You’re growing, and the decisions are getting bigger
A key hire, a second location, new equipment or a loan. You want the numbers worked through before you commit, not after.
Fractional CFO services
A CFO in your corner, without a full-time CFO.
Advisory Partner is our fractional CFO service for owner-operated businesses in Maryland, Virginia, Washington, DC and Pennsylvania. Your books are kept and benchmarked every month, and a CPA plans each quarter with you.
Starting at $2,500 a month
Includes the Advanced bookkeeping plan. 12-month minimum term.
Your year with Advisory Partner
A written advisory brief every month, and a strategy session with your CPA every quarter.
Quarter 1
- Brief
- Brief
- Brief
Strategy session and cash-flow re-forecast
Quarter 2
- Brief
- Brief
- Brief
Strategy session and cash-flow re-forecast
Quarter 3
- Brief
- Brief
- Brief
Strategy session and cash-flow re-forecast
Quarter 4
- Brief
- Brief
- Brief
Strategy session and cash-flow re-forecast
- Monthly advisory brief
- Quarterly strategy session
Priority access to your CPA all year, with a reply within one business day.
Built for owners making bigger decisions
Advisory Partner fits a business that has outgrown looking at last month’s numbers alone, but does not need a full-time finance executive.
Cash is tight at the wrong times
The business is profitable on paper, yet payroll weeks feel close. A forecast shows the tight spots months ahead, while there is still time to act.
You want a second set of eyes
A CPA who has built and run companies of his own, reading your numbers every month and telling you plainly what he sees.
Included in every engagement
Five things every Advisory Partner client receives. The scope beyond them is set with you and written into your agreement.
- Everything in the Advanced plan
- Monthly books from your bank, card and cash records, reviewed by a CPA. Every cost line benchmarked against your industry average and its best-in-class operators, with the dollar value of each gap, ratios, trends and a monthly advisory brief. How the plans work
- A quarterly strategy session
- Up to 90 minutes each calendar quarter. You get the agenda in advance, and afterwards a written summary of every decision, who owns it and when it is due.
- Cash-flow planning
- A 12-month cash-flow forecast by month, measured against the minimum cash balance you set, and re-forecast at least every quarter.
- Growth modeling
- At least one decision model each quarter, on the decision you choose: a hire, a price change, equipment, a new location or new debt. Each shows the effect on profit and on cash month by month, with every assumption written down.
- Priority access
- Reach your CPA by email or phone, with a reply within one business day.
Added when you need it
Your scope is set together and confirmed in writing. Depending on what is ahead, it can also include:
- Monthly strategy meetings
- 13-week rolling cash-flow forecast
- Forecast with three scenarios
- KPI dashboard
- Annual budget
- Lender package and covenant checks
- Monthly lender or investor reporting
- Exit or succession readiness
The fee is set on the hours your scope needs. It starts at $2,500 a month and is quoted in writing, meeting by meeting and deliverable by deliverable, before you sign.
What it does not include
Tax planning and tax returns, depreciation planning, capital raising and deal work, legal opinions and investment advice are not part of Advisory Partner. We do not arrange financing or recommend financing products. Tax work is quoted as its own engagement.
Every forecast and model is a management-use projection built on the assumptions written in it. It is not an audit, review or compilation, and not tax, legal or investment advice.
How it starts
A complimentary 30-minute call
We talk through the business, what is working, and the decisions coming up this year.
Scope and fee in writing
You see exactly what is included, how often we meet and the monthly fee before anything is signed.
Books and baseline
Your books move onto the Advanced plan and are benchmarked. If your own bookkeeper keeps them, we can build on Insight instead.
Your first strategy session
Your 12-month cash-flow forecast and your first decision model are ready for it.
Advisory Partner
Everything in the Advanced plan, plus a CPA planning each quarter with you. Fee set on the scope you need.
Starting at
$2,500 a month
12-month minimum term.
Questions owners ask
What is a fractional CFO?
A senior finance lead who works with your business part time. You get the planning, forecasting and judgment a CFO brings, for the hours your business actually needs, without a full-time salary.
How is Advisory Partner different from the Advanced plan?
Advanced keeps your books, benchmarks every cost line each month, sends a monthly advisory brief and includes a 30-minute review call each quarter. Advisory Partner adds a quarterly strategy session, a 12-month cash-flow forecast, decision models, priority access and any further scope you agree.
How is the fee set?
It starts at $2,500 a month and includes the Advanced plan. Above that, the fee depends on the scope: how often we meet and what we build for you. You receive it in writing before you sign, and any work outside the agreed scope is quoted before it starts.
Why is there a 12-month minimum term?
The first months go into building your forecast, your models and a baseline to measure against. The value shows across four quarters of planning, so the agreement runs for at least a year.
Do I have to change bookkeepers?
No. If your bookkeeper keeps your books in QuickBooks Online, Xero or FreshBooks, Advisory Partner can be built on Insight instead of the Advanced plan.
Can you help with a bank loan?
When it is in your scope, we prepare a lender package, check your loan covenants and produce monthly lender reporting. We do not arrange financing or recommend financing products.
Start with a 30-minute conversation.
Tell us where the business is headed. We will tell you plainly whether Advisory Partner fits, and what it would cost.
Management-use analysis and projections. Not an audit, review, or compilation under SSARS/AICPA standards, and not tax, legal or investment advice.