Cash flow management & forecasting
Know what cash you’ll have, when, and why — rolling forecasts, working-capital planning, and the levers that change the picture.
Answers: Will I run out of cash?
Cash flow management & forecastingAccounting
Fractional CFO, controller and advisory services
Your books are clean. Now what do the numbers tell you to do?
Software can categorize a transaction. It can’t tell you whether to hire, how much cash you’ll have in ninety days, or which part of the business makes money. We turn accurate books into decisions — up to and including fractional CFO.
§ 01 · In brief
Accounting advisory, in brief.
§ In brief
Accounting advisory turns accurate books into decisions: cash-flow forecasting, KPI reporting, budgeting, performance review and financial strategy, up to a full fractional CFO at $3,500–$8,000+/mo. Lighter advisory is added to monthly bookkeeping and quoted by scope. Bookkeeping records what happened; advisory interprets it. Delivered by TechBrot and its signed specialist practices, on books that are already correct.
Certifications · Current certifications held by TechBrot’s senior reviewer: Intuit QuickBooks® Certification Level 2 and QuickBooks Workforce Certification — verification on request. Intuit’s ProAdvisor program becomes Intuit ProPartner Accountants in early 2027; the certifications continue.
The advisory credential
Advisory has its own Intuit training track, and TechBrot’s senior reviewer is a graduate of Intuit’s Client Advisory Services (CAS) Foundations program — the curriculum built specifically for the advisory layer, separate from the senior reviewer’s two QuickBooks certifications (Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 2 and QuickBooks Workforce Certification) and two Intuit training completions (Intuit Bookkeeping and Client Advisory Services (CAS) Foundations). It is a training credential, not a licence: it authorises no tax filing, no audit, and no IRS representation. Your CPA still files; we do the operational and strategic finance underneath.
§ 02 · Which rung are you on
Bookkeeper, controller, or fractional CFO?
A bookkeeper keeps the books accurate and reconciled. A controller owns reporting, the monthly close, and controls — the rung most $2–10M businesses actually need next, and the one most skip. A fractional CFO uses trustworthy numbers to decide what happens next: forecasting, cash runway, board and lender reporting.
Paying for CFO strategy on books that aren’t yet reliable is the most common way owners overpay. Because TechBrot already keeps your books, advisory is priced as an increment on a clean ledger — not a separate engagement that first has to pay someone to trust your numbers.
§ 03 · What we deliver
Five ways we turn books into decisions — and a CFO when you need one.
KPI & management reporting
The handful of numbers that actually run your business, reported monthly in plain language — not a 40-tab spreadsheet no one reads.
Answers: What should I watch?
KPI & management reportingBudgeting & forecasting
A budget you’ll actually use, with forecasts that update against reality — so plans and spending stay connected all year.
Answers: What can I afford?
Budgeting & forecastingFinancial strategy
Pricing, margin, capital structure, and the big calls — hire, expand, borrow, sell — grounded in your real numbers, tax-aware planning coordinated with your CPA.
Answers: What’s the right move?
Financial strategyBusiness performance review
A regular, structured read on what’s working and what isn’t — margin, profitability by segment, and trends — turned into a short action list.
Answers: What’s really working?
Business performance reviewFractional CFO
A senior finance leader at part-time cost — forecasting, board reporting, fundraising and capital-event readiness for $1M–$50M businesses, led by a signed CFO-level specialist practice.
Answers: Who owns the numbers?
Fractional CFO§ 04 · The shift
Basic bookkeeping is being automated. The judgment isn’t.
For a decade the value in accounting was getting the data in — categorizing, reconciling, closing. Software and AI are now very good at that, and getting better. The commodity line is moving up, and the firms that only do data entry are moving down with it.
What software can’t do is sit across the table and tell you the truth: that the product line you love loses money, that you’ll be tight on cash in March, that the second location isn’t carrying its rent yet. That requires someone who understands both your numbers and your business — and is willing to say it plainly. That’s advisory, and it’s deliberately where TechBrot is built to compete. Accurate books first; judgment on top.
The judgment layer. For a decade the value in accounting was getting the data in — categorizing, reconciling, closing. Software and AI are now very good at that, and getting better; the commodity line is moving up, and firms that only do data entry move down with it. What software can’t do is sit across the table and tell you the truth: that the product line you love loses money, that you’ll be tight on cash in March, that the second location isn’t carrying its rent yet. That requires someone who understands both your numbers and your business — and will say it plainly. That judgment layer is where the value now concentrates, and it’s deliberately where TechBrot is built to compete.
§ 05 · The scope
What advisory is, isn’t, and who we coordinate with.
Advisory is
Cash-flow forecasting and management. KPI and management reporting. Budgeting and forecasting. Profitability and performance analysis. Pricing and margin guidance. Financial strategy for hiring, expansion, borrowing, and sale readiness. Fractional CFO leadership.
Advisory isn’t
Income-tax filing or IRS representation. Tax-position or legal advice. A substitute for accurate books — advisory is only as good as the bookkeeping underneath it. Audit or assurance work. Investment, securities, or insurance advice.
We coordinate with
Your CPA or EA on tax-aware planning and filing. Your attorney on entity and transaction matters. Your banker and lenders on financing. We bring the numbers and the analysis; licensed professionals make the calls that require a license.
Checked against TechBrot’s methodology.
§ 07 · Common questions
Advisory questions.
When does a business need accounting advisory?
Common triggers include cash that’s hard to predict, growth that strains working capital, decisions about hiring or expansion, raising capital, preparing for a sale, or simply not knowing which parts of the business are actually profitable. If you have clean books but can’t turn them into confident decisions, that’s the advisory gap.
Does advisory replace my CPA?
No. TechBrot advisory focuses on operational and strategic financial decisions — cash flow, KPIs, budgeting, performance, and strategy. Your tax preparer handles income-tax filing and tax positions; IRS representation requires a CPA, an EA or an attorney. We coordinate directly with them, including on tax-aware planning, but we do not file taxes or provide tax advice.
Do I need clean books before advisory?
Yes — advisory is only as reliable as the numbers underneath it. If your books need work first, we start with a cleanup and accurate monthly bookkeeping, then layer advisory on top. You can start with bookkeeping and add controller or CFO advisory when the business needs it.
What does accounting advisory cost?
Lighter advisory — KPI reporting, budgeting, cash-flow planning — is often added to a monthly bookkeeping engagement and quoted by scope. Outsourced controller engagements — the rung between bookkeeping and a CFO — run $1,800–$5,000 a month on top of monthly bookkeeping; actual scope and retainer vary with close complexity, number of entities, reporting cadence, and the controls you need. Fractional CFO engagements typically run $3,500–$8,000+ per month. All pricing is fixed-fee against a written scope, with no hourly billing.
Who actually delivers a fractional CFO or controller engagement?
Each is led by a signed specialist practice: fractional CFO engagements by a CFO-level practice with prior CFO or controller experience, controller engagements by a controller-level practice. Your engagement letter names the practice. A Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor reviews every close a specialist practice prepares before it reaches you. Every close is reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor before it reaches you.
What’s the difference between advisory and a fractional CFO?
Fractional CFO is the heaviest, most senior form of advisory — an embedded part-time finance leader who owns forecasting, board reporting, and capital-event readiness for $1M–$50M businesses. Lighter advisory (KPI reporting, budgeting, cash-flow planning) delivers specific analyses without a standing leadership seat.
What does a fractional CFO actually do?
A fractional CFO is a senior finance leader who works with you part-time instead of as a full-time hire. The role owns cash-flow forecasting, KPI and board reporting, budgeting, margin and pricing strategy, and readiness for fundraising or a sale — the calls a bookkeeper or controller doesn’t make. TechBrot offers fractional CFO engagements for roughly $1M–$50M businesses, led by a signed CFO-level specialist practice and always built on books that are already accurate.
When is my business ready for a fractional CFO?
Usually when revenue runs roughly $1M–$50M and the financial decisions outgrow the books — you’re forecasting cash tightly, raising capital, planning a major expansion, or preparing for a sale, and you need someone to own the numbers without a full-time hire. Below that, lighter advisory — KPI reporting, budgeting, cash-flow planning — layered onto your monthly bookkeeping is usually the right fit. As the business grows, TechBrot scales advisory up to a fractional CFO engagement.
§ 08 · Section index
Every page in this section.
9 pages sit directly under this one. Listed alphabetically so nothing here depends on a card being chosen for it.
Accounting Advisory & Fractional CFO FAQBudgeting & Forecasting ServicesBusiness Performance Review ServicesCash Flow Management & Forecasting ServicesFinancial Strategy Advisory ServicesFractional CFO Services for Growing BusinessesKPI & Management Reporting ServicesSale Readiness: Books That Survive Due DiligenceTax Planning Support: Books Your CPA Can Plan From
Ready when you are
Turn your numbers into decisions.
Tell us which decisions the numbers need to support. We’ll tell you whether advisory, a controller or cleaner books come first.
Or send the details instead