Guide
What is a fractional CFO?
A fractional CFO is an experienced chief financial officer who works with your company part-time, typically a few days a month, giving you senior finance leadership without the full-time cost. Here is what they do, what they cost, and when to hire one.
What they actually do
- Cash flow forecasting and runway management, the number one reason companies bring one in.
- Financial models for fundraising, and sitting across from investors during diligence.
- Board reporting: turning bookkeeping output into decisions leadership can act on.
- Pricing, margin, and unit economics work that bookkeepers and controllers are not scoped for.
- Building the finance function itself: systems, hires, and process, then handing it off.
The cost math
A full-time CFO runs $250,000 to $450,000 a year once salary, equity, and benefits are counted. A fractional CFO typically runs $3,000 to $12,000 a month for a defined scope, or roughly $200 to $400 hourly. Most companies under $20M in revenue do not have full-time CFO work to assign anyway; they have two intense days a week of it, which is exactly the shape a fractional engagement fits.
When to hire one
The trigger is rarely a date on a calendar. It is a moment: a raise is coming and the model will not survive diligence; cash got tight and nobody saw it coming; the board asked a question the bookkeeper could not answer. If founders are making six-figure decisions on gut feel, the engagement pays for itself in avoided mistakes.
How the good ones get found
Referrals first: CPAs, investors, and founder networks. LinkedIn second, and it matters more than most CFOs admit, because a candidate who publishes sharp, specific thinking about cash and growth is showing you their judgment before you ever pay for it. If you are the fractional CFO reading this, that visibility is your storefront; the strongest operators treat it as seriously as their referral network.
Common questions
What is a fractional CFO in simple terms?
An experienced chief financial officer who works for your company part-time, usually a few days a month, instead of as a full-time employee. You get senior finance leadership at a fraction of a full-time cost.
How much does a fractional CFO cost?
Typical engagements run $3,000 to $12,000 per month depending on scope, versus $250,000 to $450,000 all-in for a full-time CFO. Hourly arrangements run roughly $200 to $400.
When should a company hire one?
Common triggers: raising a round, cash flow getting tight, the board asking questions the bookkeeper cannot answer, preparing for acquisition, or crossing roughly $2M to $5M in revenue where founder-led finance stops scaling.
How do companies find a good fractional CFO?
Mostly referrals from CPAs, investors, and other founders, plus LinkedIn, where the strong ones publish their thinking. If a candidate's public writing shows how they reason about cash, that is a better signal than any resume.
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