Fractional CFO San Francisco Bay Area

A fractional CFO is a senior finance leader who works with you part time. In a typical month that might mean refreshing the forecast, reviewing the close, building a board or lender package, checking cash runway, and sitting in on a pricing or hiring decision. The point isn't to record what already happened. It's to tell leadership what the numbers mean and what to do about them.

Usually when the books are accurate but nobody can answer forward looking questions. Watch for profitability that swings for reasons no one can explain, cash runway you're guessing at, a team that's doubling, a big new customer or contract, or an upcoming raise or bank loan. If you need that thinking but a $300,000 plus Bay Area CFO salary doesn't make sense yet, fractional is the obvious middle ground.

Your bookkeeper keeps transactions clean. Your accountant or tax preparer handles compliance and filings. A fractional CFO sits on top of both and looks ahead: budgets, forecasts, cash planning, controls, and the tradeoffs between, say, hiring two engineers or extending runway another quarter. All three roles matter, but only one is focused on what comes next.

The core is usually planning and budgeting, a cash forecast, a monthly management report with KPIs that fit your model, internal controls, and decision support for leadership. Scope depends on what your team already has in place. Because our background spans corporate finance, tax and federal contracting, we can also take on tax planning, IRS problems or GovCon compliance if they come up.

Yes, and it works well. We're based in Maryland and work with clients nationally. Day to day, that looks like shared access to your accounting system, a standing video meeting with leadership, agreed reporting dates, and secure file exchange. Time zones are manageable: our mornings overlap your mornings, and the reporting calendar is set up so you have numbers before your own meetings.

We start with a conversation about the decisions you're facing and where the numbers let you down. Then we review the current setup: chart of accounts, close process, reporting, budget, cash tools and controls. From that we agree on a short list of priorities for the first 90 days, a meeting rhythm, and what you'll receive and when.

We do, and it's one of our core areas. Our founder came up through government contracting finance, so DCAA standards, FAR, CAS, indirect rate structures and incurred cost submissions are familiar ground. Some of our staff also hold active federal security clearances. That matters for Bay Area firms selling to the Department of Defense or other agencies, which often hit compliance requirements their commercial finance team has never seen.

By making it visible. We build a weekly cash forecast that lines up customer collections against payroll, rent, vendors, debt service and tax payments, and we track it against actuals. Gaps show up while there's still time to act: chase a large receivable, move a purchase, or draw on a credit line. For companies with lumpy revenue or fast hiring, that alone removes most of the surprises.