CFO services for owner-operated businesses

Most owners arrive here knowing something in the finances is not working and not yet knowing what the fix is called. So read the four group headings first, then the line or two under each service. If more than one sounds like you, that is normal — they usually belong inside the same engagement rather than being separate purchases.

Fractional CFO engagements

Five ways to put a chief financial officer into your business without hiring one. The judgment is the same in all of them; what differs is how the work is delivered and who it is built for.

• CFO Services — The core engagement: forecasting, cash flow control, profitability analysis and a working session with the owner every month. Start here if you want the whole picture rather than one piece of it.
• Outsourced CFO Services — The same financial leadership framed as a build-or-buy decision. For companies weighing an in-house finance hire against an outside team that already has the people and the tooling.
• Part-Time CFO Services — A CFO for a set number of days or hours each month. For businesses that have outgrown a bookkeeper but do not need a $200,000-a-year executive sitting on payroll.
• Virtual CFO Services — CFO work delivered remotely, by video and shared reporting. For owners anywhere in the country who would rather not add an office visit to the calendar to get an answer.
• Fractional CFO for Startups — Financial model, runway forecast and investor reporting for founders raising or preparing to.

Exit and valuation planning

The work that makes a company worth buying is the same work that makes it better to own. Both of these start years before a transaction, not at the point of sale.

• Exit Planning — Making the business sellable, and worth more, before you are ready to sell. Built on the Exit Planning Institute's five W's, and best begun three to five years ahead of a transition.
• Business Succession Planning — Deciding who runs and owns the company next — family, key employees, a partner, or an outside buyer — and preparing the finances, leadership and records so that the transfer actually works.

Financial operations

The month-to-month machinery. These are the services that turn accounting history into something you can steer with, and any of them can be run as a defined project rather than an ongoing plan.

• Cash Flow Management and Forecasting — A rolling view of when money actually lands, reviewed monthly, so payroll and growth commitments stop being a gamble. Includes profit and cash flow targeting for owners whose P&L and bank balance keep disagreeing.
• Financial Forecasting — Revenue, costs and cash projected forward, so a hire, a loan or a large contract can be tested against the model before you commit to it.
• Long-Term Business Planning — The multi-year version of the same question: what revenue, margin, headcount and capital each stage of the plan is going to require, and when.
• Financial Score Card — The short list of numbers that tells you whether the month went to plan. Chosen for your business, not copied from a template, and reviewed with you monthly.
• Corrective Action Plan — A written recovery plan with specific targets and dates, for companies under real financial stress: negative cash flow, rising debt, shrinking margins, or too much revenue resting on too few customers.

Owner coaching

Optional, and it runs alongside the CFO work rather than instead of it. Plenty of financial plans fail for reasons that have nothing to do with the numbers.

• Balance and Accountability Coaching — Regular one-to-one sessions with measurable commitments, so the decisions made in planning actually get executed. For entrepreneurs, executives and professionals who already know what to do and want someone holding the calendar to it.

Beyond the numbers

Some problems that surface in a financial review are not financial. Where that happens we bring in people we would use ourselves — see our strategic partners, including Advantage IT for managed technology, security and virtual CIO work.

Where every engagement starts

Whichever service you land on, the first step is the same. A business financial assessment is a structured review of profitability, cash position, working capital and financial controls that produces a written picture of what is working and what is at risk. It comes in four depths, from a one-to-two-week quick version through to a four-to-six-week pre-transaction review for owners heading toward a sale.

The assessment sets the scope, and the scope sets the shape of the engagement: an ongoing monthly retainer, a defined project with an end date, or hourly consulting at $250 per hour. What that works out to for a business your size is set out in what a fractional CFO costs.

If you would rather talk it through than read your way to an answer, schedule a free strategy call and we will point you at the right service — or tell you that you do not need one yet. You can also call 801-833-0991, Monday to Friday.