Business budget template
A one-page monthly budget on your own numbers: revenue, the three expense lines and the surplus or deficit.
The engagementAdvisory
Fractional CFO services for growing businesses
Strategic financial leadership. Without the full-time hire.
CFO-level strategy, forecasting, and board reporting for U.S. businesses on a fixed monthly retainer, led by a signed CFO-level specialist practice. We assess the decisions you need to make, the state of your books and the level of support required before proposing an engagement.
$3,500–$8,000+/moWhat sets the price
What you can check before you sign
- Intuit QuickBooks® Certification Level 2 and QuickBooks Workforce Certification, held by TechBrot’s senior reviewer
- CFO-level finance & modeling
- Fixed-fee written scope, first
- 1 business day response
If your file needs our paid diagnostic first, its fee is credited in full against the cleanup. Either way, you get a fixed fee in writing before any work starts.
§ 01 · The engagement
What a fractional CFO actually delivers.
§ The engagement
A fractional CFO is a part-time chief financial officer for $1M–$50M businesses: financial strategy, 13-week cash flow, board and investor reporting, fundraising, KPIs and unit economics. A fixed monthly retainer of $3,500–$8,000+/mo, typically 10–25 hours a month, led by a signed CFO-level specialist practice and built on accurate books.
They took something that felt overwhelming to me as a first-year business owner and made it simple.
What stood out the most was TechBrot Inc’s attention to detail.
Intuit QuickBooks Certification Level 2 and QuickBooks Workforce Certification,
§ 02 · Is it time?
If any of these describe where you are, the answer is probably yes.
01
You’re preparing to raise capital or refinance debt.
Investors and lenders evaluate the financial work product, not just the numbers. A clean financial model, a defensible plan, and a credible finance lead on the call materially affect terms.02
You’re running blind on cash flow.
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.03
Your board or investors want better reporting.
Monthly board packages, KPI dashboards, and investor updates are CFO-level work product. Bookkeeper-produced financial statements aren’t the same deliverable.04
You’re considering an M&A event or exit.
Selling a business requires audit-grade financials, defensible add-backs, working-capital adjustments, and a senior finance lead who can defend the story to buyers. CFO work directly affects valuation outcome.05
Your CEO is doing CFO work.
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.06
You need senior judgment, not just senior reports.
Pricing decisions, hiring economics, capital allocation, segment-profitability calls — these need a senior finance lead weighing trade-offs, not a report describing them.§ 03 · Scope
What we cover. What we don’t.
01
Financial Strategy
Annual budgeting, multi-year planning, capital allocation, and strategic financial direction.
- Annual operating budget
- Three-year strategic financial plan
- Capital allocation framework
- Business unit profitability strategy
- Investment prioritization
02
Cash Flow & Forecasting
13-week rolling cash flow, runway analysis, and scenario modeling for operating decisions.
- 13-week rolling cash flow forecast
- Runway scenario modeling
- Burn rate analysis & trajectory
- Working capital management
- Treasury & cash optimization
03
Board & Investor Reporting
Monthly board packages, investor updates, and KPI dashboards that withstand scrutiny.
- Monthly board package
- Investor update memos
- KPI dashboard development
- Variance reporting
- Audit committee support
04
Fundraising & Capital
Financial model build, due-diligence preparation, lender package, and deal-room support through close.
- Investor-grade financial model
- Due diligence preparation
- Lender package development
- Data room construction
- Investor & lender call support
05
KPI & Unit Economics
Metric definition, segment profitability, and the unit-economics work that drives pricing and strategy.
- Unit economics analysis
- Customer profitability segmentation
- Contribution margin by SKU or service
- CAC, LTV, payback analysis
- Sales & marketing efficiency metrics
06
Senior Advisory & M&A
Strategic decisions, pricing, hiring economics, M&A readiness, and exit preparation.
- Strategic decision support
- Pricing strategy & analysis
- Hiring economics & team planning
- M&A readiness & valuation prep
- Exit preparation & deal advisory
What a fractional CFO is not.
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.
§ 04 · The engagement model
How a fractional CFO engagement actually runs.
A defined operating cadence — weekly rhythm, monthly close, quarterly strategy, and event-driven bursts — not ad-hoc calls when something breaks.
- WEEKLY
Operating rhythm
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
Close & board reporting
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.
- QUARTERLY
Strategic review
Budget-vs-actual deep-dive. Forecast refreshed. Capital allocation review. Pricing or unit-economics analysis. Board prep if applicable. Engagement scope review.
- EVENT-DRIVEN
Capital & transactions
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.
§ 05 · Why fractional, not full-time
The economics of CFO work between $1M and $50M.
How the work is delivered. Your fractional CFO engagement is led by a signed CFO-level specialist practice with prior CFO or controller experience, and your engagement letter names it. 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.
CFO advisory engagements are backed by a specialist partner practice that has signed with TechBrot for this work.
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; bookkeeping 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.
§ 06 · Who it fits
The business profiles where fractional CFO works.
01
Bootstrapped growth-stage operators
$2M–$30M revenue, profitable or near-profitable, capital-efficient. CFO-level work for budgeting, pricing, and capital-allocation decisions without dilution.
02
Venture-backed companies between rounds
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.
03
PE portfolio companies
Lower-middle-market portfolio companies needing CFO bandwidth for value-creation-plan execution, monthly sponsor reporting, and exit preparation.
04
Pre-exit owners
Owners considering a sale in 12–36 months. CFO work materially affects valuation — clean financials, defensible add-backs, professional buyer-side answers.
05
Multi-entity / multi-state operators
Complex structures — multiple LLCs, multi-state operations, intercompany transactions — needing senior financial coordination above the bookkeeping layer.
—
When fractional CFO doesn’t fit
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).
§ 07 · Onboarding
From application to first board meeting.
- STEP 01
Application
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 - STEP 02
Discovery call
A 45-minute call with TechBrot. We assess fit, scope, timing, and engagement match. Both sides decide whether to continue.
within 1 week of application - STEP 03
Written scope & match
A written engagement scope within 3 business days — tier, scope, deliverables, cadence, retainer, the specialist practice leading your engagement, and start date.
Within 3 business days - STEP 04
Engagement start
Engagement agreement signed. Onboarding to operating books, KPIs, and stakeholders. First operating-rhythm session within the first week.
2 weeks from scope acceptance
§ 08 · The finance stack
CFO work only delivers value on accurate books.
The first thing a fractional CFO does on a new engagement is assess the bookkeeping 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 — advisory starts with an assessment of the books and reporting you already have, and any cleanup, reporting changes or systems work is scoped before it begins. The pairing isn’t required, but when CFO and bookkeeping run together, the math gets simpler.
§ 09 · Pricing
Fixed monthly retainer, defined scope, no hourly billing.
Three tiers by intensity; scope and retainer flex during event-driven windows (fundraising, M&A, audits). Engagements typically pair with bookkeeping and payroll underneath.
Strategic
$3,500–$8,000+ /month, lower endFor: Stable operating businesses needing senior financial direction without active capital events. Light forecasting, monthly board review, ad-hoc advisory.- Monthly board / leadership review
- 13-week cash flow (monthly refresh)
- Annual budgeting
- Strategic advisory (email + monthly call)
- Quarterly engagement review
Most common
Active
$3,500–$8,000+ /month, middleFor: Growth-stage businesses with active forecasting needs, weekly operating rhythm, KPI work, and ongoing strategic decisions.- Everything in Strategic
- Weekly operating rhythm (60–90 min)
- 13-week cash flow (weekly refresh)
- KPI dashboard & unit economics
- Monthly board package
- Investor update memos
- Scenario modeling & analysis
Intensive
$3,500–$8,000+ /month, upper endFor: Active fundraising, M&A, financial transformation, or high-complexity multi-entity operations needing senior bandwidth weekly.- Everything in Active
- Active fundraising / M&A support
- Investor-grade financial model build
- Due diligence & data room
- Investor & lender call support
- Multi-entity consolidation strategy
- Audit prep & coordination
§ 10 · Who performs the work
A senior finance lead, assigned and accountable.
Fractional CFO engagements are led by a signed CFO-level specialist practice, named in your engagement letter. Every close is reviewed before it reaches you. Every engagement is reviewed before delivery.
The standard, every fileWho leads your engagement. A signed CFO-level specialist practice with prior CFO or controller experience
Engagement match. Industry, stage, and engagement-type aligned — not by availability
Accountability. The specialist practice leading your engagement is named in your engagement letter · reviewed against TechBrot’s written close standard before it reaches you
Capacity. We take on a limited number of CFO engagements at a time so each gets senior attention.
§ 11 · Who works on your books
Your TechBrot team.
Every engagement runs on three roles: a client advisor who scopes it and stays your point of contact, a senior bookkeeper who prepares your setup and monthly close in your software, and a Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor who reviews every close before it reaches you. A U.S.-based bookkeeper is available on request; we can share their public directory profile with you.
Specialists when your books need them.
Senior bookkeepers who specialize in rental portfolios and Xero, and specialist partner practices for trust accounting for law firms and CFO advisory. We bring the right one onto your engagement when your business calls for it, under the same standards and review.
§ 12 · Connected work
What fractional CFO connects to.
All advisory services
The full advisory layer — cash flow, KPIs, budgeting, strategy, performance — fractional CFO is the heaviest of them.
The engagementCash flow management
13-week rolling cash flow and runway scenarios — often the first thing a CFO engagement stands up.
The engagementPerformance review
Margin and profitability by segment, turned into a short action list.
The engagementMonthly bookkeeping
The accurate operational books a CFO engagement is built on — runs cleanly underneath.
The engagementWhen to hire a fractional CFO
The signals that a business has outgrown bookkeeping-only, and what a fractional CFO engagement should and should not include.
Read moreFractional CFO cost
The retainer tiers, what each includes, and the hours a month behind them — before the call.
The engagement§ 14 · Questions
CFO questions.
How much does a fractional CFO cost?
A fixed monthly retainer of $3,500–$8,000+/mo: Strategic sits at the lower end of the band, Active in the middle and Intensive at the upper end. The written scope sets the fee. A full-time CFO at this stage is a six-figure hire once salary, bonus, equity and employer costs are counted — a fractional engagement delivers senior finance work for a fraction of it, and you can stop it at the end of any month.
When does a business need a fractional CFO?
Three inflection points: revenue crosses $1M–$3M and decisions get harder; you’re preparing for a capital event (fundraising, refinancing, sale); or scaling complexity outpaces the existing finance function. Also when the CEO is personally doing CFO work.
What’s the difference between a fractional CFO and a controller?
A controller manages accounting operations (close, statements, controls). A fractional CFO operates strategically (planning, forecasting, fundraising, board). Growth-stage businesses often need both — the controller produces continuous output, the CFO interprets it and drives strategy.
Does a fractional CFO replace my CPA?
No. The CFO handles operational and strategic finance — strategy, forecasting, board reporting, fundraising. Your tax preparer handles income-tax filing and tax positions; IRS representation requires a CPA, an EA or an attorney. The CFO coordinates with them but does not file taxes or provide tax advice.
How are engagements structured?
Three tiers on a fixed monthly retainer against a written scope — Strategic, Active, and Intensive — defined by operating rhythm (monthly vs weekly), deliverables, and intensity. Scope and retainer flex during event-driven windows like fundraising or M&A. No hourly billing.
Is a fractional CFO available immediately?
We take on a limited number of CFO engagements at a time so each gets senior attention. After a free discovery call, a brief application and a 45-minute discovery call — book it online or call (877) 751-5575 — a written scope is produced within 3 business days, and work starts on the date in your written scope.
§ 15 · Talk to a client advisor
One call tells you exactly where your books stand.
Tell us which decisions the numbers need to support. We’ll tell you whether advisory, a controller or cleaner books come first.
What happens when you call