Fractional CFO Services for $1M to $20M Businesses
What a fractional CFO actually does for a business at $1M, $5M, $10M and $20M in revenue, when you need one, and when a full-time CFO finally makes sense. Real results from owners at every stage.
Find Out What Your Business Needs at Its Size
We'll look at your numbers with you and tell you honestly whether a fractional CFO makes sense right now. Free, no obligation, no pitch.
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The Short Answer
Most owner-led businesses outgrow a bookkeeper somewhere between $1M and $3M in revenue. From there until roughly $20M to $25M, the business is too complex to run from the bank balance but usually too small to justify a full-time CFO at $200,000 to $350,000 or more a year. That's the range where a fractional CFO fits. What the CFO focuses on changes as you grow: cash and owner pay first, then margins and hiring, then divisional reporting, budgets and a finance team.
| Revenue | What usually breaks | What a fractional CFO focuses on |
|---|---|---|
| $1M to $3M | Cash is tight even in good months, the owner's pay is irregular, and nobody knows the real gross margin | Clean books, true margins, a cash forecast, a plan for owner pay, taxes and reserves |
| $3M to $10M | Revenue grows but profit doesn't, hires get made on gut feel, and the P&L can't be trusted | Margins by service line, hiring and pricing decisions, a budget, a rolling 12-month forecast |
| $10M to $20M | Several divisions or locations blended into one P&L, rising tax bills, and lenders asking for more | Divisional P&Ls, budget versus actual, accounting team oversight, debt and growth planning |
| $20M and up | The volume of decisions and reporting needs someone in the seat every day | An in-house controller, with a full-time CFO usually making sense somewhere past $25M |
Fractional CFO for a $1M to $3M Business
This is where most owners first feel it. The business is busy and the revenue is real, but the bank balance doesn't match how hard everyone is working. The owner is usually still doing the books in their head, and the bookkeeper is recording what happened without anyone using the numbers to plan.
At this size, a fractional CFO usually starts by finding out what the business actually earns. That means books you can trust, gross margin by type of work, and a cash forecast so payroll and taxes stop being a surprise. Then comes a real plan for paying yourself, setting money aside, and deciding what to grow.
Excavation, $3M: $900K+ more revenue in 6 months
A $3M excavation contractor was profitable on paper but scrambling to make payroll. A budget, a rolling cash forecast and a monthly close changed that. Read the case study
Dental, $2.5M: a $2.2M acquisition
A practice with strong revenue and no financial clarity built a real financial system, then made a confident acquisition offer. Read the case study
Chiropractic, $1.3M: hidden profit uncovered
A thriving clinic that couldn't trust its own numbers found hidden profit and the confidence to expand. Read the case study
Auto repair, $1.3M: real gross margin, finally
Ten years in business without ever calculating real gross margin. Here is what changed once the owner did. Read the case study
Fractional CFO for a $5M Business (and Anywhere From $3M to $10M)
Between $3M and $10M, the problems change. There are usually multiple service lines, a management layer, and enough transactions that small leaks add up to real money. A lot of owners in this range have grown revenue for years and watched net profit stay flat or shrink.
Here a fractional CFO spends more time on decisions: which work to take more of, what to charge, whether the next hire will pay for itself, how much equipment you can afford, and how fast you can grow without running out of cash. You get a budget, a rolling 12-month forecast, and two CFO calls a month to work through it.
HVAC, about $3.5M: from $2,700 to over $200,000 in the bank
A commercial HVAC contractor went from $2,700 in the bank to over $200,000 in about 90 days. See the HVAC case study
Roofing, $6M: $700K of bad data cleaned up
QuickBooks showed $75K in profit and $700K of bad data on the balance sheet. Here is how it got fixed and what changed after. Read the case study
Waste services, $6M: +$240K year over year
A waste hauling company went from unreliable books to a major year-over-year improvement in its financial position. Read the case study
General contractor, $8M: decisions from a forecast
Every financial decision was made from the bank balance. Real cash flow visibility changed how the owner runs the company. Read the case study
Marketing agency, $8M: a CEO dashboard in 12 weeks
From zero financial confidence to clean accounting, automated reporting and a CEO dashboard. Read the case study
Pediatric therapy, $3M+: from 4% profit to a real plan
Over $3M in revenue, a 4% net margin, and no budget or projections. What changed in 10 weeks. Read the case study
Fractional CFO for a $10M Business (and Up to $20M)
At $10M and up, the business is often several businesses under one roof: divisions, locations, or a mix of service and project work that all land in one P&L. Owners at this size usually have a bookkeeper or a small accounting team, but no one turning the numbers into a plan. The tax bill keeps rising, and lenders and bonding companies want cleaner financials.
A fractional CFO at this stage builds divisional P&Ls so you can see which parts of the business earn their keep, sets a budget and tracks it monthly, oversees the accounting team, and plans debt, equipment and growth. For a $10M construction company, that also means job costing, progress billing, retainage and the cash gaps between big jobs. See our fractional CFO services for construction companies.
Crane and concrete, $13M: divisional P&Ls and a real budget
No divisional P&Ls, no budget, and a rising tax bill. Here is how they built real visibility and a smarter growth strategy. Read the case study
When a Full-Time CFO Makes Sense
A full-time CFO usually starts to make sense somewhere past $20M to $25M, or earlier if you're raising outside capital, dealing with heavy lender or investor reporting, or preparing to sell. Until then, a fractional CFO plus a good bookkeeper gives you the same thinking at a fraction of the cost, and helps you build the finance team you'll eventually hand off to.
What You Get at Any Size
A Rolling 12-Month Cash Forecast
So you can see payroll, taxes, equipment and slow months coming instead of reacting to them.
Two CFO Calls a Month
A standing time to work through hiring, pricing, owner pay and growth decisions with someone who knows your numbers.
A Custom Financial Dashboard
The handful of numbers that tell you how the business is doing, updated without you building a spreadsheet.
Profitability by Service Line
Margins split by department, division or type of work, so you know where the money is made and lost.
Budgeting and Decision Modeling
We model hires, equipment, pricing changes and expansion before you commit.
Bookkeeper Oversight
We work with your bookkeeper or accounting team so the numbers are accurate and on time.
Our fractional CFO services run $3,500 to $6,000 a month, plus a one-time $6,000 onboarding fee for setup. Price depends on complexity more than revenue: the number of entities, locations and service lines, transaction volume, and how much accounting cleanup is needed. For how pricing works across the industry, see how much a fractional CFO costs.
What the First 90 Days Look Like
Days 1 to 30: Get the numbers right
We review your books line by line, clean up what needs cleaning, and split your P&L by service line or division so you can see what each part earns.
Days 31 to 60: Build the tools
We build your cash forecast and dashboard, review pricing against your real costs, and set up a monthly close routine with your bookkeeper.
Days 61 to 90: Plan forward
We set break-even and profit targets, map out the next hire or investment, and start twice-monthly meetings to review budget versus actual and decide what to do next.
What Owners Say
"I thought I needed better marketing or a bigger team. What I needed was financial control. CEO Finance Academy taught me to think like a CFO. We cleaned up cash flow, set aside tax and reserves, and I finally sleep at night knowing payroll and growth are funded."
"Our fastest win was cleaning up AR and getting a 13-week forecast. Once we could see the weekly cash picture, collections became the priority and we stopped living paycheck to paycheck."
"Before CEO Finance Academy we were guessing; now we run the business from a forecast. We raised our bid margins, tightened cash, and turned a messy pipeline into predictable working capital. The program literally paid for itself in months."
We've worked with over 315 businesses, mostly owner-led companies in the trades, home services and healthcare. See our pages for construction, HVAC, plumbing, roofing, excavation and dental, or browse all client case studies.
Free Guides
- When does a small business need a CFO?
- What does a fractional CFO do?
- Fractional CFO vs. bookkeeper vs. CPA
- Fractional vs. part-time vs. outsourced vs. interim CFO
- Can your small business handle growth?
- Free workshops on cash flow, margins and hiring
Frequently Asked Questions
Most owner-led businesses start to need one somewhere between $1M and $3M in revenue. That is usually when there's more than one line of work, a growing team, and decisions too big to make from the bank balance. A full-time CFO doesn't usually make sense until somewhere past $20M to $25M, so a fractional CFO covers the years in between.
At $5 million you almost certainly need CFO-level financial leadership, but usually not a full-time CFO, which costs $200,000 to $350,000 or more a year. A fractional CFO gives a $5M business a rolling cash forecast, margins by service line, a budget, and two CFO calls a month to work through hiring, pricing and growth decisions, for a fraction of that cost.
Usually not yet. Many $10M companies, especially in construction and the trades, are well served by a fractional CFO who builds divisional P&Ls, a budget, and a cash forecast, and oversees the bookkeeper or accounting team. A full-time CFO starts to make sense as you move past $20M to $25M, take on outside investors or lenders with heavy reporting needs, or prepare for a sale.
Our fractional CFO services run $3,500 to $6,000 a month, plus a one-time $6,000 onboarding fee that covers the first 30 to 60 days of setup. Price depends on complexity more than revenue: the number of entities, locations and service lines, transaction volume, and how much cleanup the books need. A simple $10M company can cost less than a messy $4M one. Either way it is a fraction of a $200,000 to $350,000 full-time CFO.
If you're under about $1M, you may get more from clean books and a solid bookkeeper first, plus our free workshops and tools. Once you're past $1M, have a team, and are making decisions about hiring, equipment, pricing or owner pay, a fractional CFO usually pays for itself. A free intro call is the easiest way to find out where you are.
A bookkeeper records what happened. A controller makes sure the books are accurate and closed on time. A fractional CFO uses those numbers to plan what happens next: cash forecasting, margins, budgets, and decisions on hiring, pricing and growth. Most $1M to $20M businesses need a good bookkeeper plus CFO-level guidance, and we oversee the bookkeeper as part of the work.
Not Sure What Your Business Needs at Its Size?
Book a free cash flow call. We'll look at your numbers together and tell you honestly what a fractional CFO would fix first, or whether you need one yet.
Book My Free Cash Flow Call Or start with the free Profit Margin CheckupFree call · No sales pressure · Just an honest look at your numbers