Fractional CFO firms compared: services, fees and fit
Published Updated 14 min read
A growing business can have an accountant and still need help deciding what it can afford. Hiring, expansion and conversations with lenders require someone who can connect the financial reports to the decisions ahead. A fractional CFO provides that leadership on a part-time basis, with responsibilities agreed for the engagement.
For a CEO or portfolio-company leader choosing that support, the practical question is how much of the finance function the firm will take on. The 13 providers below offer different combinations of CFO leadership, controller oversight and accounting support. Compare their services and published fee examples, then use the engagement brief to define the work your business needs.
DisclosureJake Jorgovan co-founded Alpha Apex Group, which is mentioned in this article.
Fractional CFO consulting firms compared
The strongest starting point is a firm that understands the work ahead. Burkland has a startup CFO practice; DVCG works with nonprofits; Next Level Now focuses on IT companies and managed service providers. FLG Partners covers part-time leadership as well as more concentrated interim assignments. These are overlapping capabilities, so use the profiles to test the fit for your business. The list draws from this site’s fractional CFO coverage; each provider describes fractional or part-time CFO work on its own website, checked September 27–30, 2026.
| Provider | Published services | A useful fit to explore |
|---|---|---|
| Burkland | Startup CFO support, modeling, fundraising and board work | A startup building its strategic finance function |
| CFO Share | Fractional CFO, transaction advisory, CFO support and monthly accrual bookkeeping | Leadership and finance-team capacity in one engagement |
| Consult Your CFO | Temporary/fractional CFO and controller work; bookkeeping | A Mid-Atlantic business needing temporary or ongoing part-time finance leadership |
| DHJJ | CFO support for growth, major transitions and sale preparation | Manufacturing, distribution or construction finance decisions; Illinois areas listed |
| DVCG | Nonprofit CFO support, financial cleanup and audit preparation | A nonprofit strengthening finance and stakeholder reporting |
| FLG Partners | Part-time, interim and full-time CFO leadership; board support | A CFO transition, financing or exit requiring senior leadership |
| FocusCFO | Embedded fractional leadership for small and medium-sized businesses | An ongoing CFO role alongside an existing finance team |
| Next Level Now | CFO advisory, controller and accounting packages for IT companies and MSPs | An IT services business choosing how much finance work to outsource |
| Preferred CFO | Forecasting, reporting, accounting oversight and controller supervision | Ongoing strategy with closer oversight of the accounting function |
| Pro Business Plans | Part-time CFO matching through an engagement manager | A buyer comparing individual CFOs through a network |
| Quadrant Advisory | Fractional CFO and controllership; planning and capital strategy | A growing company needing both strategic and accounting oversight |
| The FD Consultant | Fractional finance directors; funding and sale preparation | An SME or scale-up seeking a UK or international engagement |
| Weekly Accounting | Fractional CFO, bookkeeping, weekly reports and cash-flow work | A business needing frequent reporting alongside finance support |
The providers and their engagement models
13 firmsBurkland
Back to the comparisonBurkland website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Startups building strategic finance capacity
Burkland offers fractional and interim CFO support for startups. Its published CFO tiers move from financial modeling and reporting to fundraising and board support, then more complex scenario, audit and exit planning. That progression helps a startup distinguish the work needed for its next funding or operating decision.
Burkland publishes accounting packages separately from its CFO tiers. Confirm whether your proposal includes the accounting work you need. The monthly tiers below are startup pricing; the firm also lists finance services for small and mid-sized businesses (opens in a new tab). Burkland says prices depend on scope and support needs.
CFO Share
Back to the comparisonCFO Share website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Combining financial leadership with supporting finance capacity
CFO Share advertises fractional CFO services, transaction advisory and support for companies that already have a CFO. It also provides monthly full-accrual bookkeeping and financial reporting. That combination is useful when the problem includes both a senior finance decision and the staff capacity to prepare the numbers behind it.
The firm advertises no long-term contracts and a 24-hour responsiveness promise. That is a response commitment; agree separately on delivery dates for a forecast, transaction analysis or reporting project. A small business's existing CFO can also use the support service to cover excess work without commissioning a replacement leader.
Consult Your CFO
Back to the comparisonConsult Your CFO website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Temporary or ongoing part-time finance leadership in the Mid-Atlantic
Consult Your CFO serves small and mid-sized businesses in Maryland and the Mid-Atlantic with temporary or fractional CFO and controller work, plus bookkeeping. It describes working alongside the client's CPA, bankers and attorneys, which helps frame how the engagement will fit the advisers already involved.
Its service FAQ (opens in a new tab) also offers help interviewing a permanent CFO or controller and overseeing the transfer of duties. That makes the transition plan worth discussing at the start if you expect the role to become full time. It typically charges US$130–$150 per hour in quarter-hour increments and may request a retainer before work starts.
DHJJ website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Industry-specific finance work during growth or a major transition
DHJJ's fractional CFO service covers growth, higher-level financial decisions and sale preparation. Its listed industries include manufacturing, distribution and construction, alongside other sectors. The service page also identifies mergers, acquisitions and restructuring as situations where a business may need support. It lists Illinois service areas and invites businesses elsewhere to ask about coverage.
For a manufacturer or distributor, use the proposed CFO's experience to explore the cash tied up in inventory, customer collections and planned investment.
DVCG website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Nonprofit financial leadership and reporting improvements
DVCG's finance and accounting services are built around nonprofits. They include fractional CFO support, cleaning up financial records and preparing for audits. The firm also describes reporting for boards, donors and regulatory stakeholders, plus financial systems implementation.
A nonprofit can therefore explore a combined leadership and reporting assignment here. Define the board's information needs, the condition of the records and the work retained by the internal team. DVCG's wider consulting offer should be scoped to the finance problem you need it to solve.
FLG Partners
Back to the comparisonFLG Partners website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- CFO transitions, financing and exit preparation
FLG Partners is a partnership of CFOs offering part-time, interim and full-time leadership, with board support. Its published engagement situations include startups raising capital, companies with a CFO in transition and businesses preparing for acquisition or exit. That breadth matters when the assignment may require concentrated interim coverage before settling into a part-time role.
FLG publishes a testimonial in which Diane Dietz at Rodan + Fields describes Laureen DeBuono's work as interim CFO during the company's 2014–2016 growth period. She credits the engagement with a strategic and annual operating plan and a new finance team.
FocusCFO
Back to the comparisonFocusCFO website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- An embedded CFO alongside an existing finance team
FocusCFO describes its CFOs as part of the client's leadership team, serving small and medium-sized businesses. A complimentary half-day assessment explores the business's needs and the potential fit. Its service model includes working with the internal finance team and outside advisers, so it is useful to bring those people into the scoping conversation.
Engagements are month-to-month. FocusCFO says its average client engagement is one half or one full day per week; the assessment should establish what your workload requires. The point to test is whether the proposed CFO can participate in the decisions and meetings where you need senior judgment.
Next Level Now
Back to the comparisonNext Level Now website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- IT companies and managed service providers combining CFO and accounting needs
Next Level Now specializes in embedded CFO and accounting services for IT companies and managed service providers. Its packages distinguish CFO advice, oversight of the monthly close, controller support and an embedded accounting team. This gives an MSP a practical way to compare how much work it wants to retain internally.
Its Foundation Builder and Momentum Manager tiers each list bookkeeping as an additional charge in the package descriptions (opens in a new tab). Choose by the work and people included; the package name alone will not tell you who sends invoices, manages the close or updates the forecast.
Preferred CFO
Back to the comparisonPreferred CFO website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Ongoing financial strategy with accounting oversight
Preferred CFO combines forecasting, reporting and financial leadership with accounting oversight and controller supervision. Its service page identifies cash-flow uncertainty, limited visibility into margins and preparation for investors or lenders as reasons to bring in support. Those needs can persist after an immediate project ends.
Its ongoing model gives a buyer a way to combine financial planning with oversight of the accounting work. Agree who owns the forecast and who supervises the close so both responsibilities have a named person.
Pro Business Plans
Back to the comparisonPro Business Plans website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Finding a part-time CFO through a matching network
Pro Business Plans operates a network for part-time CFO services. An engagement manager discusses the buyer's goals, financial needs and team before introducing a CFO. This is a matching model, so the proposed individual's experience and the contracting arrangement deserve attention alongside the network's name.
The firm advertises a trial with payment only if satisfied. Get the trial's duration, covered work, payment conditions and cancellation process in writing. Those details establish what you can evaluate before committing to the engagement.
Quadrant Advisory
Back to the comparisonQuadrant Advisory website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Fractional CFO leadership combined with controllership
Quadrant offers strategic planning, capital strategy and cash-flow forecasting alongside controllership. In a testimonial on its CFO page attributed to Jeff McGregor at Truepic, he credits both its fractional CFO guidance on financial decisions and its controllership support for day-to-day accounting. The named account shows how the two roles can work together.
Quadrant states that it is not a CPA firm. Its finance and accounting services still need to fit the work of your tax and audit advisers. For a growing company, make the split between strategic decisions, accounting oversight and external professional responsibilities explicit in the engagement.
The FD Consultant
Back to the comparisonThe FD Consultant website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- SMEs and scale-ups seeking a fractional finance director
The FD Consultant describes a collective of fractional or part-time finance directors working with SMEs, scale-ups and startups in the UK and internationally. Its services include funding and business-sale preparation, alongside budgeting and financial modeling (opens in a new tab).
The collective model makes the individual assignment important: compare the proposed finance director's relevant experience, availability and handover arrangements. Its published service rate is £125 per hour, excluding VAT. Confirm the hours your assignment requires.
Weekly Accounting
Back to the comparisonWeekly Accounting website, captured October 2026.
- Potential fit
- Weekly financial reporting alongside CFO and bookkeeping support
Weekly Accounting combines fractional CFO services with bookkeeping, weekly financial reports, cash-flow management and budgeting. Its services page advertises four-week onboarding covering the chart of accounts, system integration, reporting configuration and team training. The four weeks refer to setting up the service.
For a business whose decisions move faster than its existing reports, the weekly cadence is a useful distinction. Review a sample report with the provider and identify the decisions it would support, including collections, spending and cash requirements. Agree which underlying records your team must supply to keep that cycle working.
Do you need a fractional CFO, a controller or a full-time leader?
I would start by writing down the decisions that finance needs to support. Perhaps you are evaluating a new location, preparing for a lender review or trying to understand margins across business units. Then identify the work your team can already do and the gap you need to fill.
Use these distinctions to scope the engagement. Providers divide responsibilities differently, so treat them as a starting point for the brief:
- Bookkeeping and accounting capacity: transactions, reconciliations or routine reports are falling behind. Ask for the people and time needed to maintain the records.
- Controller oversight: the team needs someone to manage the close, review accounting work and establish consistent reporting. Ask who will own that process each month.
- Fractional CFO leadership: you need a senior person to own forecasts, evaluate financial choices and support leadership conversations, with a workload that fits an agreed part-time schedule.
- Interim or permanent CFO leadership: the role needs sustained daily attention. For a vacancy or transition, consider interim coverage through a provider or recruitment. For an ongoing daily role, assess a permanent hire using the CFO executive search comparison.
Providers use fractional and outsourced CFO labels differently. Preferred CFO describes its fractional service as typically strategic and ongoing, while its outsourced CFO work may be shorter term or project based. Define the person, responsibilities, availability and duration in the agreement.
These needs can coexist. If the books need repair, identify who will do it and what decisions can be supported in the meantime. If the lasting gap is accounting capacity, consider recruiting finance and accounting staff as part of the team plan. Keep responsibility for tax advice and filings explicit with your existing advisers or the additional service you commission.
In my January 2020 account of preparing Lead Cookie for sale, I described having to rebuild the bookkeeping and separate revenue and expenses from other ventures that shared its books. The lesson I drew then was to hire a decent accountant and keep the books clean. Before you commission strategic advice, ask who owns that accounting work. A senior title does not answer that question.
For a portfolio company or business unit, also spell out the reporting relationship with the parent finance team. Ask which decisions the fractional CFO can make, what they must escalate and who retains approval over spending and financing.
What does a fractional CFO cost per hour or month?
Consult Your CFO publishes a typical US-dollar hourly rate; The FD Consultant quotes in pounds excluding VAT. Burkland publishes monthly starting prices (opens in a new tab) for its startup CFO packages. The examples below were checked September 30, 2026 and cover different workloads, so they do not establish a market average or a quote for your business.
| Provider | Published price | Qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Burkland | Starter from US$1,600/month; Core from US$2,500/month; Advanced from US$4,200/month | Startup fractional CFO tiers; the firm says pricing depends on scope and support needs |
| Consult Your CFO | Typically US$130–$150/hour | Billed in quarter-hour increments; a retainer may be requested before work starts |
| The FD Consultant | £125/hour, excluding VAT | Its published hourly service rate; confirm the hours required for your engagement |
Ask each firm to price the same brief, including the initial setup and ongoing work.
A useful cost comparison includes the named CFO's time, accounting support, meetings, software, cleanup and transaction work. If a proposal uses an hourly rate, request an estimate for both the initial phase and a normal month, along with a process for approving extra work.
How much time should the CFO spend with you?
FocusCFO's service FAQ (opens in a new tab) says its average client engagement is one half or one full day per week. Consult Your CFO says the schedule follows the agreed action plan, typically with more work at the start and a reduced workload afterward. These describe the providers' engagements; neither is a universal weekly requirement.
Build your schedule around preparation, analysis, management meetings and availability between them. A monthly conversation about reports requires different coverage from ongoing responsibility for the forecast and finance team.
Ask about coverage during budget planning, lender deadlines or a transaction. Agree who responds when an important decision falls outside the scheduled meeting, whether extra time is available and what it costs. For seasonal businesses, put both peak and quieter periods into that discussion.
If the finance team needs daily leadership, or repeated urgent demands cannot fit the proposed availability, reconsider the engagement model.
How to assess the person who will do the work
I would ask the proposed CFO to walk through a financial model they have built, with confidential information removed. Have them explain the assumptions, where the data came from and how the model changed a decision. The point is to see whether they can make the reasoning clear enough for you to challenge it.
Then give them a situation from your business. For example, ask how they would evaluate an expansion if customer collections arrive later than planned. Listen for the information they request, the options they compare and the decisions they would bring back to you. An interview does not need to become a free consulting assignment to reveal how someone thinks.
Before you sign, establish the following:
- Who is the assigned CFO, who supports them and who covers an absence?
- What comparable businesses and finance decisions has that person worked on? Can a relevant client provide a reference?
- Which professional qualifications and accounting-system experience matter for our scope, and how can we verify them?
- Who maintains the books, reviews the close and updates the forecast?
- How will the CFO coordinate with our existing accountant, tax adviser, auditor and legal team?
- What meetings and response times are included, and how is urgent work handled?
- What are the minimum commitment, notice period, extra charges and replacement arrangements?
- Who owns the models and working files, and how will the handover work when the engagement ends?
Set up the engagement around a decision you need to make
Give the CFO a clear first assignment and access to the information needed to deliver it. For a reporting problem, that could mean an agreed close calendar, named owners for inputs and a management report that explains performance. For an expansion, it could mean a forecast that compares the funding and cash requirements of the available options.
Use this brief to make proposals comparable and to agree what success will look like.
Fractional CFO engagement brief
Complete this with your leadership team before approaching providers
- Business and reporting structure
- Entities, locations, business units and any parent-company requirements
- Decision or problem
- What needs to be resolved, and by when
- Current finance team
- Who keeps the books, runs the close and advises on tax
- Reporting and systems
- Accounting software, source data, reporting deadlines and known gaps
- Planning inputs
- Sales pipeline, customer payment terms, prepayments, hiring plans and financing commitments
- First deliverables
- The forecast, reporting improvements or decision analysis you expect
- Responsibility and access
- Who supplies each input, who approves payments and which system permissions are needed
- Availability and budget
- Regular meetings, urgent support, setup work and ongoing fees
- Review and handover
- When to assess progress, how to change scope and what would trigger a permanent hire
Keep reporting and planning connected. Ask for explanations of differences between forecast and actual results, then use those findings to update the next forecast. If the assignment includes a software change, agree what reporting problem it solves and what the CFO, finance and IT teams will own: implementation, source-data checks, access controls, reporting definitions, output validation and user training.
For example, if customers pay before delivery, ask how the reports distinguish money collected from work still owed. If customers pay after delivery, ask how the forecast reflects the collection dates. These questions help you judge whether the work describes your business clearly without requiring you to prescribe the accounting treatment yourself.
At the agreed review, assess what the engagement has made possible: the decision taken, the report delivered on time, the gap identified and the work still needed. Decide whether to continue, adjust the scope or hire a permanent leader. Choose the arrangement that gives the business the attention it needs.
Sources and method
How this list was made
These 13 providers come from this site's fractional CFO coverage and describe fractional or part-time CFO work on their own sites. They appear alphabetically. Service and fee evidence was checked September 27–30, 2026; fit descriptions are editorial guidance, not a ranking or an independent assessment of client results.
Provider evidence checked September 27–30, 2026
Jake Jorgovan
Jake works with enterprise leaders on marketing strategy and executive talent. He co-founded Alpha Apex Group, founded Content Allies, owns Listen Network and is a partner in Fieldtrip, a group of marketing agencies. He founded Lead Cookie and later sold it.
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