Your bookkeeper answers what happened. This is the other conversation — where the business is heading, what it can afford, and what you should do about it.
In practice that means someone who knows your numbers as well as you know your work, and who tells you the uncomfortable thing early enough to act on it.
Rolling forecasts and scenario modelling, so you can see what a hire, a slow payer or a bad quarter actually does to you.
A budget you build once and then actually use, plus the longer view of where the business is heading.
Which work makes money, which quietly does not, and what your prices should be doing about it.
Three or four numbers that genuinely matter for your business, tracked monthly. Not a dashboard nobody opens.
The numbers explained — what changed, why it changed, and whether it matters.
The reporting pack an outside party expects, prepared properly and explained before you walk into the room.
We work from their numbers, brief them, and make sure nothing falls between us.
For owner-run businesses that already have their books handled and now need someone thinking a quarter ahead.
Inquire nowThis is advisory work and assumes your bookkeeping is already handled — by your own bookkeeper, your accountant, or by us. Before we begin we review a few months of your books at no charge to confirm they are reliable enough to forecast from. If they are not, we will tell you what needs fixing first. Availability is capped — this only works if we genuinely know your business.
What we do
Most businesses that get into trouble are profitable on paper. They run out of road because the money arrived at the wrong time and nobody was watching the calendar. This is the work of watching it.
This is the single deliverable that separates a CFO from a bookkeeper, and almost no small business has one. Every month we rebuild a week-by-week projection of money in and money out for the next quarter — committed payroll, known bills, expected collections, tax dates. You stop finding out that a week was tight after it happened, and start seeing it while there is still time to pull an invoice forward, delay a purchase, or move money across. It is standard practice on a corporate treasury desk. It is almost unheard of at your scale.
Most owner-run businesses treat tax as a bill that arrives rather than a cost they are accruing all year. We set a fixed percentage that moves to a separate account the day each deposit lands, size it against your actual profit rather than a guess, and check it every month as income shifts. The goal is simple: a filing deadline should be an administrative event, not a scramble for outside money.
Can you afford the hire. Should you raise prices. Is the truck a good idea this year or next. We model each against your real cash position and forward commitments rather than your bank balance on the day you ask — because the balance today tells you almost nothing about whether you can carry a salary for twelve months.
Revenue is easy to see and margin is not. We break profitability out by service line, client or job so you can see which work is genuinely paying and which is quietly consuming your time at cost. This is frequently the most uncomfortable conversation of the engagement, and frequently the most valuable.
For most service businesses the cash problem is timing, not profit. We track how long your receivables actually take to land, flag clients whose habits are getting worse, and look at whether your payment terms are quietly financing someone else’s business. Small changes here often free up more cash than any cost cutting would.
Forty-five minutes with the numbers already in front of both of us. Not a walkthrough of statements you could read yourself — a working conversation about what the forecast is showing, what decision is in front of you, and what we both think you should do. You get an opinion, not a file.
Before anything else we go through a few months of your existing books at no charge. That confirms they are reliable enough to forecast from, and tells us what the forward view needs to account for. If something needs fixing first, you hear it here rather than in month three.
Working from your existing books, we build the first 13-week cash forecast and set your tax reserve rule. You see the next quarter properly for the first time, usually within the first month.
Your books close, the forecast rebuilds, anything concerning gets flagged, and we talk. Every month, on a schedule, so decisions get made against current numbers rather than a hunch.
If something is not covered here, ask on the call. We would rather over-explain than have you find out later.
A CFO is responsible for the forward view: where cash is going, what the business can afford, and what to do before a problem arrives. Fractional simply means you get that on a monthly retainer rather than a salary. In practice it is a cash forecast, a reserve strategy, margin analysis, and someone with an opinion on your decisions.
A bookkeeper records what already happened, accurately and on time. That is necessary and it is backward-looking. We add the forward half — a rolling forecast, reserve planning, and decision support. We work from their numbers rather than replacing them.
Yes. A forecast is only as reliable as the ledger underneath it, so this assumes your books are current and reconciled. Keep whoever handles them now — we will work alongside them. If you do not have anyone, we offer bookkeeping separately and the two can run together.
A week-by-week projection of money in and out for the next quarter, rebuilt every month. Thirteen weeks is the standard treasury horizon: long enough to see a problem coming, short enough that the numbers are still credible.
The honest test is whether cash timing causes you stress. If you have payroll, uneven receivables, and you have ever wondered whether a month would be tight, this is worth it. If you are a solo operator with predictable income and no employees, bookkeeping alone is probably the right call and we will tell you so.
The first forecast usually surfaces something within the first month — a reserve that is thin, a receivable nobody was chasing, a cost that has crept. The compounding value comes later, when decisions start getting made against real numbers.
That happens, particularly around a raise, a large hire, or a turnaround. Monthly with 30 days notice, no lock-in. Some clients pause once things stabilize and come back when something significant is coming.
Yes. If we already keep your books, the forward-looking work can begin the following month with no re-onboarding. The two are billed separately.
No. We are not a CPA firm and do not prepare or file returns, represent you before any taxing authority, or provide tax advice. We work alongside your CPA, and reserve planning is coordinated with them rather than instead of them.
We prepare what a lender asks for and help you understand the terms in front of you, but we do not broker financing or act as your representative. Where you need a banker or an attorney, we will say so.
Yes. That is most of the value. If the pricing is wrong, the hire is premature, or the reserve is dangerously thin, you will hear it plainly. A CFO who only confirms what you already believe is an expensive mirror.
No. Nothing here is investment, legal, or tax advice, and we are not a registered investment adviser. This is operating finance for your business.
About an hour a month for the call, plus occasional questions we cannot answer from the records. The point is to reduce the time you spend worrying about numbers, not add to it.
Usually within a week. If the books review shows clean-up is needed first, add two to four weeks before the forecast becomes reliable. We will tell you what needs doing, whether that is work for us or for your existing bookkeeper.
Yes, deliberately. CFO work only functions if the person doing it genuinely knows your business, so we cap how many of these engagements run at once.
We turn financial chaos into clear, actionable insight—so you can make smarter decisions, grow with confidence, and spend less time worrying about your numbers.