Fractional CFOnoun
SENIOR FINANCE LEADERSHIP · PART OF THE WEEK · NOT ALL OF THE SALARY
- 1.
- An experienced finance professional who holds the chief financial officer role for part of their time, across a small number of businesses, rather than working full time for one.
- 2.
- The person who decides what the numbers mean, not the person who produces them. Planning, cash, pricing, capital and performance.
- 3.
- Usually the role a business needs before it can justify hiring one permanently, and often the role that tells it when to.
The distinction
The accounting function answers
what happened.
A chief financial officer is not a senior accountant. The accounting function answers what happened. The CFO function answers what it means and what to do about it: where the business makes money, what it will look like in twelve months, whether it can fund the next move, and which decision in front of you carries risk that has not been priced.
Very few SMEs need that attention forty hours a week. They need it for the closing review, the pricing question, the bank conversation, the forecast that has stopped being credible. A fractional arrangement matches the cost to the need, and gives you seniority you would otherwise be unable to buy.
A short diagnostic
Tick what sounds
like your business.
None of these mean something has gone wrong. They are the ordinary symptoms of a company that has grown past the finance function it started with.
Where the role sits
Five finance roles,
one axis.
These titles get used interchangeably, which is how businesses end up hiring for the wrong gap. The difference is direction of travel.
Records what happened. Invoices, entries, reconciliations.
Backward looking, transactional accuracy.Prepares statements and handles compliance filings.
Backward looking, regulatory correctness.Owns the close, controls and reporting accuracy.
Present tense, process and control.Uses the numbers to shape decisions: planning, cash, pricing, capital and performance.
Forward looking, commercial judgement.The same remit, held by one person full time at full cost.
Forward looking, permanent.A fractional CFO does not replace the accounting function. In most engagements the bookkeeper or accountant stays exactly where they are, and the reporting they produce becomes considerably more useful.
Contents of an engagement
What actually
gets delivered.
Engagements are scoped individually but assembled from a consistent set of components. Not every business needs all of them, and we would rather build four things properly than eleven things thinly.
The engagement
Six stages, in order.
The first conversation
Around forty five minutes. You bring the numbers you have, the bottleneck you feel, or the decision you cannot see clearly. We ask about the business, look at what your reporting currently produces, and say plainly whether this is something we can help with. No charge and no obligation.
Diagnostic
A short structured review of your books, close process, reporting and systems. You receive a written finding and a prioritised plan. It is yours to keep whether you continue with us or hand it to someone else.
Foundations
Before forecasting anything we make sure the underlying numbers can be trusted: reconciliations current, revenue and cost classification consistent, the close running to a calendar.
Build
The forecast, cash view, reporting pack and dashboards, built in your systems and on your licences. Nothing sits in a black box you cannot open.
Operating rhythm
A monthly or fortnightly cycle: results reviewed, forecast updated, decisions discussed. This is where a fractional CFO earns the fee, not in the build.
Handover or continuation
Either we keep steering, or we document everything and hand it cleanly to a finance hire you are now ready to make. Both are legitimate outcomes and we will tell you which one we think you need.
Fit
Who this suits,
and who it does not.
A good fit
- ✓Owner managed businesses that have outgrown bookkeeping but cannot justify a full time CFO
- ✓Family businesses moving to a second generation or bringing in external management
- ✓Companies with several entities, branches or currencies and no consolidated view
- ✓Founders preparing a model for a lender, investor or partner
- ✓Businesses whose finance function is capable but stretched, needing senior support alongside it
- ✓Companies preparing for audit, due diligence or a change of ownership
Not what we do
- ✕Businesses looking for statutory audit or assurance. We are not registered in the Ministry of Economy register of practising auditors, so the audit itself must be done by a firm that is.
- ✕Anyone seeking regulated investment advice, fund management or securities placement. We do none of these.
- ✕Companies wanting someone to sign off numbers without being allowed to question how they were produced.
We would rather turn down work that sits outside our licence and competence than take it and explain later. If what you need is an audit or regulated advice, we will say so in the first conversation and point you toward the right kind of firm.
Fees
Why there is no
rate card here.
What an engagement costs depends on the condition of your records, the number of entities and currencies, the reporting you need each month, and how much involvement you want between cycles. Anyone quoting before they have looked at those is guessing.
The sequence is straightforward. The first conversation is free. The diagnostic is a defined piece of work at a fixed price agreed beforehand. Anything after that is scoped and quoted in writing, and you will know what you are committing to before you commit to it.
Questions
Frequently asked.
What is a fractional CFO?
A fractional CFO is an experienced senior finance professional who takes on the chief financial officer role for part of their time, across a small number of businesses, rather than working full time for one. You get the planning, cash, reporting and commercial judgement of a CFO at the level of involvement your business actually needs.
How is that different from my accountant?
An accountant records and reports what has already happened, and keeps you compliant. A fractional CFO starts where that finishes and uses those numbers to shape what happens next: what to price, what to fund, what to stop, and what the business will look like in twelve months under different assumptions. Most businesses need both.
How is it different from a financial controller?
A controller owns accuracy: the close, the controls, the integrity of the reporting. A CFO owns the commercial use of that reporting. In a smaller business one person may do both, but they are different disciplines and it is worth knowing which one you are short of.
Is this the same as an outsourced or virtual CFO?
The terms overlap heavily and the market uses them loosely. What matters is the substance: how senior the person is, how much of their attention you get, whether they are involved in decisions or only producing files, and whether they will tell you something you do not want to hear.
How much does it cost?
Finamatik does not publish fixed fees, because the honest answer depends on the state of your books, the number of entities, the reporting you need and how much ongoing involvement you want. A business with clean accounting that needs a quarterly forecast and a monthly review is a different engagement from one that needs eighteen months of accounting cleanup first. We scope it after the diagnostic and quote in writing before any work begins.
How much of your time do we actually get?
That is agreed at the start and written into the scope. It is usually expressed as a defined monthly commitment plus availability for the decisions that come up between cycles. We deliberately keep the number of concurrent engagements low, because a fractional CFO spread across a dozen clients is a reporting service with a better title.
Do you replace our existing finance team?
No. In most engagements we work alongside the bookkeeper or accountant already in place, and part of the value is making that function more effective. Where the existing arrangement genuinely is not working we will say so, but that is a finding, not a starting assumption.
Can you help us raise finance?
We prepare the financial side: the model, the forecast, the working capital analysis, the historic pack and the answers to the questions a lender or investor will ask. We do not introduce capital, place securities, act as a broker, or give regulated investment advice, and we would be cautious of any firm that promises a funding outcome.
Do you work with businesses outside the UAE?
Yes. The UAE is our primary market and where our regulatory familiarity sits, but forecasting, modelling and management reporting travel well, and we work remotely with businesses elsewhere.
What happens in the first meeting?
You talk, we listen, and we ask the questions that tend to reveal where the real constraint sits. By the end you should have at least one thing you can act on, and a clear view of whether working together makes sense. If it does not, we will say so.
Is our information kept confidential?
Yes. Discretion is a condition of the work, not a feature of it. We are happy to sign a non disclosure agreement before you share anything at all.
How quickly can we start?
The first conversation is usually available within a few days. A diagnostic typically runs over one to two weeks depending on how readily the information can be assembled.
No charge
Start with a conversation.
Bring the numbers you have, the bottleneck you feel, or the decision you cannot see clearly. Twenty minutes, and you will leave with at least one thing you can act on.
Strategy Meeting
A senior look at your finance function: close speed, reporting, cash visibility, tax deadlines and what should be automated. Pick the day that suits you, we call you on it, and we confirm the exact time on WhatsApp first.
Pick your day →Prefer to talk now? Message us on WhatsApp.
Tell us what you need
We reply the same working day. Your details go straight to our team, never a queue.
Your requirement is on its way.
One of our team will reply within one working day, from a person rather than an autoresponder. If it is urgent, WhatsApp us and we will pick it up sooner.