Fractional CFO
A partner of the firm acts as your CFO, part-time. They put the reporting framework in place, produce the pack, run treasury and prepare the decisions with you.
What brings us in
None of these is an accounting problem. All of them are a control problem.
The accounts land too late
The statutory accounts arrive months after year end. In the meantime, decisions are taken on guesswork.
Cash is run off the bank balance
No forecast is maintained, so the tight weeks are only visible once you are in them.
Nobody knows where the margin comes from
The bottom line is known. Its breakdown by business line, client or contract is not.
The owner carries finance alone
Lenders, investors, forecasts, spreadsheets: a workload that does not yet justify a full-time hire.
What we take on
Four areas, agreed at scoping and written into the engagement letter. Anything outside them stays with you or with your accountant.
We do not do the bookkeeping and we do not replace your accountant. We turn their entries into management information, and we put the mandate’s requests through them.
Reporting framework
Reporting and forecasting
Treasury and funding
External relationships
Four documents, on fixed dates
The dates are contractual. The format is fixed at scoping and does not move again, so that months can be compared.
Monthly reporting
The month’s numbers, variances against budget, commentary on the movements and the decisions to take.
Cash flow forecast
Receipts and payments week by week, on a rolling horizon.
Budget and three-year plan
A quantified trajectory, explicit assumptions, upside and downside cases kept current.
Finance review
A structured meeting with the owner: decisions to take, trade-offs, actions tracked.
Three levels, one point of contact
The time commitment is agreed at scoping and reviewed each quarter. You move between levels without changing partner, and without rebuilding the framework.
Find the right levelScoping only
We put the reporting framework in place; your team runs it from there.
Monthly engagement
Reporting, treasury and the monthly review taken on by the firm.
Part-time CFO
A part-time CFO who runs the finance team and takes on the strategic questions.
An upfront fee at the start, then a monthly retainer. The amount follows the scope and complexity of the engagement.
From the first meeting to steady state
Review
We go through the accounts, the systems and the deadlines. You get a written findings note, in priority order.
Scoping
KPIs, reporting format, close calendar and a written scope, signed off with the owner.
Go live
First pack produced, cash flow forecast started, data access and feeds put in place.
Steady state
The monthly cycle held, a regular review, scope and priorities revisited each quarter.
A partner of the firm, named at the review stage, who stays your point of contact for the whole mandate. They delegate neither the monthly review nor the lender relationship.
No. They produce the statutory accounts; we turn them into management information. We work with the firm already in place and put the mandate’s requests through them.
Not to start with. We work from your existing systems and your accounting exports. We only propose a change if it saves measurable time.
The retainer is monthly, on short notice. The framework, the models and the history stay with you: a CFO you hire picks it up as it stands.
Funding, valuation, an acquisition or a succession are priced separately, against a written scope, and run on numbers that are already in place.
Start with the review.
A written findings note, with no obligation to go further. You will know what your finance function is missing, and in what order to deal with it.