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Fractional CFO™

05 · Fractional CFO™

You may not need a full-time CFO. You may need CFO thinking.

As your business grows, finance questions get bigger:
  • How fast should we grow?
  • How much cash will we need?
  • Where is our profit coming from?
  • Can we afford this expansion?
  • Should we borrow or raise capital?
  • What happens if sales slow down?

These aren't bookkeeping questions. A Fractional CFO gives you senior finance leadership without a full-time CFO structure.

What it is

A CFO shouldn't just tell you what happened. A CFO should help you decide what happens next.

Accounting tells you what happened. MIS helps you understand what is happening. A CFO helps you think about what happens next.

Numbers→Business→Strategy→Decisions→Action

CFO thinking starts with the business, not a financial model. Where is the business today? Where do you want it to go? What's stopping it? What financial decisions stand between today and tomorrow?

What's included

Designed around the questions your business needs answered.

Financial planning

Budgets, plans, rolling forecasts, scenario planning, financial modelling.

Cash and working capital

Cash-flow planning, working capital strategy, cash forecasting, liquidity planning.

Profitability

Margin improvement, customer and product profitability, cost optimisation, pricing analysis.

Business decisions

Investment and expansion, make vs buy, new products and locations, business model analysis.

Funding and finance

Funding needs, debt planning, lender discussions, investor and IPO readiness, capital structure.

Management

Board and management reporting, business reviews, decision support.

From numbers to decisions

That is CFO thinking.

  1. NumberRevenue increased 20%.
  2. InsightThe growth came mainly from two customers.
  3. Business meaningCustomer concentration has increased.
  4. DecisionShould we diversify before adding capacity?
  5. ActionBuild the next customer segment while protecting existing revenue.
Cash, profit and growth

Profit tells you what you earned. Cash tells you what you can afford.

A profitable business can still run out of cash. Growth, inventory, receivables, expansion and debt can all consume it. A Fractional CFO helps you see how much cash you have, how much you'll need and when, what's consuming it, and what should and shouldn't be funded.

Scenario planning

Base case

Things continue broadly as expected.

Growth case

Growth comes faster.

Stress case

Sales fall, margins shrink or collections slow.

The aim isn't to predict the future perfectly. It's to be better prepared for it.
Growth should be financially designed.
Revenue growth→Margin→Cash conversion→Capital→Risk→Return
Before asking "How fast can we grow?", ask "How should we grow?" Capital should support the strategy, not become the strategy.
How it works

Finance in the room before the decision, not after it.

Your Fractional CFO can join management meetings, business reviews, budget discussions, growth planning, cash reviews, investment and funding decisions, and board or stakeholder discussions.

MBRICKS™ with CFO thinking. Every monthly review ends with one more question: what does this mean for the next 3–12 months?

Flexible CFO capability

Part-time

Regular CFO involvement.

Fractional

A defined share of CFO capacity.

Project

A specific strategic finance assignment.

Interim

Temporary leadership during a transition.

Ongoing

A continuing strategic partnership.

The first 90 days:

Understand→Diagnose→Prioritise→Build→Act→Measure
CFO work should create momentum, not just more reports.
Fractional CFO or Finance Manager?

Two different capabilities.

  • Finance Manager: owns finance. Runs finance, manages the team, controls, accounting, MIS and closing.
  • Fractional CFO: uses finance to help lead the business. Strategy, planning, forecasting, cash, profitability, funding, growth and board support.
Some businesses need both. Some need one. Behind the CFO sit the Business Accountant, the team and the Finance Manager, so senior time goes to senior questions.
Who is this for?

Consider a Fractional CFO when you are:

  • Growing quickly or planning expansion
  • Managing significant working capital
  • Preparing for funding
  • Working to improve profitability
  • Managing several entities
  • Entering new markets
  • Facing complex financial decisions
  • Building budgets and forecasts
  • Looking for a senior finance partner
  • Moving toward a full-time CFO
Where it sits in the journey
  1. Business Accountant™
  2. Business Accountant + Backup™
  3. Custom Finance Team™
  4. Senior Accountant / Finance Manager™
  5. Fractional CFO™(you are here)
  6. Complete Finance Function™

CFO thinking. Without the full-time CFO structure.

If your business needs senior financial thinking, waiting may cost more than acting. Tell us where your business is going, and we'll help you work out the level of finance leadership you need.

Let's understand your business before we recommend anything.
Spend less time worrying about finance. Spend more time using it to build the business.