A fractional CFO or Controller provides senior-level financial leadership on a part-time basis. A business gains the strategy, analysis, and oversight of an experienced finance professional without the cost of a full-time hire.

A Controller looks at what has already happened: whether the financials are accurate, whether the procedures behind them are sound, and whether the numbers can be relied on for decisions. A CFO looks ahead, with cash flow forecasting, budgeting, pricing and profitability analysis, and planning for growth. Most engagements include some of each, shaped around where the business is today.

No. The work begins where bookkeeping ends, taking the financial data a bookkeeper or accounting system produces and turning it into analysis and strategy. The firm works alongside a client’s existing bookkeeper, and can refer a trusted partner when one is needed.

Often it is when the decisions are getting larger, such as hiring, pricing changes, a new location, financing, or a new product line, and there is a wish for more than instinct to guide them. Size matters less than having reasonably current books and questions worth answering.

It begins with a high-level review of the financials and a conversation about goals. From there, areas for improvement and growth are identified and an action plan is built. Meetings then follow on a semi-annual, quarterly, or monthly basis to review results, update the plan, and work through upcoming decisions.