A fractional CFO does the finance work a full-time CFO would, part-time, on a scope agreed in writing. The work sits on top of your bookkeeping. It turns historical numbers into forecasts, budgets and reports you can use to make decisions and answer lenders and investors.
The points where this service comes into play are numbered.
Numbered points are explained below.
At: First hires
You find out about a cash shortfall when it happens, not before. Payroll, tax deposits and supplier terms rarely line up with the month your sales land, so the bank balance alone tells you too late.
A rolling cash flow forecast, updated after each month closes, so the next thirteen weeks are visible before they arrive.
At: Working capital
A lender asked for a forecast and you do not have one. Banks want three linked statements and the covenants you will have to keep, not a sales target in a spreadsheet.
A three-statement model built from your actual numbers, projections in the lender’s format, and the covenant calculations every month after.
At: Scaling up
You have a budget but nobody compares it to actual results. Without the comparison, a new location or a price change is judged on feel, months after the money has moved.
An annual budget and a monthly budget-to-actual report, read with you at the review meeting, so pricing and spending decisions are made on numbers.
At: Outside money
Monthly investor updates take you days to put together. Investors and boards expect the same pack every month, on time, with the story behind the variances.
Investor updates and board reporting packs, prepared from the model after each close, in the format they ask for.
Updated after every close, in a spreadsheet you can update yourself.
Profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow, linked, in a spreadsheet you own.
An annual budget and the monthly comparison that makes it useful.
Reports and covenant calculations in the format your bank asks for.
Monthly updates and board reporting packs from the same numbers.
The numbers and the decisions they point to, gone through together.
Ask us. If it is US tax or accounting work, we will tell you plainly whether we can take it on.
We review your books, current reports and the questions you need answered. We agree what the first three months should produce.
We build the forecast or model from your actual numbers and walk you through the assumptions.
After each month closes, we update the forecast, compare results to budget and prepare any lender or investor reports.
We meet to go through the numbers and the decisions they point to.
Yes. Forecasts built on unreliable books are unreliable. If your books are behind, we start with bookkeeping clean-up.
Not quite. A controller keeps the books accurate and closed. A CFO uses those numbers to plan ahead. We can do both, starting with whichever you need.
You do. Models are delivered as spreadsheets you keep and can use without us.