CFO Services — the numbers, turned into decisions
Your books tell you what happened. A CFO tells you what to do about it: what to charge, what you can afford, which products are quietly losing money, and how many months of runway you actually have.
Monthly or fortnightly. No retainer lock-in, and we will tell you plainly if you are not ready for it yet.
An example of the panel you get each month. Figures are illustrative — yours are built from your own books.
The questions bookkeeping cannot answer.
Every one of these needs the same clean data your monthly accounts already produce — and someone whose job is to interpret it.
Can I afford this hire?
Not "is there money in the bank" but what it does to your cash position over twelve months, at your real seasonality, including payroll taxes.
Should I raise my prices?
By how much, on which products, and what it does to margin if a share of customers leave. Usually the highest-value hour anyone spends on a business.
Which products actually make money?
Revenue per SKU is not profit per SKU. Once fees, shipping, returns and ad spend are allocated properly, the ranking often reverses.
How long does the cash last?
A real runway figure built on committed costs and expected receipts, not a bank balance that flatters you the week before payroll.
Is this growth or is it just volume?
Revenue up and margin down is a business getting busier and poorer. It is remarkably easy to miss from inside.
What will a lender or investor ask?
They will want unit economics, cohort retention and a defensible forecast. Assembling those in a panic is how good businesses get bad terms.
The part most fractional CFO offers skip.
A forecast is only as good as the books underneath it. Most of the businesses that ask us for CFO work are not ready for it on the day they ask, and it is usually a three-month fix rather than a no.
If cost of goods sold is really inventory purchases, if Shopify and Amazon payouts are booked net, or if six months are unreconciled, then any model built on top of that will be confidently, precisely wrong — and you will make real decisions on it. That is worse than having no model, because a spreadsheet carries an authority a gut feeling does not.
So we look at the books first. If they will not carry a forecast we say so, quote the cleanup, and start the CFO work once the numbers mean something. It costs us a month of fees and it is the only honest sequence.
How the engagement runs.
A standing rhythm, not a report that lands in your inbox and is never opened again.
1. Diagnostic
We read the last twelve months properly — margin by product and channel, fixed versus variable cost, seasonality, working capital. You get the findings whether or not you go further.
2. The model
A rolling 12-month cash and P&L forecast driven by your actual drivers: units, price, ad spend, lead time. Built so you can change an assumption and watch what happens.
3. Monthly session
Ninety minutes on what the month showed, what changed against forecast and why, and the two or three decisions in front of you. Agenda in advance, written actions after.
4. Between sessions
The questions that will not wait — a supplier price rise, a hire, a funding conversation. Modelled quickly, answered in writing.
Tools we work with.
Forecasting and reporting tools — built on the same books we keep, so the model and the ledger never disagree.
Excel
CartaMercury
FathomSyft AnalyticsJiravFloatExcelCartaMercuryUsing something else? We almost certainly work with it — just ask.
What you get every month.
Clear deliverables, every month — nothing vague.
CFO services, honestly.
01How is this different from my bookkeeper or my accountant?
02Do I need a CFO at my size?
03What does it cost?
04Can I get CFO work without you doing my bookkeeping?
05Is this investment or financial advice?
06How quickly would we start?
Start with the diagnostic.
Give us view-only access and we will tell you what your last twelve months actually show — and whether your books are ready to forecast from. Free, and you are not committing to anything.