A Chief Financial Officer, for exactly as long as the numbers demand

A fractional CFO (Chief Financial Officer) is a seasoned finance executive who provides strategic financial leadership to your business on a flexible basis. Growing SMEs need CFO-level expertise to navigate tax and regulatory requirements, manage cash flow, prepare for funding and build financial systems that support growth, all without the cost of a full-time executive that most businesses cannot justify.

A full-time CFO carries a substantial total cost once salary, benefits and insurance are counted, often more than most businesses can justify. Our fractional CFO service provides the same senior expertise at typically 30 to 60% less than a comparable full-time executive appointment, depending on scope, with flexible arrangements from 4 to 24 hours a week. You get senior financial leadership, compliance expertise and strategic guidance, without the full-time commitment that only larger enterprises can justify.

A fractional CFO covers cash flow forecasting and management, financial planning and budgeting, investor-ready reporting, New Zealand tax planning and compliance, accounting system optimisation, financial controls, and KPI tracking and decision support. The result is a stronger financial position and more sustainable growth for Auckland SMEs.

Investment preparation needs professional financial documentation, realistic projections and clean accounting systems. A fractional CFO builds investor-ready financial models, puts proper controls in place, prepares due diligence documentation, develops credible growth projections and sets up management reporting, keeping you compliant with New Zealand financial regulations. They work directly with your investors and advisers throughout the process.

Consider a fractional CFO once finance starts shaping your big decisions. That usually means cash flow pressure, New Zealand tax compliance needs, expansion or fundraising ahead, or financial management taking more than 20% of your time. The earlier you build proper financial foundations, the smoother the growth.

Bookkeepers and accountants record transactions and handle basic compliance reporting. A fractional CFO provides strategic financial leadership: cash flow forecasting, financial planning, investor relations, tax strategy, risk management and executive-level oversight. Bookkeepers tell you what happened; a fractional CFO helps you decide what should happen next and builds the financial structure to get there.

A fractional CFO complements your existing team, adding strategic oversight and mentorship. They set financial policies, improve processes, train your people on best practice, keep you compliant with New Zealand regulations, and build reporting that gives you clear visibility into performance. Your team keeps handling day-to-day transactions while the CFO focuses on strategy, compliance and growth.

No. A CFO consultant advises from the outside and hands back a recommendation; a fractional CFO embeds in the business, owns the finance function and the decisions inside it, and is accountable for the outcome. The seniority is the same, but the engagement is very different.

There is no lock-in. Engagements are contracted business to business with one month's notice either way, so you can end one if it is not working. In practice most run six to twenty-four months, because that is how long it takes to fix the underlying problem rather than the symptom, and the scope is reviewed as the business changes.

Most engagements run 4 to 24 hours a week, which is half a day to three days. The right number is set at the scoping stage by the work rather than by a package: a turnaround or a funding round takes more time than steady-state oversight. The time is agreed up front and reviewed as the business changes.

Usually within weeks. We scope the brief with you, search our collective of 350+ vetted executives for the closest fit, and introduce a shortlist; you choose, and your fractional CFO embeds. After the brief the pace is set by your side of the process, the meetings and the diligence you want to run before an appointment.

Yes. The engagement is scoped in hours a week rather than sold as a fixed package, so it moves within the 4 to 24 hour range as the business changes. Most start heavier while the finance function is being built, then settle into a lighter rhythm once the systems and the team are running properly.

Yes, and it is one of the most common shapes an engagement takes. The fractional CFO works above the day-to-day: forecasting, board and investor reporting, funding readiness and controls, while your finance director or controller keeps running the ledger, payroll and month end. In practice the arrangement usually makes the existing finance lead better, because someone senior is finally mentoring them.

No, though the words are used loosely. An outsourced or virtual CFO is usually a service delivered from a firm, often built on the bookkeeping relationship. An interim CFO is a full-time appointment covering a gap. A fractional CFO is a senior operator who joins your leadership team part-time, on an ongoing basis, and owns the finance outcomes rather than reporting on them.

Most of our clients turn over between USD 2 million and 40 million: large enough that the finance decisions carry real consequences, and too small to justify a full-time CFO on the payroll. Below that band the work is usually still founder-led; above it, a permanent appointment normally makes sense. The test is the weight of the decisions, not the headcount.