Fractional controller services. Fix the mess, then keep it fixed.

Fractional controller, in plain terms

A fractional controller owns the accuracy of your books, part time. The bookkeeper records transactions. The controller makes sure the close is complete, the balance sheet ties out, and the reports are right before anyone makes a decision off them. Walden Control is that role, with the bookkeeping underneath it included.

Someone senior who owns whether your numbers are right, part time, priced as a monthly retainer.

• The bookkeeper records. The controller checks, closes, and signs off. The CFO decides what to do with it.
• Control includes everything in Accounting, so bookkeeping, AR, AP, and payroll are covered underneath the close.
• Most of the job is the balance sheet. A P&L can look fine for months before someone reconciles the accounts behind it.
• Control is also where overspending gets caught: approval limits on who can spend what, and someone watching the expense lines month over month.
• Not an auditor. We get the books audit-ready. The audit itself is your CPA firm’s job.

What lands every month

On the date we agreed, every month: closed books, every balance sheet account reconciled, a P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow statement, margin by job or location where you track it, and a KPI page. Everything in Accounting comes with it.

• Month-end close on a fixed date, within a few business days
• Balance sheet reconciliations, every account
• P&L, balance sheet, and statement of cash flows
• Job, project, or location costing where you need it
• A KPI dashboard of the five to eight numbers that run your business
• Approval limits and spending controls, written down
• Everything in Accounting: bookkeeping, AR, AP, and payroll

What a fractional controller costs

$3,500–$7,500 a month, flat. That covers the close, reconciliations, controls, and KPIs, plus the Accounting work underneath. Where you land depends on how much of that work you hand us and how heavy it runs: entities, locations, job costing, inventory. 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 monthly close on a fixed date, balance sheet reconciliations, financial statements, job or location costing, KPI reporting, approval limits and spending controls, and everything in Accounting.
• Not in the retainer: Tax returns and audit work, which stay with your CPA. Forecasting and strategy, which is Advisory. Systems migrations and automation, scoped as separate projects. Cleanup of prior periods, quoted once.

When it's time for a controller

Any one of these is usually enough: the numbers change after you have seen them, the business has outgrown the bookkeeping, costs are rising and nobody can say why, someone outside is about to look at your books, or your finance person just left.

• The numbers change after you have seen them. Last month’s P&L has moved twice since it was called final.
• You have outgrown the bookkeeping. Transaction volume tripled, and the bookkeeper who kept up before is now drowning.
• Costs are up and nobody can say why. Expenses grew faster than revenue for a couple of years, and every line looks reasonable on its own.
• Someone outside is about to look. An audit, a lender, an investor, or a buyer. Sometimes you only get one chance at a loan.
• Your finance person just left. You need the close covered while you work out the permanent answer.

Frequently asked questions