Engagement·The terms, in public

The agreement, published before the conversation rather than after it.

Most of this category asks you to get on a call, take a proposal, and read the terms at the end. We put ours on a public page. Below is the substance of every clause that matters in the agreement you would sign, in the order it appears, in the words it is written in. Read it before you speak to us, take it to whoever else you are considering, and ask them for the same page. That comparison is the whole reason this page exists.

BOOK A CONVERSATIONREAD THE CLAUSES
TERMMonth to month, after the first ninety days
NOTICESixty days, either side, in writing
FEEOne fixed monthly figure, agreed before anything starts
PEOPLENamed, and named in the agreement
STANDARDScheduled hours and working days, with a credit attached
YOUR WORKYours from the day it is built
The clauses
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Ten clauses. These are the ones a buyer who has been let down once already knows to ask about.

Everything below is in the agreement itself, not a summary of a philosophy. The numbering is the numbering in the document. Schedule 1, which sets the service standard, is reproduced further down this page in full.

CLAUSE 1.1Continuity
The CFO and controller who lead the first conversation shall lead the engagement throughout its term, supported by the specialist resources of the firm at no additional fee.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

You meet the people who will actually hold your seats, in the first hour, and they are the people who hold them in month twenty. In a category where the senior person in the pitch is routinely replaced by a junior after signature, this is the clause that costs the most to offer and is therefore worth the most.

CLAUSE 1.2Cover
A named backup is assigned to every seat on the account, carries the file from the first month, and assumes the seat within four business hours of an unplanned absence, or two on the premium standard.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

Somebody other than your CFO already knows your business, your close and your lender. Cover is drilled on your live file every quarter, so it is something we have already done rather than something we promise.

CLAUSE 1.3Scope
The scope of the engagement is set out in Schedule 2, agreed in writing at week three following the diagnostic, and reviewed at ninety days and each quarter thereafter.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

The single most common failure in this category is that nobody wrote down what was being bought. Yours is written down before you commit to it, in terms specific enough to be judged, and it moves as the business moves without the fee moving with it.

CLAUSE 1.4The standard
Response times, close dates and reporting dates are as set out in Schedule 1. A close date missed for reasons within the firm’s control carries a credit against that month’s fee.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

Adjectives are free. A scheduled figure with a credit attached is not. Schedule 1 is reproduced in full below, and it is the page to hold any firm against, including us.

CLAUSE 1.5Independence
The firm accepts no referral fee, commission or revenue share from any software vendor, lender, broker or adviser it recommends to a client.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

Our only revenue is your fee. When we recommend a lender or a system, there is nothing in it for us, which is what makes the recommendation worth having.

CLAUSE 1.6Your data and your work
Access is granted by role and withdrawn on exit. Confidentiality applies by default. All models, documentation, process material and systems configuration created on the engagement are the property of the client from the date of creation, in native editable format.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

You are handing a finance function the keys to the bank. This says who can open what, and it says that everything built for you belongs to you as it is built — not a locked file, not a report you have to ask for, and nothing held back.

CLAUSE 1.7Where the work happens
The engagement is delivered remotely across the United States and Canada, with attendance in person for the diagnostic, board meetings, lender and investor negotiations, transactions and the first month of any material change.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

We hire for your sector rather than your commute, which is the only reason we can put someone in your seat who has run finance in a business like yours. Travel is booked around the moments where being in the room changes the outcome.

CLAUSE 1.8Fee
One fixed monthly fee. No hourly billing, no timesheets, no charge for correspondence, and no separate charge for specialist resources engaged under clause 1.1.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

A quiet month and a brutal one cost the same. Nobody has to ask permission to raise something, and nobody inside the firm has a reason to keep you out of a specialist’s calendar.

CLAUSE 1.9Term and notice
The initial term is ninety days. Thereafter the engagement continues month to month, terminable by either party on sixty days’ written notice, with handover as set out in clause 1.10.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

You are committing to a quarter, not a year, and after that you are free every month. A firm that is confident in the work does not need a lock-in to keep it.

CLAUSE 1.10Handover
On termination the firm shall deliver all models, documentation, process material and systems configuration in native editable format, provide a written handover and a walkthrough to the incoming finance lead, and confirm withdrawal of all system access in writing.
WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOU

The clause the rest of this page keeps pointing at. It is why ending an engagement here is a handover rather than a hostage negotiation, and why your finance function keeps running on the day we stop.

Schedule one
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Schedule 1, in full. This is the page to take to every firm on your list.

Two standards. You choose which one your business runs on at the start and it is written into the agreement. We surveyed more than forty firms in this category before publishing this: the most funded competitor’s entire published commitment is that you will hear back in a business day or less. There is no other page like this one in the market, which is exactly why it is here.

THE COMMITMENTSTANDARDPREMIUM
GETTING HOLD OF US
Anything you send is acknowledged1 business day2 business hours
Payroll, payment, bank or security incident4 business hours, 9am–5pm ET30 minutes, 24/7 on call
Close blocker, lender or investor deadline, audit request1 business day4 hours
A substantive finance question2 business days4 business hours
Anything general or procedural3 business days1 business day
THE NUMBERS
Month-end close completeBusiness day 12Business day 7
Reporting pack in your handsBusiness day 15Business day 8
Bank reconciliationsWeeklyDaily
Payables enteredWeeklyDaily
CFO working sessionMonthlyWeekly, plus on demand
CONTINUITY
Your named backup picks up your file1 business day2 business hours
Coverage drilled on live filesOnce a yearEvery quarter
Credit if the close date is missed5% of the month15% of the month

A calendar has two sides. Bank feeds connected, receipts in by the third working day and payroll data by the second are what let the seventh-day close hold, so those dates are agreed in the same document and both sides can see them.

How it starts
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How it starts, and what each step commits you to.

Five steps, and you can stop after any of them holding something you keep. Nothing before the fourth commits you to more than a fortnight.

01The conversation
Commits you to nothing

An hour on your business. You meet the CFO who would hold your seat, not a salesperson. A written note of what we heard and what we would look at first arrives within two working days, and it is yours whether or not anything follows.

02The diagnostic
Two weeks, agreed on its own

Two weeks inside the accounts, the close, the controls, the systems and the cash. This is the only decision on the table after the first conversation, and it is a two-week one.

03The assessment
Yours either way

At week three, a written document: what is sound, what is fragile, what it is costing in the terms of your own business, and the two or three things worth moving on first. You keep it and can act on it with your own team or anyone else you choose.

04The agreement
Ninety days, then monthly

Scope in Schedule 2, standard in Schedule 1, the people named. Ninety days to establish the rhythm, and month to month from there.

05The review
In writing, at ninety days

One page against what was written at week three. Every measure that was named, reported against — including the ones that have not moved, with the reason and what changes next. Then every quarter.

How it ends
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And how it ends, whenever you decide it should.

Every engagement ends eventually, and most of ours end because the business grew into a full-time finance chief — which is a good outcome and one we help hire for. This is what the last sixty days look like, written into the agreement at clause 1.10 so it is settled at the start rather than negotiated at the end.

Sixty days, either side, in writing

No penalty, no minimum remaining term, and no charge for the notice period beyond the ordinary monthly fee.

Everything you own, handed over in native format

Models, documentation, the close calendar, the control matrix, systems configuration and the reporting pack templates. Editable files, not exports, because they were yours as they were built.

A written handover, and a walkthrough with whoever takes it on

Your incoming finance chief, your controller, your accountant — whoever is picking it up gets the file and the conversation, so the function keeps running on the day we stop.

Help hiring your replacement for us, if that is where it has gone

Specification, market view, interview support and onboarding of the person who takes the seat permanently. Inside the fee, in the notice period.

Access withdrawn on the last day, and confirmed in writing

Every system, every bank portal, every credential. Confirmed back to you as a list, so you can check it.

What happens next

You have read the agreement. Now ask everyone else on your list for theirs.

That is the honest recommendation, and it is the reason this page is public. Take the ten clauses and Schedule 1 to every firm you are considering and ask them to answer the same points in writing. Whoever you end up with, you will have chosen them on something you could actually check. If you would like to talk about your own business first, that conversation costs nothing.

01THE CLAUSESTen of them, in the words they are written in, before you speak to anyone here.
02THE SCHEDULEEvery response time and every working day, with a credit attached to the close date.
03THE PEOPLENamed in the agreement, with a named backup behind each seat.
04THE EXITSixty days, everything you own in editable format, and a written handover.
BOOK A CONVERSATIONSEE HOW AN ENGAGEMENT RUNS
ONE HOUR · NO CHARGE · A WRITTEN NOTE BACK WITHIN TWO WORKING DAYS