Fractional CFO services for growth-stage decisions
Beankeeper provides fractional CFO services for founders navigating fundraising, exit preparation, audit preparation, board pressure, or the departure of an internal finance lead. You get senior financial guidance for the decisions growth creates, without committing to a full-time executive hire.
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What your fractional CFO handles
Beankeeper’s Fractional CFO service is packaged into a monthly bundle based on the scope of support required. The work combines financial interpretation with short-term and long-term strategy so leadership can understand the numbers and decide what to do next.
Financial Interpretation
Your fractional CFO connects financial statements, forecasts, and reports to the decision in front of you. Leadership gains a clearer view of the company’s position, the assumptions that need scrutiny, and the questions that should guide the next step.
Short-term financial strategy
When a cash constraint, reporting concern, leadership change, or stakeholder conversation requires attention, Beankeeper helps leadership assess the immediate position, weigh the tradeoffs, and set financial priorities.
Long-term financial strategy
Your fractional CFO connects today’s decisions with the company’s longer-term direction, including growth, funding, board expectations, and future ownership plans.
A CFO backed by a full finance department
Beankeeper’s fractional CFO can be layered onto a finance team that includes Bookkeeping, Controller services, and FP&A. When a client engages those underlying functions, CFO guidance connects directly with the team maintaining the records, coordinating recurring finance work, and building forecasts and reports.
Solo fractional CFO: Advises from financial information produced by the company or other providers.
Beankeeper’s connected model: Can connect CFO guidance with the team supporting the books, recurring finance work, forecasts, and reports.
Both models can provide valuable senior advice. Beankeeper’s distinction is the option to connect strategic interpretation with the finance work beneath it, reducing the number of separate relationships the founder must coordinate.
Learn more about how Beankeeper’s finance model works.
Advisory only or the full department?
Some clients bring an existing finance function and engage Beankeeper for CFO advisory only. Others layer the fractional CFO onto Beankeeper’s broader finance department. Both are valid engagement paths.
Advisory only
- This is likely the right fit if: Your bookkeeper or internal finance team already manages the underlying work, but the founder needs senior financial interpretation and strategy for higher-stakes decisions.
- Beankeeper’s role: Provide CFO-level interpretation and strategy around the financial information the existing team produces, with responsibilities and communication expectations defined during scoping.
- Your team’s role: Continue managing the underlying finance work assigned to the internal team or existing provider.
Fractional CFO with the broader department
- This is likely the right fit if: Leadership needs CFO guidance and wants Beankeeper to support some or all of the Bookkeeping, Controller, or FP&A work beneath it.
- Beankeeper’s role: Connect CFO-level interpretation with the selected recurring and forward-looking finance functions.
- Your team’s role: Retain the responsibilities established during scoping.
Services are selected and priced by module. Engaging a fractional CFO does not automatically mean purchasing every Beankeeper service.
When to hire a fractional CFO
Fundraising
A fractional CFO helps leadership interpret the company’s financial position, examine planning assumptions, and identify questions that need stronger answers before fundraising conversations begin.
Exit Preparation
A fractional CFO helps the founder assess the company’s financial position through a longer-term lens and identify where greater clarity is needed before conversations with outside parties.
Audit Preparation
A fractional CFO helps leadership identify financial and reporting priorities and coordinate the company’s internal preparation. Beankeeper does not provide licensed audit or attest services.
Board pressure on reporting
A fractional CFO helps leadership connect financial information with business priorities and prepare for the questions the board is likely to raise.
The departure of an internal finance lead
When a finance lead leaves before an important reporting deadline or board meeting, a fractional CFO provides senior guidance while leadership assesses immediate information gaps and the future structure of the finance function.
Engagements may address a defined near-term need or continue as longer-term advisory support, depending on the situation and level of involvement required.
What fractional CFO services cost
Pricing for Beankeeper’s outsourced CFO services is custom and generally starts at $2,500 per month, scoped by engagement.
Scoping considers the financial issues involved, the current finance function, whether Beankeeper will provide advisory only or support the broader department, and the expected level of CFO involvement.
View the published starting ranges on the Pricing page.
Fractional CFO questions, answered
What’s the difference between a fractional CFO and a full-time CFO?
A fractional CFO provides CFO-level interpretation and strategy on a part-time basis, with lower cost and commitment than a permanent executive hire. The company gains senior financial support before the role requires full-time capacity.
Learn more about what a fractional CFO does.
Is a virtual CFO the same as a fractional CFO?
Yes. Both terms usually describe a part-time CFO engagement, with “virtual” emphasizing remote delivery and “fractional” emphasizing part-time capacity.
Will this work with our internal finance team?
Yes, Beankeeper offers an advisory-only path for companies that already have an internal finance team or existing bookkeeper. The fractional CFO provides interpretation and strategic guidance while the existing team continues its underlying responsibilities, with roles and communication expectations established during scoping.
How often will we meet with our fractional CFO?
Fractional CFO engagements include an agreed-upon meeting cadence.. Between scheduled meetings, clients can reach out with questions.
Clean books start with one call
Beankeeper provides fractional CFO support for the higher-stakes financial decisions that come with growth, with the option to connect that guidance to a broader finance department.
Book a call to talk through your current finance setup, what support is already in place, and whether Beankeeper’s Fractional CFO service is the right fit.
