"You might hate us before you love us, but it’s worth it."
In short: You’ve run your business for years without a CFO, so why does bringing one in feel so slow at first? We walk through what really happens in months one, two, and three. We also cover how long it takes before a Fractional CFO starts paying for itself.
A brutally honest look at the first 90 days with a Fractional CFO (it’s worth it, we promise).
One of our core values is: Always the Truth. So we need to level with you–if you’re a business owner who hasn’t had a true CFO on your team, and you’ve been in business for many years or even decades: a Fractional CFO isn’t a magician. The first 90 days are the hardest part of the engagement. You might hate us before you love us, but it’s worth it.
Yes, you’ve saved money on the overhead expense of a CFO for years. But you’ve probably left millions of dollars on the table from the absence of this strategic role in your organization. It’s going to take a little bit of time to shift approaches.
Can You Run a Business Without A Fractional CFO?
Yes. You can run a business without a Fractional CFO and still:
File and pay your taxes.
Collect cash and make deposits.
Pay your employees.
Pay your vendors.
Become very wealthy.
I’m sure you’ve accomplished all of these tasks on your own, or with your current team.
But what you’re missing out on is real strategic insights that can put more money in your pocket today, and build a more valuable business down the road. You might be doing just fine, or even sitting quite comfortably, but how much money are you leaving on the table from a lack of understanding of how your own business is operating? How much will this cost you when the time comes to turn over the reins?
If you want to drive your business forward, understand what’s coming next, and grow more strategically and profitably, you’re going to want to consider a Fractional CFO.
Not sure yet? Read: 5 Signs Your Business Needs A Fractional CFO
What Should You Expect in the First 90 Days with a Fractional CFO?
Well, we hate the answer: it depends. It’s a cop-out. But it truly looks different for every single one of our clients.
I want to tell you it’ll be like magic, but that wouldn’t be the truth. The real answer is that those first 90 days can be rough.
If I’m brutally honest here, for most businesses with a new Fractional CFO engagement, the first 90 days (or longer) will be required to complete the initial cleanup and preparation so we can begin the “CFO’ing”. Although I wish we could, you simply cannot skip this part.
We can’t provide insights without useful information.
Related Read: Understanding the difference between Data vs Information
You likely have plenty of data, but little usable “CFO nerd” information, such as accrual based or GAAP financial statements. We simply cannot provide insights until we have this information.
Your team likely doesn’t have the processes and procedures to produce the reporting that will take your insights to the next level. It takes some time to put these in place. Your new Fractional CFO gets the task of stepping in to help clean up the “mess.” And to be clear, nobody made this mess on purpose. You’ve simply never prepared the data the way a Fractional CFO needs it. It’s an entirely different language.
So while the first 90 days with a Fractional CFO might not be the most fun you’ve ever had as an entrepreneur, the ROI is exponential.
Let me walk you through it.
Your First 90 Days Month by Month
Month 1: Get our bearings
It honestly will take at least a month to get the lay of the land. In a recent engagement, we discovered that our client was running all of its accounting through an Excel spreadsheet. This was a bit disorienting and an extreme scenario. In a more typical situation, we start in an accounting system like QuickBooks, and get a sense of the quality of the accounting data that way. Whatever the case, we rarely run into a new client who has great financial reporting when they bring us aboard. It’s simply not a requirement to run a business. Until you experience its value it can feel like a waste of effort.
Month 2: The mountain starts growing
With our feet wet, the second month can feel like we are moving backward with each passing day. We discover urgent matters in need of triage, and get pulled off our original course. The goal is to keep making progress while addressing these pressing matters. It can really start to feel off track at this point because the work being done doesn’t show results. For example, re-coding 1,000 incorrectly coded transactions doesn’t immediately impact you as the owner. But all of this is the crucial set up for wins down the road.
Month 3: A ray of hope
As you approach the end of 90 days together, you may start to see the early signs of dawn. It’s a tough slog. You might be starting to get some useful information, perhaps some financial reports to review. But it’s all very rough still at this point. That said, you should be starting to see how this investment could really make a difference in your business. The information you're receiving leads to the next question and the next question.
The First 90 Days at a Glance
| Phase | What it feels like | What we do | What you walk away with |
|---|---|---|---|
| Month 1 | "What are they doing?" | Get a full scope of the lay of the land, pull together an action plan, raise flags where necessary, meet the team (internal and external) | Not much. Guiding years' worth of data into the right format simply cannot be completed in 30 days. |
| Month 2 | "Stick with it, stay engaged, these guys are on to something." | Activate the action plan. Mostly a combination of data cleanup and triage of trouble areas. Work to integrate into the client's work ecosystem. | Perhaps a quick win, but still not much. This is deep work going on under the hood. It's honestly frustrating to you as a business owner. You may be wondering if you made the right decision. |
| Month 3 | "Little rays of light starting to poke through" | Templates are created. Some focus is starting to come together on particular areas of the business: revenue, costs, cash flow, etc. | It's not perfect, but you're starting to see the promise of some useful reporting. These are prototypes, but you're starting to see the benefit of your patience in months 1 and 2. |
How Long Until a Fractional CFO Pays Off?
Most of the best things in life and business take time. In a “now” culture, this isn’t the message we want to hear. But in our experience, it’s about six months to really hit your stride with a Fractional CFO. This is driven by three major factors:
Fractional - a fractional resource is, by definition, not full-time. You can hire a full-time resource and possibly get there quicker at a much higher cost to your company.
Company bandwidth - even with a Fractional CFO, we have found that we typically can work faster than our clients can absorb our services. While we pride ourselves on doing a lot of the work for you, the Fractional CFO role is a collaboration. It requires a time investment from the client. The more time invested up front, the quicker we can get to cruising altitude.
Historical cleanup - clients nearly universally overestimate the quality of their data. In our experience, the cleanup can be an enormous task; a necessary task, but an enormous one. This can push back progress for months.
Is a Fractional CFO Worth It?
Yes, and we have the case studies to prove it. If you can push through the initial onboarding period, the changes in your business can be vast. The return on your investment can be many multiples of the dollars you invest in this resource.
Imagine going from running on feel to running by the numbers. This can be worth hundreds of thousands of dollars or even millions in a single year, and down the road tens of millions. We’ve seen this play out over and over again.
This may be a little self-serving, but to us it’s a no-brainer investment. You might not enjoy the first 90 days but you will enjoy the sense of clarity it gives you.
Ready to talk about what this looks like for your business? Book a no pressure discovery call with our team today. We love to meet business owners exactly where they’re at, helping them navigate this unfamiliar financial terrain.
Frequently Asked Questions About the First 90 Days With a Fractional CFO
When should I hire a Fractional CFO?
If you want to understand your numbers, anticipate where the business is headed and grow more profitably, it's time to consider one. See When do you need a Fractional CFO? for the signs.
What do I need to provide in the first 90 days?
Access and your team’s time, mostly. We can get a long way with access to your systems or financial reports that get us to the same place. That said, the Fractional CFO role is a collaboration, and the more time your internal team invests up front, the faster we get to cruising altitude. We do a lot of the work for you, but we need ample access to your accounting system (e.g. QuickBooks), your team, and your history to move quickly.
Is my data really that messy?
Probably messier than you think. Clients nearly universally overestimate the quality of their data. Nobody made the mess on purpose. Running a business doesn't require accrual-based or GAAP financial statements, so most owners have plenty of data and little of the usable information a CFO needs.
Can I run my business without a Fractional CFO?
Yes. You can file and pay taxes, collect cash, pay employees and vendors, and even become very wealthy without one. What you miss is strategic insight: understanding how your business actually operates, what's coming next, and what it will be worth when it's time to hand over the reins.
What's the difference between a Fractional CFO and a bookkeeper, controller, and CPA?
A bookkeeper records your transactions, a controller oversees the accounting and month-end close, and a CPA handles taxes, audits and compliance. A Fractional CFO uses what those roles produce to look ahead, guiding decisions on cash flow, growth and your eventual exit. For the full breakdown, read Fractional CFO vs. bookkeeper, controller and CPA.
How much does a fractional CFO cost?
It depends on the scope of the engagement, and a Fractional CFO costs less than a full-time hire. Take a look at our Fractional CFO Services to learn more.
Why do the first 90 days with a Fractional CFO feel so slow?
Most of the early work happens under the hood. Re-coding 1,000 incorrectly coded transactions, for example, doesn't change anything you can see as the owner, but it's the setup every later insight depends on. We can't provide insights until the underlying information is right.
How long does it take to see results from a Fractional CFO?
You'll usually see early prototypes of useful reporting around day 90. In our experience, it takes about six months to really hit your stride.
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Talk Like a CFO Cheat Sheet
6 Financial Concepts. Plain English, No Jargon
Running a business means carrying a lot in your head. Customers, employees, cash, decisions that don't come with a rewind button.
Learning a new financial language probably isn't high on the list.
This cheat sheet closes that gap.
