Working together
Working together.
The expertise is the same in every engagement. What differs is how much of it you need, how often, and who else is in the room.
Three ways The first step How we work What I can take off your plate Questions
Home · Working together
Three ways to work together.
Ongoing
Fractional CFO
Senior finance leadership two to six days a month. I own the finance calendar: the close, the cash forecast, and the board packet. I manage your controller or outside accountants. You get CFO judgment without the salary, bonus, equity, and severance of a full-time hire.
Outsiders deal with a CFO. Your banker wants covenant packages from someone who owns the numbers. Your attorney, auditor, and insurer want one accountable person to answer their questions. Your board wants a CFO who can defend the forecast. A bookkeeper cannot hold that seat, and an advisor on the sidelines does not. I take it: I present to the bank, join the legal and diligence calls, answer the auditor's questions, and bring the packet to the board.
It fits when revenue runs from about $1M to $25M and your bookkeeper is being asked to make CFO-level calls, or when you are building a finance team.
Add the AI side (the chief AI officer, or CAIO, role) and you get one retainer, two disciplines, and one set of numbers. AI projects get ranked, funded, and measured like any capital decision. Your finance team gets AI-assisted reporting that shortens the close.
For market context, my estimate is that a full-time CFO at a $10 million company costs roughly $235,000 to $375,000 a year fully loaded. Fractional work costs a fraction of that.
Ongoing
Alongside your CFO or controller
I take on the specialty systems jobs your finance leader has no time for: choosing or fixing an ERP, automating the close, putting AI to work on routine tasks, and better reporting.
We work as one team. Your CFO stays in charge.
Your first step
The Requirements Map
2 to 3 weeks. One written map: how your close runs, where the hours and cash go, and a ranked list of what to delete, simplify, buy, or build, with a 90-day plan.
Your first step
The Requirements Map.
- A 20-minute callI hear what is slowing you down.
- Two to three weeks with your teamI sit with your people, read the books and the systems, and watch how a close really runs.
- A written mapOne written document: how your close and reporting run today, an inventory of your systems and where the data lives, where the hours and cash go, a ranked list of what to delete, simplify, buy, or build with the effort and payback of each, and a 90-day plan. You keep the map whether or not we go further.
- A scoped proposal, if it makes senseA monthly retainer, or a project for an ERP decision, a sale, or a raise.
Fixed fee or hourly, agreed up front.
How we work
Two books, one order of operations.
A list of services tells you what I can do. It does not tell you the order we do it in. The order decides whether your finance function gets faster or just gets more software. Two books set that order for us.
Jim Collins · Good to Great
First, the people.
Collins studied companies that went from average to exceptional. The great ones decided who before they decided what. They put the right people in the right seats first. Technology never started a transformation. It sped up one that disciplined people had already begun.
Seats before systems
We map the monthly work: close, payables, billing, collections, reporting, and tax. Then we ask who owns each piece and whether they are the right person. On my last engagement the hires came before the ERP decision.
Confront the brutal facts
We look at how the business really runs, whatever the org chart says: who approves spending, where cash decays, which reports nobody reads. We write it down in the first weeks. It is usually the most useful document an owner has seen about his own overhead.
Technology as an accelerator
Software multiplies the momentum a disciplined team already has. Handed to a team without discipline, it multiplies the mess. That is why automation comes last.
Jon McNeill · The Algorithm
Then, the process.
McNeill, a former president of Tesla, sets out the five steps he learned from Elon Musk. Most companies start at step five. The method insists on the order.
- Question every requirementEvery report, approval, and control gets a named owner and a reason. We use a lot of sticky notes on whiteboards. This is where the cash laying on the floor gets found.
- Delete every possible stepCut the approvals and reports nobody uses. If you never have to add anything back, you did not delete enough.
- Simplify and optimize what is leftImproving a step that should not exist wastes cash.
- Accelerate cycle timeShorten the close, the billing cycle, and the collection cycle. Every day cut means faster decisions and more cash.
- Automate lastAutomating a bloated process just makes bloat faster.
What it looks like in practice
At my most recent engagement we hired the team, mapped the real processes, merged several stand-alone accounting sources into one ERP, and then put AI agents on routine work: payables matching, tax filings, and the board packet. With the team, I improved annual cash flow by more than $3 million on a sub-$20 million revenue base, by showing managers the numbers daily and questioning every cost and price. The gains came from steps one through four. The AI agents made them stick.
AI agents are custom programs that handle routine, repetitive tasks. They free your people to review the results and spot what matters. Sources: Jim Collins, Good to Great (2001); Jon McNeill, The Algorithm (2026).
What I can take off your plate
Nine finance jobs, plus the AI work beside them.
The method above applies to every one. Open any job to see what you get and what it costs when nobody does it.
1. Board governance and reportingBoard packages that get read and acted on, on a steady calendar.
What you getA board package that arrives on a steady calendar, fits on a few pages, and leads with the three numbers the board should argue about. Also minutes, resolutions, and a governance calendar that would pass an investor's review.
When nobody does itThe board reads 40 pages the night before, asks about the wrong things, and the CEO spends the meeting explaining instead of adding value.
How we do itOne template, one owner, and a dry run with the CEO a week before. I have reported to boards as CFO for more than 25 years and sat on the other side as a director and board observer.
2. Data room maintenanceDiligence files organized and current before anyone asks.
What you getA diligence-ready room (financials, contracts, cap table, IP, employees, tax, minutes) that is current every month, not assembled in a panic.
When nobody does itA raise or a sale stalls for weeks while documents are found, and the buyer's confidence drops with every delay.
How we do itBuild it once, add a monthly checklist to the close, and keep one index.
3. Oversight of the monthly closeTight calendars, clean reconciliations, no month-end surprises.
What you getA close calendar with named owners, reconciliations done before the statements are issued, and statements out within a set number of days.
When nobody does itNumbers arrive late and change after they are sent. Decisions get made on stale or wrong data. Bad news stays quiet or hidden. Bad news has to travel faster than good news. The quicker it travels, the quicker it gets fixed.
How we do itWe shorten the close calendar step by step. It is simple with proper oversight, yet it is often ignored at the expense of cash flow.
4. Financial statement preparationStatements you can hand to a lender, an investor, or an auditor.
What you getGAAP statements you can hand to a lender, an investor, or an auditor, with consistent policies and a documented EBITDA bridge. Accurate subledgers and workpapers your auditor can take and run with.
When nobody does itA quality-of-earnings review finds adjustments, and the valuation or the loan terms move against you. Audits take twice as long and cost twice as much because the auditors keep waiting for information.
How we do itFix the policies first (revenue recognition, capitalization, accruals), then the process, then the presentation.
5. Operating statements and KPIsThe few measures that fit your business, tracked every month.
What you getA one-page operating statement with the five to eight measures that drive your business, tracked monthly against plan and prior year, with the drivers behind each one.
When nobody does itEvery manager argues from a different spreadsheet, and the owner finds out about a margin problem a quarter late, if ever.
How we do itWe pick the measures with the operators, the owners, and the board. We define each one in writing and wire it to the ledger so it cannot drift.
6. Risk managementSelf-retention or market coverage, weighed with real numbers.
What you getA written view of what you insure, what you self-retain and why, with the numbers behind each choice. A review of coverage, deductibles, and premiums against your actual loss history.
When nobody does itYou pay for coverage you do not need and carry risk you did not know you had.
How we do itLoss history, exposure by category, and market quotes against self-retention math. I was a licensed commercial insurance broker while CFO of a large regional insurance agency, and I ran risk management for a construction company with more than $1 billion of contracts.
7. ERP evaluationChoose the system on fit and five-year cost.
What you getA system choice made on fit and five-year total cost, a realistic implementation plan, and a consolidation of the stand-alone tools that grew up around the old one.
When nobody does itA system is bought on the demo, customized until it is fragile, and the company runs on spreadsheets beside it.
How we do itWe map the process first (see Systems first), then score the candidates, then negotiate.
8. GreenfieldingBuild a finance function from a blank page: seats, people, policies, system, calendar.
What you getA finance function built from a blank page: the seats, the people, the policies, the system, and the calendar, in that order.
When nobody does itThe company outgrows its bookkeeper and nobody owns cash, close, or controls.
How we do itI recently built one from scratch for a hospitality group with under $20 million in revenue, with 2.5 people plus me. The department was running a clean close and AI-assisted reporting within the first year.
9. Accounting functions and staffingReview the team, roles, and workflow, then close the gaps.
What you getA review of the team, the roles, and the workflow, then the gaps closed: hire, retrain, outsource, or automate, in whichever order the numbers support.
When nobody does itGood people sit in the wrong seats, work piles up at month-end, and turnover follows.
How we do itRight people, right seats, before systems. We interview, sit with the team through a close, and write the plan.
On the AI side
For each of the nine, there is an AI layer once the process is lean: agents on payables matching, tax filings, and the board packet; use cases ranked by expected return; results reported to the board in time and talent saved as well as cost of capital. We run that layer with the same discipline as any capital project.
Questions
Questions owners ask before they call.
How does it start? A 20-minute call to hear what is slowing you down. If it makes sense, we begin with the Requirements Map (see above).
What does it cost? My rate is $250 an hour, or a fixed monthly retainer quoted on the call. Ongoing work is typically a retainer tied to days per month, usually two to six. Each engagement is unique. I do not charge success fees on raises or sales.
How much of your time do I get? Fractional engagements run two to six days a month, on a schedule we agree in advance, plus availability for the board meeting and the bank.
Why does my banker or attorney care whether I have a CFO? Lenders, attorneys, auditors, insurers, and boards deal with an accountable officer, not an advisor. In a fractional CFO engagement I sign as the company's officer. Every engagement is covered by a written engagement letter and an indemnity agreement from ownership. I do not sign audit, review, or other attest reports, and my Colorado CPA license is inactive.
Will you work with my existing bookkeeper or accountant? Yes. Most engagements start with the people already there. We look at the seats before changing anything, and the usual answer is retraining and a clearer workflow, not replacement.
Do you work on site or remote? Both. I am in Windsor, Colorado, and work on site along the Front Range. Elsewhere in the United States I work remote with periodic visits. The close and the board meeting are the days I try to be in the room.
What industries? I have been a CFO in software, venture capital, construction, insurance and risk management, and hospitality. Earlier I was an international auditor in manufacturing, in Europe, Mexico, and the United States. The method is the same. The measures change. If your business is outside that list, a short conversation will tell us quickly whether my experience translates. For almost any business, the value comes from the same place: measure what matters and throw everything else out.
What does the AI work involve? Ranking your AI projects by expected return, setting governance, making build-versus-buy calls, and putting AI agents on routine finance work (payables matching, tax filings, the board packet) with a person reviewing every cycle. We celebrate every routine task we take off people's desks, and I encourage your people to keep scrutinizing all work and processes, with rewards in whatever form you prefer. Over time that becomes part of your company's culture. I build with tools such as Claude. I do not sell software, and I have no vendor relationships to protect.
Where does my financial data go when you use AI? Your financial records, bank details, and credentials stay yours and stay private. For your data I use AI tools only under business terms that do not train on it, and I keep it out of any service that does. Providers may hold data briefly, typically up to 30 days, to run the service. You give me access through named accounts that you control and can revoke at any time, and I hold no shared passwords. I never enter passwords or bank account numbers into an AI tool. My methods, templates, and checklists are open source, and you are free to compare notes with anyone you choose, but your data is never part of that.
Can I talk to someone you have worked with? Yes. Once we are talking seriously, I will connect you with references. You can also end an engagement at any time, for any reason. If you decide you are not getting value or we are not a good fit, tell me, and we will part on the best of terms.
Not sure where to start? That is the normal starting point.