What a fractional CFO costs
You will not find a price on this page, and not because we are hiding one. The honest answer is that the number depends on the plan, the shape of your business, and how much cleanup comes first. What we can tell you is what drives it, what you should get for it, and how to know when you do not need one yet.
What drives the cost
The plan. Foundation is the books, closed monthly. Clarity adds the 13-week cash forecast, the one-page KPI report, and written CFO notes. Momentum adds the budget and forecast model, pricing work, and quarterly planning. Transaction adds valuation, deal, and succession work on a scoped basis. Each step up adds deliverables and time, so it costs more than the one below it.
The cadence. A monthly review call and a weekly forecast update is one workload. Twice-monthly calls with lender reporting and a board package is another. Weekly calls through a transaction is a third.
The cleanup. Books that have not been closed monthly, a chart of accounts built by the software's default template, or an entity structure nobody has untangled all take work before the monthly rhythm can start. We scope cleanup as a fixed project up front, so it never surprises you later.
The complexity. One entity with one location is simpler than three entities, two locations, and a related-party lease. More moving parts means more hours in the close.
What you should get for it
A named set of deliverables, on a fixed date, every month. Not "strategic guidance." The 13-week forecast. The one-page report. The written notes with action items. The findings document inside the first 30 days.
Someone who has seen your shop, your practice, or your farm. An on-site visit at onboarding is part of every plan above Foundation.
A number you approved in writing before anything started, and the freedom to stop. Month to month means the retainer has to earn its place every month.
If a proposal does not name what lands on your desk and when, you are buying hours, not outcomes.
When bookkeeping alone is enough
If the books are not closed monthly, start there. A CFO working on unreliable numbers is an expensive way to guess.
If the business is steady, not growing, and nobody outside it is asking for reporting, clean monthly books with a simple summary may be all you need for now. We will tell you that on the discovery call.
The moment it changes is the moment something is at stake: a hire ahead of revenue, a second location, a lender, a buyer, or a handoff to the next generation. That is when the forecast and the monthly notes start paying for themselves.
How we scope it
A discovery call. Tell us what is going on in the business. We tell you which plan fits and whether cleanup comes first.
An agreement in writing. The plan, the deliverables, the cadence, and the monthly number. You approve it before anything starts.
A 90 day onboarding plan. We start within days. Access, the on-site visit, the first clean close, and your findings document inside 30 days.
Compare the plans, or request a discovery call and we will tell you straight.