- Fractional-CFO style: senior financial advice on a part-time basis, for businesses that need a CFO's thinking but not a full-time salary.
- Built on clean books. Forecasts and KPIs are only as good as the numbers underneath them.
- Delivered by both partners: a CPA with four decades of reporting experience, and a systems partner who builds the dashboards and reports.
- Ends in decisions, not binders. Each engagement produces a budget, forecast or plan you use every month.
- Fractional CFO
- A fractional CFO is a senior finance professional who provides chief-financial-officer work (planning, forecasting, reporting and advice to the owner) on a part-time or project basis instead of as a full-time employee.
What business strategy means here
Most owner-managed businesses reach a point where the books are fine but the owner still cannot answer the important questions. Can we afford the next hire? Which jobs actually make money? How much cash will we have in four months? That gap is where a CFO usually sits, and most smaller businesses cannot justify a full-time one.
Our strategy work fills that gap. We build the budget, the cash-flow forecast and the handful of KPIs (key performance indicators) that matter for your business, then meet with you regularly to read them together. The aim is fewer surprises and better-timed decisions.
Both partners are involved. Our CPA partner brings decades of financial reporting and the judgment that comes from reading many businesses' numbers. Grant builds the reporting itself, so dashboards pull from your actual systems instead of being retyped into a spreadsheet each month.
Who it's for, and who it isn't
A good fit
- Owners facing decisions on hiring, pricing, equipment or expansion who want the numbers behind them.
- Businesses with uneven cash flow: seasonal trades, project-based firms, practices waiting on slow payers.
- Companies that have outgrown their bookkeeper's reports but are not ready for a full-time controller or CFO.
- Family businesses beginning to think about succession, a partner buy-in or a sale.
- Owners preparing for a conversation with a lender or investor.
Probably not
- Businesses without reliable books. We will start with bookkeeping and return to strategy once the numbers can bear weight.
- Owners looking for a single motivational session or a generic business plan template.
- Start-ups raising venture capital. Our work is with operating businesses.
What's included
How we work
- ConsultationWe talk through the decisions in front of you and the questions you cannot answer today.
- Financial diagnosticWe review recent years' statements and your current books to understand margins, the cash cycle and trends.
- Written proposalA defined scope (a project, a monthly advisory retainer, or both) and fee in writing.
- Build the toolsBudget, forecast and KPI dashboard built from your actual data and connected to your systems where possible.
- Monthly reviewA standing meeting to read the numbers together, compare them with the plan and decide what to do next.
- Annual resetEach year we review the plan against results and rebuild the budget for the year ahead.
Bookkeeper, controller or CFO: who does what
| Bookkeeper | Controller | CFO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Main question | What happened? | Is it accurate, complete and on time? | What should we do next? |
| Typical work | Recording transactions, reconciliations, payables and receivables | Month-end close, internal controls, reporting, oversight of bookkeeping | Budgets, forecasts, cash strategy, pricing, financing, growth planning |
| Time horizon | Past | Past and present | Future |
| Full-time need | Often part-time in a smaller business | Usually once finance has staff to oversee | Rarely full-time in an owner-managed business |
A fractional CFO is most useful once the books are reliable. Forecasting from unreconciled books only produces confident errors.
For a longer comparison, read Bookkeeper vs CPA vs Controller: who does your Ontario business actually need?
Questions a good forecast should answer
- When is cash tightest? The month or week your balance is lowest, and by how much.
- Can we afford this? The effect of a hire, a vehicle or a lease on cash, not only on profit.
- How much is tied up in receivables? What quicker collection would free up.
- What if sales fall? How long the business can carry a slow quarter.
- What do we need from the bank? The size and timing of any credit line, before you ask for it.
Our guide to 5 KPIs every owner-operated business should watch monthly covers the measures that sit alongside the forecast.
How it's priced
Strategy work is scoped and quoted in writing. Some clients start with a defined project, such as a budget and cash-flow forecast; others retain us for monthly advisory. Either way, the scope and fee are agreed before work starts.
The fee is driven by the condition of your books, the number of entities and revenue streams, how much of the reporting can be pulled automatically from your systems, how often we meet, and whether the work includes lender, investor or succession preparation.
Questions owners ask
What does a fractional CFO actually do?
A fractional CFO does the forward-looking finance work: budgets, cash-flow forecasts, KPI reporting, pricing analysis and advice on major decisions, on a part-time basis. Unlike a bookkeeper, the focus is on what happens next rather than recording what already happened. See Bookkeeper vs CPA vs Controller for how the roles fit together.
How do I build a budget my team will use?
Build it from last year's actual results, not a wish list. Involve the people who will be held to it, limit their lines to the costs they control, and compare actual with budget every month in a short meeting. A budget nobody opens after January has quietly failed.
Which KPIs should a trades company or professional practice track?
Fewer than you think. A trades company typically watches gross margin by job, backlog, labour utilization, days to collect receivables and cash on hand. A professional practice watches billable utilization, realization (fees collected compared with time recorded), work in progress and days to collect. Our guide to KPIs for owner-operated businesses goes further.
How is a cash-flow forecast different from a budget?
A budget sets targets for revenue and spending over a year. A cash-flow forecast predicts when money will actually arrive and leave. A profitable business can still run short of cash; the forecast is what shows you that in advance.
Is a fractional CFO worth it for a smaller business?
It depends on the decisions in front of you. If you are hiring, borrowing, buying equipment or changing prices, senior financial input on those decisions is where the value lies. If the business is stable and decisions are small, good monthly bookkeeping may be enough for now, and we will tell you so.
Can you help us prepare for a bank loan or a sale?
Yes. We prepare the statements, forecasts and explanation a lender expects, and work through what a buyer will examine in a sale. For valuations, legal structure or tax planning on a sale, we coordinate with your lawyer and other advisors.
Do we need to use your bookkeeping to use your strategy services?
No, but we do need books we can rely on. If your current bookkeeper keeps them well, we work from those. If not, we will recommend fixing that first.