Fractional CFO · $1M–$50M · by application
CFO-level strategy, forecasting, and board reporting for U.S. businesses between $1M and $50M — delivered by experienced operators on a fixed monthly retainer. Limited engagements per quarter, by application.
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Every engagement is reviewed by a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor (QuickBooks Online Level 2, Payroll) — verification on request. Intuit’s ProAdvisor program becomes ProPartner Accountants in early 2027; the certifications continue.
A fractional CFO is an experienced finance executive serving as a part-time CFO — financial strategy, 13-week cash flow, board and investor reporting, fundraising, KPI and unit economics, and senior advisory — for businesses that need CFO-level work but aren’t ready for a full-time hire. Fixed monthly retainer $3,000–$8,000+, typically 10–25 hours/month, scaling to 40+ during major transitions, built on accurate operational books.
A fractional CFO is an experienced finance executive serving as a part-time Chief Financial Officer for businesses that need strategic financial leadership but aren’t yet ready for a full-time CFO hire. The work spans six areas: financial strategy, cash-flow forecasting (13-week rolling cash flow, scenario modeling, runway analysis), board and investor reporting, fundraising support, KPI and unit economics, and senior advisory (strategic decisions, pricing, hiring economics, M&A readiness).
TechBrot accepts a limited number of fractional CFO engagements per quarter, delivered through senior finance operators from TechBrot’s vetted network on a fixed monthly retainer of $3,000–$8,000+. Most engagements pair with monthly bookkeeping and payroll underneath — CFO-level work only delivers value on top of accurate operational books. Coordinates with your CPA or EA; does not include tax filing, audit, legal, or investment-advisory services.
$1M–$50M revenue · limited engagements per quarter, by application · coordinates with your CPA. Not affiliated with Intuit Inc.
Investors and lenders evaluate the financial work product, not just the numbers. A clean financial model, a defensible plan, and a credible operator on the call materially affect terms.
If you can’t answer “how many weeks of runway do we have at current burn” in 30 seconds, you don’t have a forecasting function. A fractional CFO builds the 13-week rolling cash flow and the scenarios behind it.
Monthly board packages, KPI dashboards, and investor updates are CFO-level work product. Bookkeeper-produced financial statements aren’t the same deliverable.
Selling a business requires audit-grade financials, defensible add-backs, working-capital adjustments, and a senior operator who can defend the story to buyers. CFO work directly affects valuation outcome.
If the founder or CEO is building financial models, running cash-flow forecasts, or preparing board packages personally, that’s capacity drag. CFO work doesn’t scale on founder time.
Pricing decisions, hiring economics, capital allocation, segment-profitability calls — these need a senior operator weighing trade-offs, not a report describing them.
The engagement model: a weekly operating rhythm (13-week cash flow refreshed, open decisions, a 60–90 min working session), a monthly close & board package, a quarterly strategic review (budget-vs-actual, forecast refresh, capital allocation), and event-driven bursts for fundraising, M&A, or audits — scope flexes during those windows.
A named senior operator with prior full-time CFO/controller experience — matched by industry, stage, and engagement type, not availability. They show up to your board meetings, talk to your investors, and own the work, backed by firm-level engagement review.
Effectively yes — CFO work only delivers value on accurate books. The first thing the CFO does is assess the operational accounting underneath; on unreliable books they’d have to fix them first (slow at CFO rates) or analyze a foundation that can’t be trusted (worse).
Three: sub-$1M revenue (a controller or senior bookkeeper is usually right), post-$50M (a full-time CFO is usually right), and pre-product-market-fit startups (rarely useful). The model fits the $1M–$50M middle.
Yes — and it’s why we offer CFO at all. When the fractional CFO pairs with TechBrot bookkeeping, payroll, and sales tax, the CFO works from accurate books day one, integration costs disappear, and the finance stack runs as one system instead of three vendors.
01
Annual budgeting, multi-year planning, capital allocation, and strategic financial direction.
02
13-week rolling cash flow, runway analysis, and scenario modeling for operating decisions.
03
Monthly board packages, investor updates, and KPI dashboards that withstand scrutiny.
04
Financial model build, due-diligence preparation, lender package, and deal-room support through close.
05
Metric definition, segment profitability, and the unit-economics work that drives pricing and strategy.
06
Strategic decisions, pricing, hiring economics, M&A readiness, and exit preparation.
A fractional CFO does not file taxes (your tax preparer does), does not perform audits (your audit firm does), does not provide legal or fiduciary advice (your attorney does), and does not replace your bookkeeper (TechBrot bookkeeping does). The CFO operates above the bookkeeping layer and coordinates with these functions — not instead of them. CFO work only delivers value on top of accurate operational books.
A defined operating cadence — weekly rhythm, monthly close, quarterly strategy, and event-driven bursts — not ad-hoc calls when something breaks.
13-week cash flow refreshed. Open strategic decisions reviewed. Ad-hoc analysis on whatever is in front of the CEO that week. 60–90 minute working session.
Monthly financials reviewed with the CFO lens. Board package or investor update prepared. KPI dashboard updated. Variance against budget. Forward look at the next 30–60 days.
Budget-vs-actual deep-dive. Forecast refreshed. Capital allocation review. Pricing or unit-economics analysis. Board prep if applicable. Engagement scope review.
Fundraising, M&A, refinancing, audits — the high-intensity work that comes in bursts. Engagement scope and retainer adjust during these windows to match the work required.
How the work is delivered. TechBrot’s fractional CFO and controller engagements are delivered by senior finance operators from its vetted network, matched to your industry and stage — you meet the named operator before you sign. TechBrot does not publish a named in-house CFO.
A full-time CFO hire at a U.S. business between $1M and $50M revenue runs well into six figures fully loaded — base, bonus, equity, benefits, employer taxes, recruiting and a severance reserve — before an office, an analyst to support the CFO, or the accounting software the CFO will demand. We don’t publish a dollar figure for that hire, because we haven’t measured one and the range moves with market and geography. What we can put a number on is the alternative: our own retainers, on the CFO pricing page.
Most businesses in this range don’t need 40 hours a week of CFO work. They need 10 to 25 hours a month of senior strategic work, delivered consistently — more, up to 40+, during a fundraise, a sale, or another major transition. The remaining 30+ hours of a full-time CFO’s week gets absorbed by operational tasks better handled by a controller, a bookkeeper, or software — at a fraction of the cost.
The fractional CFO model isn’t a discount — it’s a match. Senior judgment for the decisions that need senior judgment; operational accounting for the work that doesn’t. You buy the hours the judgment actually takes, not a salary — and when TechBrot runs the bookkeeping underneath, the CFO works from clean books instead of building them.
$2M–$30M revenue, profitable or near-profitable, capital-efficient. CFO-level work for budgeting, pricing, and capital-allocation decisions without dilution.
Seed through Series A–B companies needing CFO work for board reporting, runway management, and next-round prep — without a full-time finance hire diluting the cap table.
Lower-middle-market portfolio companies needing CFO bandwidth for value-creation-plan execution, monthly sponsor reporting, and exit preparation.
Owners considering a sale in 12–36 months. CFO work materially affects valuation — clean financials, defensible add-backs, professional buyer-side answers.
Complex structures — multiple LLCs, multi-state operations, intercompany transactions — needing senior financial coordination above the bookkeeping layer.
Sub-$1M revenue (a controller or senior bookkeeper is usually right). Post-$50M revenue (a full-time CFO is usually right). Pre-product-market-fit startups (rarely useful).
Send a brief application: business stage, revenue, current finance function, why now, and what you’re looking for. 10–15 minutes, no fee.
Free, no obligation
A 45-minute call with a senior operator. We assess fit, scope, timing, and engagement match. Both sides decide whether to continue.
within 1 week of application
A written engagement scope within 5 business days — tier, scope, deliverables, cadence, retainer, the named operator, and start date.
5 business days
Engagement agreement signed. Onboarding to operating books, KPIs, and stakeholders. First operating-rhythm session within the first week.
2 weeks from scope acceptance
The first thing a fractional CFO does on a new engagement is assess the operational accounting underneath. If the books are unreliable — uncategorized transactions, unreconciled accounts, missing payroll integration, a sloppy chart of accounts — the CFO must either fix the books first (slow and expensive at CFO rates) or produce analysis on a foundation that can’t be trusted (worse).
TechBrot offers fractional CFO precisely because we already operate the bookkeeping layer cleanly. Engagements that pair fractional CFO with TechBrot bookkeeping, payroll, and sales tax underneath deliver more value — the CFO works from accurate books from day one, integration costs disappear, and the finance stack runs as one system instead of three vendors. The pairing isn’t required, but when CFO and bookkeeping run together, the math gets simpler.
Three tiers by intensity; scope and retainer flex during event-driven windows (fundraising, M&A, audits). Engagements typically pair with bookkeeping and payroll underneath.
$3,000–$4,500+/month
For: Stable operating businesses needing senior financial direction without active capital events. Light forecasting, monthly board review, ad-hoc advisory.
Most common
$4,500–$6,000+/month
For: Growth-stage businesses with active forecasting needs, weekly operating rhythm, KPI work, and ongoing strategic decisions.
$6,000–$8,000+/month
For: Active fundraising, M&A, financial transformation, or high-complexity multi-entity operations needing senior bandwidth weekly.
Fractional CFO engagements are delivered by senior finance operators from TechBrot’s vetted network, with prior experience as full-time CFOs, controllers, or strategic finance leaders at U.S. growth-stage businesses. Engagements are matched on industry, stage, and engagement type — not on availability. Firm-level engagement review backs every engagement, and the operator assigned to your engagement owns the work: they show up to your board meetings, talk to your investors, and stay on the account. You meet them before you sign. If anything ever needs to transition, continuity comes from the firm’s structure: your file, the written scope and the engagement record are held by the firm, and a vetted operator takes over with full context.
“They took something that felt overwhelming to me as a first-year business owner and made it simple.”Heidi Schubert · Owner, Beverage Connection · Verified Clutch review
The standard, every file
The full advisory layer — cash flow, KPIs, budgeting, strategy, performance — fractional CFO is the heaviest of them.
13-week rolling cash flow and runway scenarios — often the first thing a CFO engagement stands up.
Margin and profitability by segment, turned into a short action list.
The accurate operational books a CFO engagement is built on — runs cleanly underneath.
The signals that a business has outgrown bookkeeping-only, and what a fractional CFO engagement should and should not include.
The retainer tiers, what each includes, and the hours a month behind them — before the call.
Talk to a ProAdvisor
No form, no sales script. You speak with a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor who has looked at files like yours — and you get a written fixed-fee scope within three business days.
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Book a free 30-minute discovery call, then a brief application and a 45-minute diagnostic with a senior operator. A written scope — tier, deliverables, cadence, retainer, and the named operator — follows within 5 business days.