BOARD PACKPAGE 04
The month, explainedWhat moved, why it moved, and what it means for the next ninety days.
Why people call us
01 / 09
Nobody calls when everything is fine.
There is almost always a moment. Pick the one that sounds like yours.
THE SAME TWELVE MONTHSPROFIT · CASH
PROFIT ON PAPER
CASH IN THE BANK
THE GAP
Your month closes six weeks late, so every decision this quarter was made without it.
What you get
02 / 09
One person in the seat. Four hundred behind them.
Everywhere else, a fractional CFO is one person, and you get the limit of what one person can carry. Here, whoever your month needs is already inside the same company.
1Named CFO
1Named controller
6Specialists on call
8Divisions behind them
Your lead brings them in. You never sign a second agreement, and you never get a second invoice.
MODELLINGDEBT & CAPITALTRANSACTIONSSYSTEMS & DATATAXRISKENGINEERINGCAPITALINSURANCEBUILDCOMMUNICATIONS
YOUR SEATCFO &
controller
controller
MODELLINGDEBT & CAPITALTRANSACTIONSSYSTEMS & DATATAXRISKENGINEERINGCAPITALINSURANCEBUILDCOMMUNICATIONS
Your month
03 / 09
Every date is a date you can hold us to.
Not “promptly”. Not “shortly after month end”. Days, written into the agreement, with a credit against the fee if one is missed.
ONE MONTH, EVERY MONTHCLOSE · PACK · SESSION
15781015202530
CLOSE & PACK
CFO SESSIONORDINARY DAY
DAY 7
The close
Books closed. Same working day, twelve months a year.
DAY 8
The pack
In your hands, written in English, before you ask for it.
WEEKLY
The session
Your CFO, on the two or three decisions that actually need making.
ANY DAY
30 minutes
Payroll will not run. A payment failed. A lender deadline. Answered.
What you actually receive
04 / 09
Four things land on your desk. Here they are.
Not a description of the work. The work.
CASH FORECAST13 WEEKS
Thirteen weeks aheadEvery week you can see, updated weekly, so nothing arrives as a surprise.
LENDER PACKAGEQ3
Ready before they askCovenants, headroom and the story behind them, in the form a bank reads.
MARGIN MAPBY CHANNEL
Where the money isProduct by product, customer by customer, site by site. No blended average.
Your industry
05 / 09
Every business has a P&L. Almost none break in the same place.
Twelve we set out in detail. We lead finance in more than thirty.
Construction & trades
Work in progress
Distribution
Cash stuck in stock
Manufacturing
Standard costing
Professional services
Unbilled time
Hospitality & multi-unit
Unit-level P&L
Property
Debt by entity
Technology
Runway & cohorts
Healthcare groups
Payer mix
Transport & fleet
Cost per mile
Franchise operators
Royalty streams
Consumer & e-commerce
Channel margin
Nonprofit
Restricted funds
Both sides of the border
06 / 09
One finance function across the border. Not two that disagree.
Most firms work one side and treat the other as a footnote. We are staffed on both.
UNITED STATES
Operating Co.USD
Holding Co.USD
Property Co.USD
CANADA
Trading Co.CAD
Services Co.CAD
Employment Co.CAD
One consolidated pack.
ONE CURRENCY · ONE CALENDAR · ONE SET OF NUMBERS
ELIMINATIONSINTERCOMPANY
TRANSFER PRICINGFX POLICY
STATE & PROVINCE TAX
What we put in writing
07 / 09
Adjectives cannot be enforced. Clauses can.
Ten of them sit in every engagement letter we sign. These are the four people ask about first.
CLAUSE 1.1
The people you meet are the people you get
The CFO and controller in your first conversation lead the engagement for its whole term.
CLAUSE 1.4
A close date that does not move
The date is in the agreement. Miss it for a reason of ours and the month is credited back.
CLAUSE 1.8
One fee, whatever the month brings
No hourly billing, no timesheets, no charge for a phone call, no second invoice for a specialist.
CLAUSE 1.9
Ninety days, then free every month
The initial term is one quarter. After that, sixty days’ notice, and everything built for you leaves with you.
ASK FOR IT ON THE FIRST CALL
READ ALL TEN
What changed
08 / 09
Three out of six hundred and forty.
What we were called in for, and what the business could do afterwards that it could not do before.
01 / DISTRIBUTION
11%
of a year’s revenue freed from stock and unpaid invoices
Profitable three years running, and still borrowing to make payroll. The overdraft was repaid and closed.
02 / CONSTRUCTION
2.4×
the bonding capacity they had before
A surety that had quietly stopped raising the limit. Three more projects now run at once, with the same crews.
03 / MANUFACTURING
31%
more of what actually earns, from the same plant
Two entities, two accountants, one consolidation nobody believed. No new machine and no new shift.
THE METHODASSESS · INTEGRATE · EXCEL
01
assess
We find out what is actually true before we change anything —
including the parts you would rather not read.
02
integrate
We are in the room when you decide. Not copied in afterwards.
03
excel
Your margin, your cash and your numbers get good enough to survive
a buyer, a lender or a bad quarter.
The first conversation
One hour on your business. Nothing else on the agenda.
A partner asks what is actually going on, and tells you what we would do about it. You get a straight answer either way.
01
What is actually going on
Where the pressure is right now — cash, a lender, a deal, a board asking
questions the reporting cannot answer.
02
What we would do about it
Not a proposal. The two or three things we would move on first, and what
changes inside ninety days.
03
Whether we are the right fit
If a fractional CFO is the wrong answer for you, we say so on the call.
ONE HOUR · DIRECTLY WITH A PARTNER · NOTHING TO PREPARE