The close takes ten to fifteen days
By the time the month is closed the information is history rather than a decision input, and the close consumes the capacity that should be spent on analysis.
Services
Fractional CFO.
A fractional CFO is an experienced finance executive who works with a company part-time, carrying the judgment of a full-time CFO at a fraction of the cost and commitment. F3 Insights embeds fractional CFO leadership in companies with $10M–$70M in revenue, then builds the financial systems that outlast the engagement.
When it fits
The Point Where Finance Stops Keeping Up
A fractional CFO is the right answer when the company has outgrown bookkeeping and controller-level support but cannot yet justify a $300,000–$500,000 full-time hire.
The forecast is assembled, not modelled
Department wish-lists roll up into a number whose error has never been measured. Nobody can say how wrong the forecast usually is, so nobody can trust how wrong it is now.
Cash visibility stops at the bank balance
Growth consumes cash and the balance is a lagging indicator. Without a rolling thirteen-week view maintained weekly, a liquidity problem is discovered rather than managed.
Margin by product, channel, or customer is a debate
Unit economics are not reliably computed, so pricing decisions are made on instinct and the realized price differs from list in ways nobody has quantified.
One person holds the model and the mapping logic
Their absence stops the reporting cycle. Diligence finds this quickly, and prices it as risk.
A board or lender is asking for something you cannot produce quickly
The request is reasonable and the answer takes two weeks, because the reporting was built for compliance rather than decisions.
Cost
Fractional Versus Full-Time
A full-time CFO at a $10M–$70M company typically costs $300,000 to $500,000 in total compensation once salary, bonus, equity, benefits, and payroll taxes are counted. A fractional engagement buys the same seniority against a defined scope.
Total annual cost once salary, bonus, equity, benefits, and payroll taxes are counted, plus recruiting time and the risk of a mis-hire at a company that cannot absorb one.
Priced against a defined scope and cadence rather than a headcount line. Senior judgment applied where it changes decisions, without carrying an executive salary the P&L is not ready for.
Reconciled data, financial expert systems with review gates, the finance operating cadence, and documented playbooks. The engagement ends in transfer by design, not by exhaustion.
The comparison that matters is not hourly rate. It is whether the engagement leaves behind a finance function that runs without the person you hired: reconciled data, a forecast with measured error, a weekly cash view, and operators certified to run them.
Scope
What the Engagement Covers
Four layers, built bottom-up. The governed data layer comes first because an expert system on unreconciled data is a faster way to be confidently wrong.
The governed data layer
One reconciled truth across accounting, CRM, and operational systems, with data contracts, lineage, and access. Built first, and non-negotiable.
Financial expert systems
Driver-based forecasting, close acceleration, cash and runway instrumentation, unit economics, and scenario engines for tariff, rate, and demand shocks, with explainable outputs and review gates.
The finance operating cadence
The weekly cash review, the monthly close and business review, and the quarterly re-forecast, with standing agendas and named owners.
Embedded senior leadership
A finance operator inside the cadence from day one, proving the system in live decisions rather than staged demos, then certifying your team to run it.
Questions
Fractional CFO, Answered
- What is a fractional CFO?
- A fractional CFO is an experienced finance executive who works with a company on a part-time or scoped basis, providing the strategic financial leadership of a full-time CFO without the full-time cost. At F3 Insights the role goes further than advice: the fractional CFO embeds in the company's operating cadence and builds the financial systems, reporting, and forecasting the team keeps afterward.
- How much does a fractional CFO cost compared to a full-time CFO?
- A full-time CFO at a $10M–$70M company typically costs $300,000 to $500,000 a year in total compensation once salary, bonus, equity, benefits, and payroll taxes are counted. A fractional engagement is priced against a defined scope and cadence instead of a headcount line, which is what makes senior finance judgment affordable at this company size.
- When should a company hire a fractional CFO instead of a full-time one?
- When the company has outgrown bookkeeping and controller-level support but cannot yet justify a full-time executive hire. The common signals are a close that takes more than ten days, a forecast whose error has never been measured, cash visibility that stops at the bank balance, and unit economics nobody reliably owns.
- What happens at the end of a fractional CFO engagement?
- The engagement ends in transfer by design. Playbooks are documented, your operators are certified on the review gates, and model review is handed to named owners on your team. You keep the capability, the code, the data, and the documentation.
Next step
Put a CFO-grade system in place before you hire one.
A diagnostic runs two to six weeks and ends with a systems map, a problem ledger with costs attached, and a sequenced build plan. Start with a conversation about where finance is losing time.