When to hire a fractional CFO — and what to expect from one
The signals that say your business has outgrown bookkeeping, what a part-time CFO actually does month to month, and how the economics compare with a full-time hire.
The gap between accounting and finance
Accounting records the past; finance shapes the future — funding, pricing, margins, risk. Most SMEs have the first and improvise the second, which works until it doesn't: a growth push outruns cash, a bank asks questions nobody can answer, a partner dispute finds no numbers to settle it. The fractional CFO exists for exactly that gap.
The signals you are ready
- Decisions above ~5% of revenue are being made on instinct - Cash surprises happen more than once a year - The bank, an investor or a big customer asked for information you could not produce quickly - Growth is planned — new line, new market, new financing — without a modelled path Two or more of these and the gap is already costing more than the remedy.
What the engagement looks like
A defined number of days per month against a standing agenda: the monthly numbers reviewed and turned into decisions, a rolling cash forecast maintained, the budget owned, bank and investor relationships managed, and the specific projects of the quarter — pricing, financing, expansion — driven to conclusions. Written scope, fixed cadence, senior person.
The economics
A full-time senior CFO is a significant fixed cost few SMEs can justify. The fractional model buys the same seniority for the days you actually need — typically a fraction of the full-time cost — and scales up or down with the agenda. The comparison to make is not against the salary you save but against the decisions currently being made without finance leadership.
Where it connects
A CFO is only as good as the numbers underneath. Ours sit on top of the same connected engine — bookkeeping, reporting, VAT, NSSF — so the leadership layer works from reconciled fact, not from whatever spreadsheet survived the month. One relationship, from records to strategy.
General information only; not legal, tax, audit, investment or other regulated advice. Requirements and outcomes depend on the facts. A written engagement defines the actual scope, responsibilities, timing and fees.