Differences Between Interim, Part-Time, and Fractional CFOs

We’ve seen hundreds of startups run with a skeleton budget, but the startups that hire a CFO are the ones that end up making critical hires, well-informed business decisions, and raising funding when needed. Ultimately, these startups can go public or sell their law firm bookkeeping startup compared to startups that tend to their own slim budgets. Running a startup is a delicate balance between managing money and making critical hires to move forward. Fractional CFOs typically get paid hourly since they are part-time or work per project.

• New Life CFO sources contractors with a wide variety of industry experience who have served at least ten years as full-time CFOs.
• With fractional CFO services, you can take care of those key tasks without overspending.
• However, the lower end of the salary range was $101,250 and the higher end reported an average salary of $278,900 for very experienced CFOs.
• CPAs and other accounting professionals tend to lean on historical records, but a CFO looks toward the future.
• Our goal is to help companies move the needle by scaling and accelerating growth, optimizing resources, overcoming obstacles, and maximizing shareholder value.

If your company needs help with your financial big picture, we’re happy to discuss your needs. Let’s take a look at some of the most popular reasons companies seek out a fractional CFO. A Fractional CFO does all the same things as a full-time CFO, but the scope of work can be tailored to the specific needs of a company. This could range from simply advising the CEO on financial matters to taking on 2-3 responsibilities of the full-time CFO.

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But, if your company is not big enough to justify having a full-time CFO with a team of specialists, hiring just one part-time CFO might not get you what you really need. The average hourly rate of a fractional CFO is $300, but rates vary depending on location, scope of a project, experience, and other factors. Inside our free Slack community, you’ll find the #fractional-cfos channel, where you can connect, collaborate, and share knowledge with other fractional CFOs.

Or, they can help determine whether you can afford to hire more people or invest in a new line of business by working with your team to build a cash flow forecast. It’s essential to understand a fractional CFO’s role before deciding whether you need one for your company. Using fractional CFO services is much more cost-effective than a full-time finance team since they can do different financial operations across different roles part-time.

Technology Services

KPIs are essential to any business’s financials because they measure your team’s performance. However, keeping track of these metrics can be challenging for startups without a full-time CFO. A fractional CFO can assist in tracking key performance indicators and other important metrics, such as revenue growth or profit margin. By tracking these metrics, you can measure the success of your business and make data-driven decisions.

This need can also arise when a company is undergoing significant challenges that can make it more difficult to attract a full-time CFO. A full-time CFO has all the responsibilities of a CFO; however, to justify a full-time CFO, a company would need to have revenue of at least $75mm (this way the CFO has enough work). Whether implementing a new software system, adding office space, acquiring another company, or any other substantial investment, companies want to know how long it will take to recoup the money they spend on major purchases. If Your Company Doesn’t Have a Financial Forecast, You’re Wasting Time and Money Every company has goals. Most even have a general idea of the benchmarks you need to hit to get there—”By increasing… The end of the fiscal year can be highly stressful for financial officers and corporate executives.

What is a fractional Controller’s job responsibility?

Next Round CFO are our local neighbors in Austin, TX, offering tech-forward, white glove service to Seed and Series A Software-as-a Service (SaaS) companies to help optimize cash flow and accelerate growth. Mighty Startup is headquartered in Boston, MA even offers Outsourced Finance Services for CFOs (for fulltime and fractional CFOs) to make their job easier. They support angel investors, VCs, and PE firms to improve the financial infrastructure of their portfolio. Full-time CFOs likely have more intimate knowledge of the inner workings of the company itself. They are immersed in the culture and operations on a 9-to-5 basis, so it makes sense they’d have this perspective.

However, there could be cases where a business with an in-house CFO may bring in external support for heavy lifting with big projects or events, such as an audit. Good fractional CFO consulting will not over-burden your company with services you do not need. As you shop for fractional CFO consulting services, check if you are being quoted the right amount of work or if instead you are quoted excessive and unnecessary tasks. New Life CFO sources contractors with a wide variety of industry experience who have served at least ten years as full-time CFOs.