Fractional CFO Services for Growing Businesses

Executive-level financial leadership without the executive-level payroll. Forecasting, cash flow management, and strategic guidance from a CPA who has led finance for organizations from startups to a $1.5B enterprise.

You Have Outgrown Gut-Feel Finance

Your business is doing real revenue. But somewhere between $300K and $30M, the questions get harder than the bookkeeping can answer:

  • You are profitable on paper but cash always feels tight, and you are not sure why.

  • You make hiring, pricing, and equipment decisions without knowing what they do to the bottom line.

  • Your banker or investors are asking for projections you do not have.

  • You know your numbers are telling you something, but nobody on your team can translate them.

  • A full-time CFO would cost $200K or more, and you do not need one forty hours a week.

That last point is the whole idea. You need CFO-level thinking a few hours a month, not a full-time salary. That is exactly what a fractional CFO engagement delivers.

What Fractional CFO Services Include

Every engagement is tailored, but most clients draw from these core areas:

Margin and Profitability Analysis Job-level, product-level, or client-level profitability so you know where you actually make money and where you quietly lose it.

Cleanup and Stabilization If your books are not ready for CFO-level work, we fix the foundation first. Historical cleanup, process fixes, and internal controls that reduce error and fraud risk.

Banking, Lending, and Stakeholder Support Lender-ready financial packages, covenant monitoring, and support in conversations with banks, investors, bonding agents, and buyers.

Strategic Advisory A standing seat at the table for pricing decisions, hiring plans, entity and compensation structure, and the questions that do not fit neatly in a spreadsheet.

Cash Flow Forecasting and Management A rolling 13-week cash flow forecast so you see crunches before they happen, plus longer-range projections for planning growth, debt, and distributions.

Budgeting and Financial Modeling Annual budgets that actually get used, scenario analysis for major decisions, and financial models for expansion, acquisition, or new service lines.

KPI Development and Monthly Reporting The five to ten numbers that actually drive your business, tracked monthly and explained in plain English. You get a dashboard and a conversation, not a data dump.

Who Fractional CFO Services Are Built For

This engagement fits owner-led businesses with roughly $1M to $30M in revenue that have real financial complexity but not enough of it to justify a full-time CFO. We work with construction and trade contractors, manufacturers, professional services firms, and other growing companies across the Pittsburgh north suburbs, including Mars, Cranberry Township, Wexford, and Butler County, and remotely with clients nationwide.

It is an especially strong fit if:

  • You are growing fast and decisions are getting more expensive to get wrong.

  • You are preparing for a loan, a bonding increase, an acquisition, or an eventual sale.

  • You have a bookkeeper or controller who is solid on the past but cannot help you plan the future.

  • You want one firm where the books, the tax strategy, and the CFO guidance all connect.

That last point matters. Because Keystone also delivers bookkeeping and tax strategy, your CFO advice is grounded in financials we trust and coordinated with your tax position. No handoffs between three vendors who never talk to each other.

How the Engagement Works

Step 1: Clarity Call. A 20-minute conversation about your business, your numbers, and what is keeping you up at night. No pitch, no pressure.

Step 2: Financial Assessment. We review your financials, systems, and goals, then recommend a scope. If the books need cleanup first, we tell you that honestly and price it separately.

Step 3: Ongoing Engagement. Most clients work with us on a fixed monthly retainer with a defined meeting cadence, typically monthly or twice monthly. You always know what it costs and what you get.

Step 4: Quarterly Strategy Reviews. Every quarter we step back from the monthly rhythm to review performance against plan, update forecasts, and coordinate with tax strategy before year-end, not after.

FAQ: Tax Strategy and Compliance

  • A full-time CFO typically costs $180K to $300K or more with salary, benefits, and equity. Fractional engagements deliver the highest-value portion of that work for a fixed monthly retainer that is a fraction of one salary. Exact pricing depends on scope, which we define together after the assessment.

  • Bookkeeping records what already happened. A CFO uses those numbers to shape what happens next: forecasting, pricing, hiring, financing, and growth decisions. The two work best together, which is why Keystone offers both under one roof.

  • Engagements are scoped by deliverables and meeting cadence rather than a rigid hourly count. Most clients land somewhere between a few hours and a couple of days per month depending on complexity.

  • No! We are based in Mars, PA and serve the north suburbs in person, but we work with clients nationwide through virtual engagements. Financial leadership travels well over video.

  • Yes, and it is common. We begin with a cleanup and stabilization phase to make the numbers trustworthy, then move into forward-looking CFO work. Strategy built on bad data is worse than no strategy.

See What Your Numbers Are Trying to Tell You

One conversation is enough to know whether this is a fit. Schedule a 20-minute clarity call and bring your hardest financial question.

Schedule a 20-Minute Clarity Call