Fractional CFO services

Most owners we talk to have a bookkeeper entering transactions and a tax preparer who sees the numbers once a year, and they're making the big calls in between without much to go on. The CFO job is to take numbers you can trust and turn them into the next decision.

• Cash forecast. What's in the bank today, what's coming in and what's going out over the next few months, so a tight stretch shows up while there's still time to do something about it.
• Margin and pricing. Profit by job, customer or location instead of one number for the whole company, and whether your prices still hold up once costs move.
• Hiring. Whether a new hire pays for itself, and how soon.
• The bank. Getting your financials ready for a line of credit or a loan, keeping up with what the lender asks for each quarter, and knowing where you stand before they call.
• The handful of numbers you watch. A short monthly report built around the few numbers that tell you how the business is doing.
• Growth or a sale. Modeling a second location or a bigger contract before you commit, and making the business less dependent on you so it's worth more when the day comes to sell or hand it down.

The need usually shows up when the business is moving faster than your numbers can keep up with, whatever the revenue is.

• You can tell us your bank balance today, but not what it will be in 60 days
• You find out whether a job made money after it's done, if then
• You're hiring, adding a location or bidding bigger work, and the math behind it is "it feels right"
• Nobody is building a forward projection of cash or profit
• The bank asks for financial statements and getting them out takes a scramble

A CFO is only as good as the numbers underneath. If your statements show up late or keep changing after you've read them, that's a controller gap, and we fix that first, because every forecast and pricing call sits on those numbers. Our fractional controller page covers that work, and bookkeeping and cleanup covers books that are behind or wrong. If the books are already clean and the next big decision still feels like a guess, that's CFO work.

Because we do both, moving from controller work to CFO work isn't a handoff to someone new. There's more on the difference in fractional controller vs CFO.

Most engagements fall between $2,500 and $10,000 a month. Where you land depends on scope, how often we meet and how complex the business is. The side-by-side math against a full-time hire is on what a fractional CFO costs.

1. Assess and align. We go through your books, systems and reporting and give you a written assessment with priorities and the scope we recommend.
2. Build the foundation. Clean books, a tight monthly close and management reports you can run the business on.
3. Lead alongside you. Regular meetings on the numbers, on call in between, and a longer view of where the business is going.

We work month to month, with no long-term contract and no fee to end it. If the business ever needs a full-time CFO in the building every day, we'll help you recruit that person and hand the work over. More on the steps is on the process page.

You're past bookkeeping but not ready for a full-time CFO, or you want someone senior to explain the numbers in plain English. We work with skilled trades and construction, industrial and specialty construction, healthcare, nonprofits and foundations, associations and membership organizations and wealth management and financial services. We're based in Sidney, Ohio, serving businesses across West Central Ohio and nationwide. If you're nearby, see the Sidney and Dayton pages.

How much does a fractional CFO cost?

Most engagements fall between $2,500 and $10,000 a month. Your number depends on scope, how often we meet and how complex the business is. See what a fractional CFO costs.

Am I locked into a contract?

No. We work month to month, with no long-term contract and no fee to end it.

Do you handle tax too?

Tax planning and preparation can be part of the work when it fits.

If you're making big calls without a clear view of cash and margin, tell us a little about your business and we'll set up a 30-minute call.