doesn't?
A bookkeeper records what already happened and closes the month. A fractional CFO uses that closed data to make forward decisions: whether you can afford a hire, what a price change does to contribution margin, how many months of runway you have under three scenarios, and what a lender or buyer will conclude when they read your statements. The bookkeeping is the input. The CFO work is the judgment applied to it.
How is this different from your financial forecasting service?
Forecasting is one deliverable inside a CFO engagement. If you only need a driver-based model and a cash-flow projection, the forecasting service is the right scope. A fractional CFO engagement is ongoing: the model is maintained monthly, and it comes with the standing decisions around it — pricing, owner compensation, entity structure, lender packages, and board or investor reporting.
Do I need clean books before you can start?
You need books we can trust, and getting there is usually part of the first engagement. If your file needs cleanup we scope that as onboarding work and say so before you commit. Building a forecast on an unreconciled ledger produces a confident-looking number that is wrong, which is worse than no number.
What size business is this for?
Owner-operated businesses past the point where the owner can hold the whole picture in their head, but not large enough to justify a full-time CFO salary. In practice that means multiple entities, real debt service, seasonal cash swings, or an outside party — a lender, a partner, an acquirer — who now reads your numbers.
Who is doing the work?
Named senior people, not a rotating pool. Our CFO bench includes M&A, capital-markets and FP&A backgrounds, with tax handled by an Enrolled Agent with 23 years in U.S. taxation. You can see the team on our about page before you book anything.
Go deeper — or just talk to us
Go deeper — or just talk to us.
Related terms
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Bring the decision you are stuck on.
A 30-minute call. Tell us the question — a hire, a price, a refinance, a runway number you do not trust — and we will tell you what it takes to answer it properly and what that costs.
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