Fractional CFO expertise — without the full-time salary
Forecasting, budgeting and straight answers about where your money is going, from a senior financial mind who knows your business personally — for the share of the week you actually need.
You can’t manage what you haven’t projected
Building a reasonable projection of future earnings and spending is critical to managing and growing a business. Good budget management improves liquidity and profitability — and significantly reduces costs — because you stop discovering problems in the rearview mirror and start seeing them while there’s still time to act.
Most owners we meet aren’t short on financial data. They’re short on someone senior enough to tell them what it means and what to do next.
Know the standard for your industry
We help you learn what normal looks like in your industry, then maintain optimal cash flow by tracking the uses and sources of cash that forecasting and budgeting depend on. Knowing your gross margin is useful. Knowing whether it’s three points below where it should be — and which line is causing it — is what actually changes a decision.
Understanding your finances, made easy
From analyzing spending to rebalancing your budget, we make understanding your finances easy so you can plan for the future. No jargon, no forty-tab model you’ll never open again — just a clear picture of what’s coming, what it depends on, and what happens if you’re wrong about the big assumption.
Where the CFO work sits
Forward-looking work is only as good as the history it’s built on. That’s why fractional CFO engagements sit on top of accurate books: bookkeeping records what happened and controller review confirms it’s right, so the forecast starts from numbers that are actually true. If you already have that in place, we’ll work with what you’ve got. If you don’t, we’ll tell you honestly — a forecast built on shaky books is worse than no forecast at all.
The work that turns numbers into decisions.
A forward view of the money coming in and going out, so you see a tight month before you’re standing in it.
A budget built from your real operations, then reforecast as the year moves — not filed away in January and forgotten.
What margins, costs and ratios look like for businesses like yours, and exactly where you sit against them.
A short set of numbers that actually drives your business, reported on a rhythm you’ll keep up with.
Spending analyzed line by line to find what’s drifted, what’s duplicated and what no longer earns its place.
Hiring, expansion, equipment, financing or a new location — modeled before you commit, discussed in plain English.
From a stack of reports to a plan you can run on.
Talk with us
A consultation to understand the business, the decisions ahead of you and the questions your numbers aren’t answering.
Establish the baseline
We work from your financials to establish where you stand today — margins, cost structure, cash position and industry standard.
Build the forecast & budget
A projection of earnings and spending you understand and believe, with the assumptions written down where you can challenge them.
Meet, review, adjust
Regular working sessions comparing plan to actual, reforecasting what changed and deciding the next move together.
Fractional CFO, answered.
When should a company hire a fractional CFO?
Usually when the decisions get bigger than the gut can carry them — you’re planning a hire or a location, weighing financing, watching margin slip without knowing why, or growing revenue while cash gets tighter. If you find yourself asking questions your monthly statements don’t answer, that’s the moment.
Why fractional instead of a full-time CFO?
Most growing businesses need CFO-level thinking regularly, but not forty hours a week of it. A full-time CFO is a senior salary plus benefits and payroll taxes for capacity you won’t fully use. Fractional gives you the same seniority for the share of time your business actually requires — and you can scale the engagement up as you grow into it.
What’s the difference between a CFO and a controller?
A controller makes sure your historical numbers are accurate — reviewing the close, testing balances and protecting the integrity of the books. A CFO uses those numbers to look forward: forecasting, budgeting, benchmarking and advising on major decisions. Controller work is backward-looking and protective; CFO work is forward-looking and strategic. Plenty of clients use both.
How does the engagement work — how many hours?
It’s scoped to what you need rather than sold by the hour. Some clients want a monthly working session with a rolling forecast; others want deeper involvement through a budget cycle, a financing conversation or an expansion. We’ll agree on scope and rhythm in the consultation and quote a flat monthly engagement, so it doesn’t become a meter running in the background.
Do I need bookkeeping with it?
You need accurate books — not necessarily ours. A forecast is only as reliable as the history behind it, so if your records are current and reviewed, we’ll build straight from them. If they’re not, we’ll say so and can bring in our bookkeeping and controller teams so the forecast rests on something solid.
Ready to plan forward instead of looking back?
Book a free consultation and we’ll determine the best way to help your business reach its full potential. If we’re not the right fit, we’ll point you to a resource that is.