Fractional CFO

Strategic financial guidance and controller oversight for businesses that need CFO-level expertise without hiring someone full-time.

What This Is

A CFO makes financial decisions at the strategic level. Forecasting revenue, planning for growth, evaluating whether you can afford expansion. A controller makes sure the day-to-day accounting operations run correctly. Both roles matter, but most small businesses can’t justify hiring either one full-time.

Fractional CFO service gives you access to both skill sets on a part-time basis. Strategic guidance when you’re facing major decisions. Operational oversight to ensure your financials are accurate and your accounting processes actually work. The level of involvement scales based on what you need and when you need it.

Strategic Work

Cash flow forecasting and scenario planning. Evaluating expansion decisions or major purchases. Pricing strategy and margin analysis. Preparing financials for investors or lenders. Building budgets and tracking performance against them.

Operational Oversight

Reviewing monthly financials for accuracy and red flags. Improving accounting processes and internal controls. Managing relationships with banks and other financial partners. Overseeing bookkeeping staff or external accounting providers. Ensuring compliance with financial reporting requirements.

Why This Matters

Most business owners are good at what they do. They know their trade, their customers, their market. But financial strategy isn’t something you pick up on the side. Understanding working capital requirements, debt structuring, or how to read a cash flow statement properly takes experience most operators don’t have.

Without that expertise, growth gets risky. You take on a big project without realizing it will drain your cash for three months. You hire two people because revenue is up, not realizing those hires will push you into the red during your slow season. You turn down opportunities because you’re not sure if you can afford them, when proper analysis would show you can.

The Strategy Gap

Your bookkeeper can tell you what happened last month. They can’t tell you whether you should bid on that $200,000 project or what it will do to your cash position over the next six months. That requires different expertise.

The Trust Problem

When your financials come from your bookkeeper and you don’t have anyone reviewing their work, you’re trusting the numbers are right. Sometimes they are. Sometimes they’re not. A controller-level review catches errors before they compound into bigger problems.

What Changes

You have someone who understands finance reviewing your numbers regularly and flagging problems early. Your financial decisions get made with actual analysis instead of gut feeling. When you’re considering expansion, equipment purchases, or hiring, you’re looking at projections that account for how those decisions affect cash flow over time.

The operational side runs tighter. Your monthly financials are accurate because someone with controller experience is reviewing them. Your accounting processes improve because someone is evaluating whether they actually work or just exist. Your team has clear financial targets instead of vague goals like “do better than last year.”

Better Decisions

Strategic decisions get evaluated properly before you commit. Can you afford that new location? What does hiring three people do to your break-even point? Is that equipment purchase cash-flow positive in year one? You get real answers instead of educated guesses.

Operational Confidence

Your financials are reliable because someone qualified is overseeing the process. Your banking relationships improve because you can produce quality reports when asked. Your team knows what metrics matter and how their work affects those metrics.

The Valley's Trusted Accounting Firm