What does a Fractional CFO do and how can one help you?

The best way to answer this is to show you. And let’s start with a scenario that I’ve seen so many times with companies who don’t have a Fractional CFO.

Steve’s long day as a CEO…

It’s been a long day. You’ve been running around in circles trying to decide if approving a project that will cost you a lot of money is worth it. You know it’ll kickstart your growth again. But it is a big investment. It’s a risk. You sit there, waiting for the data to come through and tell you that this quarter’s performance, and the next quarter’s projections mean that now is the right time to do it. The email comes through, and it’s just figures on a spreadsheet.

Now you know your long day will be longer. You’ll spend the next couple of hours trying to figure out what it all means. It’s not your team’s fault. You just don’t have the expertise available.

Now let’s look at that same scenario, but add in a Fractional CFO called Doug (just a coincidence…)

The easiest decision Steve will make…

It’s been a long day. But so worthwhile. You’ve said yes to a big project that will be a gamechanger. It’s a risk, but the data shows now is the best time to do it. You once again glance over the report Doug sent you. What a difference it made to have actual advice. Some reasoning behind the data. Some commentary that made the decision easier. You think back to the call, and how he talked you through it. How your Finance Team worked together to turn this around so quickly. Now, you can look forward to the rest of the year.

So, what did Doug do?

He did what a Fractional CFO should do. He gave the CEO the data he needed to make an informed decision, in a way that made it easy to understand and the insights were invaluable to knowing the next step to take.

That’s a typical example of what they should do. They are there to support you on specific projects, or working to help you achieve a goal or resolve a challenge.
Let’s say a company was losing money. Their current finance team looked at it but didn’t have the experience or expertise to find out exactly what was happening, or how to fix it.
Or maybe a company wanted to grow quickly over the next 3 years and knew to achieve it, they needed to be completely confident with the data they had so they could make those quick decisions.

It could even be they are trying to raise finance to fund the growth.

All of these are scenarios that a Fractional CFO would support and help a company deal with.

But why Fractional?

A lot of the time, a full-time CFO comes with a BIG salary, company car, bonuses, holiday pay, sick pay, private medical, pension contributions- the works.

A Fractional CFO doesn’t. They work with clients on a contract or retainer basis and normally for a set amount of time per week or month. It’s not unusual for a Fractional CFO to work 2 or 3 days a month, one day a week or even one day a month. It’s that flexible.

You can even up the time needed if you’ve got a specific project that requires a lot of work.

What else will they give you?

Fractional CFO’s will work with a multitude of companies, across many sectors. Which gives them a lot of experience, and many ‘been there got the t-shirt’ moments. This is what you’ll be bringing to your table. The knowledge and experience you need.

Ok, but is there a list of things they can do?

It’s not extensive, but here are some more things they will get involved with:

• Cashflow issues
• Investment Appraisal
• Pricing reviews
• Profit margin improvement
• Bid support (value proposition)
• Board meeting attendance and support
• Scenario modelling
• Implementing new finance systems
• Budgeting
• Creating integrated financial processes

As mentioned, it’s not extensive, but if there’s something you’ve got in mind, it’s worth asking!

I’m ready, what do I need to do to get one on board?

The first thing to do would be to reach out to Doug. Remember Doug from earlier on? It’s been mentioned by so many people that he’s excellent at what he does.

You should definitely talk to me, I mean, Doug. You can do that by clicking here!