What a fractional CFO does

A bookkeeper or accountant records what already happened. A fractional CFO manages what happens next — cash, forecasting, decisions, and the story your board and investors need to hear. You get institutional-standard finance leadership on a part-time, partner-led basis, scoped to exactly what the business needs and priced well below a full-time hire.

What Core Advisors installs

Every mandate reinforces the next — operating discipline first, then decision support, then readiness for scrutiny:

Operate — finance that runs correctly

Outcome: cash under control and numbers you can trust. Cash governance and 13-week rolling forecasts, 12–24 month FP&A models, month-end close, variance tracking, and KPI dashboards — typically live within the first 30 days. For founders still running finance by feel and by bank balance.

Decide — decisions on defensible numbers

Outcome: a shared, defensible view of the business. Scenario models, pricing and unit economics, valuation and returns analysis, and concise readouts that give leadership and boards one version of the truth. For teams making pricing, hiring, and capital calls without a forecast.

Prepare — ready for investors and diligence

Outcome: financials that survive scrutiny and close deals. Board decks, investor packages, and data rooms that withstand questions and close timelines — cross-border, and built to Gulf investment-committee standards by default. For businesses approaching a raise, a lender, or a transaction.

The CFO Transformation Framework

A systematic four-phase process that installs institutional-grade financial management, whatever the starting point.

1 · Diagnose — understand the business

Cash-cycle mapping
Controls gap audit
P&L and balance-sheet review
Risk identification
Priority roadmap

2 · Architect — design the system

Financial-model design
KPI framework and chart of accounts
ERP-readiness plan
Reporting calendar

3 · Install — operate it live

Cash controls live; working-capital model running
Management dashboard operational
Board-pack cadence and month-end close process

4 · Elevate — scale and raise capital

Investor-ready package and valuation model
Gulf capital narrative
M&A readiness and an ongoing CFO mandate

What you actually get

Concrete deliverables, built to be run by your team after we leave — not black-box files only we understand:

FP&A financial model — 25–52 integrated sheets: revenue, P&L, cash flow, balance sheet, and scenarios. Formula-linked and ERP-ready.
Management dashboard — monthly KPI tracking, variance analysis, and cash position with board-ready commentary. Live by day 30.
13-week cash forecast — rolling weekly cash visibility, float controls, bank reconciliation, and working-capital discipline.
Internal controls system — separation of duties, 3-way match (PO / GRN / invoice), chart-of-accounts mapping, and a risk register.
Valuation & investor package — DCF, EV/EBITDA multiples, IRR, and exit scenarios, with a Gulf investor narrative and data-room preparation.
Board pack & reporting — a monthly board-ready report with commentary, variance analysis, and a KPI scorecard, on a consistent cadence.
M&A & fundraising readiness — due-diligence package, investor deck, negotiation support, and post-deal integration.
Cross-border architecture — multi-jurisdiction accounting, intercompany reconciliation, holding structures, and MENA & Europe compliance.

The record

20+ years of CFO leadership · $8M+ in capital managed · 11 industries · 5 countries · 3 cross-border M&A transactions led · a $89M exit valuation modelled for an industrial client (a scenario, not a realised transaction). Every figure is sourced directly from the deliverables.

Start with a 30-day diagnostic

Diagnosis before prescription. Like a good physician, we examine before we prescribe. A focused 30-day engagement — fixed scope, fixed fee — gives you a complete, honest picture of where the business stands financially, and exactly what to do about it.

Week 1 — discovery: structured data collection and interviews
Week 2 — deep dive: working capital and financial controls
Week 3 — findings synthesis and a prioritised action roadmap
Week 4 — board-ready presentation and an agreed 90-day plan

You leave the 30 days with a 13-week cash forecast, a working-capital and recovery analysis, a controls and governance assessment, a bank and covenant review, a revenue and margin-quality read, and a priority action plan with immediate quick wins.

Three ways to engage

Every engagement is partner-led. Special mandates — M&A, fundraising, restructuring — are scoped separately, at fixed fees, with no open-ended billing.

Engagement	Duration	Core outputs	Best for
Diagnostic	30 days · fixed scope & fee	Cash-cycle & controls review, financial-model audit, risk and gap identification, and a prioritised 90-day roadmap.	Understanding before you commit.
90-Day Foundation	3 months	Cash controls in month one, a 12–24 month rolling forecast, a dashboard live by day 30, a KPI & board-reporting pack, and a bank-ready financial package.	Installing the finance function properly, once.
Embedded CFO	Monthly retainer · ongoing	Monthly close ownership, board attendance, investor & lender relations, and fundraising / M&A readiness that scales with the business.	Ongoing, partner-led strategic finance.

Who this is for

Founders and CEOs of $2M–$30M businesses; leadership teams that need operating dashboards and fast variance calls; boards that expect disciplined reporting and defensible models; and investors or lenders who want transparent assumptions and a credible path to plan. If you're weighing a fractional versus a full-time CFO, we cover the trade-offs in fractional CFO vs. full-time CFO.

Why partner-led matters

The person who takes your first call builds the model, signs the outputs, and stands in front of the board with you. Work product is built to withstand a Big 4 audit, a credit committee, and an investment committee at the same time. That accountability is the point — see the full track record.

Fractional CFO services