Your company has outgrown spreadsheets and gut feel, but a full-time CFO would cost more than your entire finance budget. That's exactly the gap a fractional CFO fills: senior financial leadership for a day a week, a few days a month, or whatever your business needs right now.
Bookkeeper, controller, or CFO?
These roles build on each other. A bookkeeper records transactions and keeps the books current. A controller makes sure those books are accurate, closes them each month, and puts controls in place. A CFO uses the numbers to look forward: planning, forecasting, and helping leadership make decisions.
What a fractional CFO handles
- Cash flow and runway. A rolling forecast so you see cash pressure months ahead, not days.
- Budgets and planning. An annual plan, tracked against actual results every month.
- Reporting and KPIs. Clear monthly reporting on the handful of numbers that actually drive your business.
- Fundraising and lending. Financial models, investor materials, and a clean data room, or a solid package for your bank.
- Pricing and margins. Understanding which products, services, and customers really make money.
- Systems and team. Choosing the right tools and building a finance function that can grow with you.
- Deals. Due diligence, acquisition accounting, and integration when you buy or merge with another business.
Signs you might be ready
- Cash surprises you, even when sales look strong.
- You're planning to raise money or take on significant debt.
- You're making big decisions on hiring, pricing, or expansion without a forecast.
- Investors, a board, or a lender are asking for reporting you can't easily produce.
- Your business has outgrown its bookkeeping, but not to the point of a full-time finance executive.
How it usually works
Most fractional CFO engagements run on a monthly retainer with a defined scope, such as a set number of hours, regular meetings, and specific deliverables like a monthly reporting package and a rolling forecast. The scope can grow or shrink as your needs change, which is the point. You can see how we structure ours on our pricing section.
We'd start with the smallest scope that answers the biggest question, often just a cash forecast and a monthly review, and add more only when it clearly earns its keep. If clean books alone answer your questions, that's where we'd stop.