Fractional CFO services. For the calls you can't take back.

Fractional CFO, in plain terms

A fractional CFO is a senior finance lead you share with other businesses instead of hiring full time. At Walden, Advisory is that role plus the books underneath it. The same team keeps your close and builds your forecast, so the advice starts from numbers we already trust.

A senior finance person on your side of the table, part time, priced as a monthly retainer instead of a salary.

• A bookkeeper tells you what happened last month. A CFO tells you what happens next, and what to do about it.
• Advisory sits on top of the close. The retainer covers the Control and Accounting work underneath it, so the forecast is built on books we keep ourselves.
• Most of the work is cash timing and margin, and the decisions that hang on both: hiring, pricing, financing, and big purchases.
• You make the call. Our job is to show you what it costs before you make it.
• Not your tax preparer and not an investment adviser. Tax returns and attest work stay with your CPA.

What lands every month

Every month: closed books and statements on a fixed date, the 13-week cash forecast updated weekly, budget against actual with a short note on what moved, margin by job or customer, a one-page dashboard, and a standing meeting on the decisions coming up. When a big call is coming, a model for it.

• Closed books and financial statements, on a fixed date
• 13-week cash forecast, updated every week
• Annual budget, reforecast as the year moves
• Budget against actual, with what changed and why
• Margin by job, product, or customer
• A one-page dashboard of the five to eight numbers that run your business
• Scenario models before hiring, pricing, or financing calls

What a fractional CFO costs

$7,000–$12,000 a month, flat. That covers the CFO work and the close and bookkeeping underneath it. Where you land in the range depends on how much of that work you hand us and how heavy it runs. Cleanup of past periods is quoted once, separately.

No setup fee and no annual contract. Cancel with 30 days notice. Every engagement is backed by a money-back guarantee through your first monthly close, or 30 days, whichever is longer. You keep the close either way.

• In the retainer: The 13-week forecast, budget and reforecast, margin and pricing analysis, scenario models, lender and investor reporting, a standing monthly meeting, and the Control and Accounting work underneath.
• Not in the retainer: Tax returns and attest work, which stay with your CPA. Exit and capital projects and AI implementation, which are scoped separately. Cleanup of prior periods, quoted once.

When it's time for a fractional CFO

Any one of these is usually enough: cash surprises you even though the P&L says you're profitable, a hiring or pricing call is coming and there's no model behind it, a bank or buyer wants more than you can show, or the books are fine but nobody turns them into decisions.

• Profitable on paper, short on cash. The P&L says you made money. The bank account disagrees, and nobody can tell you where it went.
• A big call is coming and you're going on gut. A hire, a truck, a second location, a price change. You'd like to see what it does to cash first.
• Someone outside wants better numbers. A lender renewal, a new line of credit, a partner buying in. They want a forecast, and you don't have one.
• The books are clean, and that is all they are. The close lands on time. Nobody tells you what it means or what to do about it.

Frequently asked questions