Fractional CFO Services

Not a vendor. A finance partner who gets in the numbers with you.

I work embedded in your business. You get senior finance judgment, a defined operating cadence, and numbers you can put in front of a bank, a partner, or a buyer. Every month.

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The Hudson Operating System

Every engagement runs the same three phases.

You are buying a system, not a person. It starts with the Financial Diagnostic and ends with a finance function your team runs on its own.

Phase 1

Establish the Baseline

The Financial Diagnostic. A week inside your numbers to see exactly where you stand before anything gets built.

Phase 2

Build the Model

Cash forecast and a driver-based model on how the business actually runs. Margin by job, product, customer, or location.

Phase 3

Drive Execution

A monthly cadence your team owns. Decisions made together, and a finance function that stops routing every question back to you.

Setting the record straight

"We already have a bookkeeper. Do we really need a CFO?"

Your bookkeeper keeps the records accurate. That is essential work. But accurate records do not tell you whether you are running out of cash in 60 days, whether a given job or location is actually making money, or whether the numbers support the hire you are about to make. That is CFO work, and it is a different job entirely.

What your bookkeeper does

·Records transactions and reconciles accounts
·Manages accounts payable and receivable
·Prepares the books for month-end close
·Keeps you compliant with basic reporting
·Answers "what happened last month"

What a CFO adds

→Builds cash forecasts so you see problems before they arrive
→Shows profitability by job, product, customer, crew, or location
→Prepares reporting your bank, partners, and CPA can rely on
→Runs scenario analysis for hiring, pricing, and expansion decisions
→Answers "what happens next and what should we do about it"

Where every engagement starts

Financial Diagnostic

Before any retainer begins, I spend a week inside your numbers. Your P&L, balance sheet, cash position, reporting stack, and close process. You get a clear-eyed assessment of what is working, what is missing, and what needs to be built first, with a prioritized action plan attached. Most clients say this alone is worth the investment.

1 week

standalone engagement

Days 1–2

Review P&L, balance sheet, cash position, and existing reporting

Days 3–4

Assess close process, bookkeeper workflow, and data integrity

Day 5

Gap analysis: what is missing, what is urgent, what can wait

Delivery

Written findings, prioritized action plan, and recommended engagement scope

Not ready to commit to a retainer? The diagnostic is a standalone engagement with no obligation to continue.

Start with the diagnostic

Engagement options

Three ways to work together

Scope is set based on your stage, reporting complexity, and what you need built. Most retainers begin after the Financial Diagnostic.

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A full-time CFO in the NY metro costs $280K–$380K per year before benefits, bonus, and equity. Most owner-led businesses do not need that yet. With me, you get senior-level judgment at a fraction of that cost and no hiring risk.

Foundation

CFO Foundation

Best for: early-stage or first-time CFO engagement

1–2 days/month

Monthly retainer · scope-based · min. 3 months

You need the fundamentals installed and running. Cash visibility, a close process that actually closes, and a monthly reporting package you can put in front of anyone.

What is included

–13-week rolling cash forecast
–Monthly close oversight + CFO pack
–KPI framework and dashboard setup
–Bookkeeper coordination and review
–Bi-weekly owner working sessions
–Email and Slack access between sessions

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Most common

Growth CFO

Best for: scaling teams, lender or partner reporting

1–2 days/week

Monthly retainer · ongoing · scope-based

You are past the basics. Now you need a finance partner who can run bank and partner prep, model out scenarios, support hiring decisions, and be in the room when it counts.

Everything in Foundation, plus

–Driver-based 3-statement financial model
–Scenario and sensitivity analysis
–Owner and lender reporting prep
–Hiring and headcount modeling
–Finance team build-out support
–Weekly owner touchpoint + ad hoc availability

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Project

Capital Events CFO

Best for: bank financing, an acquisition, a partner buyout, or succession

Project-based

Defined scope · fixed deliverables

You have a capital event coming and the numbers need to hold up. I build the model, assemble the package, and make sure every figure you put in front of a bank, a buyer, or a partner is one you can defend.

What is included

–Bank financing and SBA loan packages
–Acquisition and sale-side support
–Partner buyout and equity modeling
–Succession and transition readiness
–Use-of-funds and cash planning
–Lender and advisor Q&A support

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Scope and cadence are calibrated to your stage. Let us talk about what makes sense for your situation.

Core capabilities

What I bring to every engagement

25+ years across capital markets, enterprise finance transformation, and owner-led advisory.

Strategic FP&A + driver-based forecasting

Budgets and forecasts built around how your business actually works. Models that connect your operating decisions to your P&L and cash position in real time. Profitability by job, crew, territory, or location, not just at the company line.

Cash flow + working capital management

13-week rolling cash forecasts, liquidity visibility, covenant monitoring, and working capital optimization. You stop finding out about cash problems after they have already started.

Owner and lender reporting

CFO packs and reporting built to hold up under scrutiny. I prepare the numbers, review the materials, and sit in with your bank, your CPA, or a partner as the CFO voice when it counts.

M&A readiness + due diligence support

Financial modeling and diligence for owners buying a competitor, selling the business, or bringing in a partner. Drawn from direct experience across complex transactions at Citi, Deutsche Bank, and Broadridge.

ERP + AI Readiness Assessment

Most owner-led businesses are running on a finance stack that made sense at $500K in revenue. By $5M–$10M, it is a liability. Slow closes, manual reconciliations, and reporting that takes a week to produce. Before you spend six figures on an ERP implementation or an AI tool your team will not use, you need an honest assessment of what you actually need and when.

I evaluate your current stack, identify the highest-leverage gaps, and give you a phased build plan: what to fix now, what to automate, and what to defer until the business justifies it.

–Current-state finance stack audit (GL, reporting, close process, data flows)
–ERP readiness evaluation (NetSuite, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Enterprise)
–Automation opportunity mapping (close cycles, variance analysis, KPI reporting)
–Vendor shortlist and implementation sequencing
–Build vs. buy vs. defer recommendation with cost-benefit framing

Standalone or retainer add-on

How I work

Here is what a typical month looks like.

A defined monthly rhythm so the numbers are always current, the reporting is always ready, and there are no surprises going into a bank or partner conversation.

Days 1–7

Month-end close. Books reconciled, P&L reviewed, variances identified.

Day 10

CFO pack delivered. Cash position, KPIs, actuals vs. budget, narrative.

Mid-month

Working session with you or the leadership team. Decisions, scenarios, open items.

Month-end

Standing check-in. Cash forecast updated. Next month set up to close clean.

Common questions

Do I have to start with the Financial Diagnostic?+

Not required, but strongly recommended. It gives me a real foundation to work from on day one, and it gives you an honest picture of where your finances actually stand before committing to a retainer.

How long is the minimum engagement?+

The CFO Foundation has a 3-month minimum. The Growth CFO is structured as an ongoing retainer. Most clients stay 12 to 24 months because the work compounds over time. The Capital Events CFO is project-based with a defined scope and end date.

We have a bookkeeper already. How do you work with them?+

I work alongside your bookkeeper or controller. I define the handoffs in week one so everyone knows who owns what. Your bookkeeper handles transaction-level work. I handle everything above it: forecasting, modeling, reporting, and strategic decisions.

What do you need from us to get started?+

Access to your accounting software, the last 12 months of financials, and 30 minutes with you to understand the business. If your reporting is imperfect or incomplete, that is fine. Part of what the diagnostic surfaces is exactly what is missing and what to do first.

Can you sit in on bank, CPA, or partner meetings?+

Yes. I prepare the numbers, review the materials in advance, and join as the CFO voice when that is useful, whether it is your banker, your CPA, or a partner across the table. This is included in the Growth CFO retainer and available as needed in the Foundation tier.

Do you use AI in your work and is my data safe?+

I use tools to shorten close cycles and keep reporting current. All financial data is handled with the same confidentiality as any CFO engagement. Nothing goes into public models or shared environments. The judgment on every material decision stays with me.

Not sure which engagement fits?

Book a 30-minute strategy call. We will talk through where your finances stand, what is most urgent, and whether a fractional CFO engagement makes sense right now.

Book a strategy call