Fractional CFO
A CFO who understands what your contracts actually pay.
Most fractional CFOs have never seen a provisional billing rate or an unallowable cost. If you hold federal contracts, that gap is expensive. We bring CFO-level financial leadership that speaks both commercial finance and government contracting.
- 12 years inside DCAA
- 100+ DoD contractors audited
- CPA led
- Executive MBA
- Remote, nationwide
When a fractional CFO is the right call
There is a stage where a bookkeeper is no longer enough and a full-time CFO is not yet justified. You are making decisions with real money attached, pricing work whose profitability you are not certain of, and answering questions from a bank, a board, or a prime that your current reporting cannot answer well.
A fractional CFO fills that gap: senior financial leadership on a part-time, ongoing basis. Not more bookkeeping, and not a consultant who delivers a report and leaves. Someone accountable for the financial function week to week.
For a federal contractor, the requirement is more specific. Your margins are shaped by indirect rate structure, your cash flow is shaped by billing and funding mechanics, and your growth is constrained by whether your systems can support the contract types you want to bid. A CFO who does not understand those things will optimize the wrong variables with real conviction.
What we take on
Scope flexes with what you need. Most engagements start narrow and expand as the financial function stabilizes.
Financial reporting and close
A monthly close that finishes on time and produces statements you can actually make decisions from, with the commentary that explains what moved and why.
Cash flow forecasting
Rolling forecasts built around your real billing and collection cycle. On government work that means understanding funding, ceilings, and how long a public voucher actually takes to convert to cash.
Budgeting and planning
Annual budget and operating plan, with the variance analysis that makes the budget a management tool instead of a document written once in January.
Pricing and margin analysis
What each contract and each line of business actually earns after indirect cost is honestly allocated. This is where most contractors find their surprises.
Indirect rate strategy
Rate structure as a competitive decision, not just a compliance one. Rates decide which bids you can win and which of those you can deliver profitably.
Banking, board and investor reporting
Reporting packages and the covenant, diligence, and lender conversations that go with them. Presented the way the audience expects to receive it.
Systems and process
Choosing and implementing the accounting and reporting stack, and building the internal controls that let you scale without the wheels coming off.
Growth and transaction support
Modeling for hiring, facility, and acquisition decisions, and financial support through diligence when you are buying or selling.
Team leadership
Managing and developing your existing accounting staff, so you are building internal capability rather than a permanent dependency on us.
Why a GovCon-literate CFO matters
These are the questions a generalist CFO reliably gets wrong on federal work.
“This contract is profitable”
Measured before indirect cost is properly allocated, or with a rate structure that flatters certain work. Real contract profitability requires an allocation you could defend to an auditor.
“Revenue is up, so we are fine”
On cost-reimbursable work, revenue recognition and cash collection can diverge sharply. Funding limits, ceilings, and voucher cycles govern cash, and none of them appear on the income statement.
“Cut overhead across the board”
Cutting indirect cost changes your rates, which changes your competitiveness and your recovery on cost-type work. Sometimes it helps. Sometimes it quietly costs you more than it saves.
“Take the bigger contract”
A cost-type or T&M award you cannot support with a compliant system is not an opportunity, it is a liability. Capability has to be built before the award, not after.
How the engagement works
Financial assessment
We review your reporting, close process, rate structure, and cash cycle, and give you a written view of what is working and what is not.
Define the scope and cadence
What we own, what stays with your team, and how often we meet. Written down, so accountability is unambiguous.
Stabilize the basics
Close, reporting, and cash forecasting first. Strategy built on unreliable numbers is guesswork with better formatting.
Move to forward-looking work
Pricing, margin, planning, and the decisions that actually change outcomes.
Build your internal capability
The goal is a finance function that needs less of us over time, not more.
Questions
Frequently asked
How is this different from bookkeeping or accounting?
Bookkeeping records what happened. A CFO uses that record to change what happens next: pricing, cash, capital, and structural decisions. The two are complementary, and we can provide both, but they are genuinely different work.
How much time do you commit?
It depends on scope and stage. Some clients need a few days a month, others need weekly involvement through a growth period or a transaction. We would rather scope it honestly than sell you a retainer that does not match the work.
Do you work with companies that have no federal contracts?
Yes. The GovCon depth is a differentiator, not a restriction. Much of this work is the same in any business, and if you have no federal exposure you simply do not need that part of it.
Can you do our bookkeeping and tax as well?
Yes. We are a CPA-led firm, so bookkeeping, payroll, and business and individual tax can sit under the same engagement. Many clients consolidate once they see the reporting improve.
What size company do you work with?
Typically companies past early startup but not yet supporting a full-time CFO. The clearest signal is not revenue, it is that financial decisions are getting harder and the current reporting is not answering them.
How do we start?
A conversation about what decisions you are facing, followed by a financial assessment. The assessment is useful on its own and does not commit you to an ongoing engagement.
Ready for CFO-level help?
Tell us what decisions are in front of you and what your reporting currently tells you. That conversation is usually enough to know whether this is a fit.