Fractional CFO Services Focused on Value Creation
A Fractional CFO (Chief Financial Officer) from Oak CEO gives you senior finance leadership on a part-time, ongoing basis—ideal when a need arises for top-tier expertise without a full-time hire.
Do You Need a Fractional CFO?
Get Started:
- Fill out the form. Write a short description of why you’re considering a fractional chief financial officer.
- Our expert, Christoffer Nielsen, will reach out within 24 hours to discuss scope, cadence (weekly/monthly), and priorities for the finance function.
- We’ll provide a proposal for fractional CFO services with a clear plan, deliverables, and flexible hours.
Christoffer Nielsen
Phone: (737) 232-0838
Day to day, I work with business valuation and transaction advisory. I’m experienced in the actions that increase value.
Fractional CFO – What Is It?
A fractional CFO is a seasoned finance leader who partners with your company on a part-time basis—typically a set number of days or hours per month. Instead of stepping in full-time for a short stint, a part-time CFO embeds with management over time to build strong financial governance, improve cash flow, and provide strategic insight as you grow.
Because the engagement is flexible and scalable, you get enterprise-level expertise exactly when you need it: forecasting and reporting cadence, lender and investor relations, pricing and margin work, and preparation for transactions. The model keeps overhead low while delivering measurable outcomes and continuity.
Fractional CFO vs. Interim CFO – What’s the Difference?
A fractional CFO provides ongoing, part-time executive support. Perfect for growing companies that need senior guidance month after month without a full-time salary. An interim CFO is typically a full-time, time-boxed solution to bridge a gap or handle a major transition. Both bring senior expertise; fractional emphasizes continuity and scalability, while interim emphasizes rapid coverage during change.
| Dimension | Fractional CFO | Interim CFO |
|---|---|---|
| Engagement model | Ongoing, part-time (days or hours per month) | Full-time, time-boxed assignment |
| Primary purpose | Continuous senior guidance and financial maturity | Rapid coverage during change or leadership gaps |
| Typical triggers | Scaling, recurring reporting/forecasting needs, Board cadence | Sudden CFO vacancy, turnaround, transaction crunch |
| Time horizon | Months to years, flexible and extendable | Weeks to a few months, fixed scope and end date |
| Focus areas | Governance, KPIs, cash discipline, budgeting, investor readiness | Stabilization, crisis management, due diligence, rapid execution |
| Continuity | High—provides compounding improvements over time | Lower—aims to hand off after objectives are met |
| Cost profile | Lower fixed cost; pay only for capacity needed | Higher weekly burn due to full-time intensity |
| Integration | Part of leadership rhythm; builds repeatable processes | Inserted to lead sprints and unblock decisions |
| Decision rights | Tailored to ongoing role; often advisory + selective approvals | Broader temporary authority to move fast |
| Deliverables | Cadence (monthly close, rolling forecast), dashboards, playbooks | Immediate control (cash, reporting), remediation plans, transaction prep |
| Bank/Investor relations | Maintains relationships and narrative over time | Reassures stakeholders and triages urgent asks |
| Best for | Growing companies needing senior leverage without FT hire | Organizations facing acute change or mission-critical events |
When Do You Need Fractional CFO Services?
Most companies search for fractional CFO services for two reasons: ongoing financial leadership and targeted initiatives.
1. Ongoing Needs
When you don’t require a full-time CFO but need consistent senior guidance, a fractional leader can:
- Own the monthly reporting cadence and rolling 13-week cash-flow forecast
- Maintain credibility with the board, bank, and auditor
- Drive cost discipline, pricing, and KPI follow-up within a clear governance model
This model gives you a steady finance head who sets structure and priorities while scaling time up or down as the business evolves.
2. Strategic Projects
Sometimes you need concentrated expertise for a defined goal while keeping an ongoing, light-touch presence afterward. Typical cases:
- Sale readiness, lender/investor prep, or capital raise support
- Owner succession if the finance function needs to be professionalized
- Scaling up: budgeting, KPI design, and data-driven performance management
- Post-acquisition reporting, cash management, and synergy tracking
Here, the contract CFO acts as a catalyst—building transparency, a robust plan, and decision support that makes the company more attractive to stakeholders.
Oak CEO emphasizes the strategic aspects of the CFO role: financial governance, company development, and value-creating actions. While some providers focus mainly on transactional accounting, we prioritize long-term value and readiness for your next step.
How a Fractional CFO from Oak CEO Will Increase the Value of Your Business
Creating Value
With roots in M&A and business valuation, our fractional CFO partners with your leadership team to lift cash flow and profitability. Typical levers include working-capital improvements, stronger routines, sharper reporting, and preparing the company for ownership changes.
During change or uncertainty, you need clear financial governance. A fractional engagement establishes control quickly and, alongside management, moves the business from volatility to sustainable performance—with hours tailored to need.
Expect prioritization—and sometimes tough calls: streamline the offer, reduce costs, adjust pricing, and renegotiate terms. With disciplined metrics and structure, we lay the groundwork for durable results.
Examples of How a Fractional CFO Can Work
Consider a mid-sized business where the owners are planning for an exit. Oak CEO provides a fractional CFO who, over six months on a defined monthly cadence, will:
- Lift cash flow via disciplined working-capital management (receivables, inventory, supplier terms)
- Digitize finance processes and run a timely monthly close and perform clear reporting
- Implement SOPs for accounting, approvals, and performance follow-up
- Improve margins through pricing, cost control, and product-mix optimization
- Ensure clean documentations and books ahead of due diligence
The outcome: a robust finance function, stronger stakeholder confidence—and a higher valuation at sale. Beyond the CFO scope, we can also collaborate with an interim M&A manager and an interim CEO and when needed.
How a Fractional CFO Can Bring Financial Discipline
Many smaller businesses only have the CEO/owner in the C-suite. The typical small business CEO/owner wears far too many hats. While he typically does a good job in running the business overall, the same cannot be said about things that he is not trained or experienced in.
As the company grows, so does the need for financial management. This is where a Fractional CFO makes sense, since a full-time CFO will be too much of a burden for a smaller business to pay for, despite their needs of financial management. A Fractional CFO steps in to make sure the orderliness of the books is up ready for scrutiny, to make strategic decisions based on expected cash flow and many other things.
A good Fractional CFO should also be useful “like a business partner”.
How to Set the Mandate for a Fractional CFO
Clear decision rights are essential from day one. Should the part-time CFO be authorized to sign vendor contracts, approve investments within limits, or renegotiate credit facilities? Ambiguity weakens authority and slows progress.
Many items feel obvious, but it pays to confirm:
- Can the fractional CFO hire, reassign, or exit resources within the finance team?
- Mandate to renegotiate leases, banking terms, pricing frameworks and major supplier agreements?
- Approval thresholds for spend and investments, plus parameters for external reporting?
With clear guardrails, owners and the fractional leader can work in lockstep—tightening control, improving profitability, and compounding value.
Strategic or Operational, or Somewhere in-Between?
There are generally four types of CFO roles, depending on the company’s size and whether the focus is operational or strategic.
1A — Operational CFO (larger company)
If the company is mid to large: Are you looking for an operational head of the accounting department, that oversees bookkeepers and accountants, deals with auditors and CPAs.
1B — Operational CFO (smaller company)
If the company is small to mid-sized, then you likely only have one bookkeeper/accountant or the accounting is outsourced. Are you looking for the CFO to wear all the operational hats related to accounting?
2A — Strategic CFO (larger company)
If the company is mid to large: Are you looking a role that is more in the direction of making projections, growth plans, securing financing, dealing with banks, investors etc., without being involved in the day-to-day bookkeeping and accounting? This is more strategic than operational.
2B — Strategic CFO (smaller company)
If the company is small to mid-sized, then the focus of a CFO is generally the same as for larger companies, but more hands on and less focus on investors, such as focusing on the quality of the bookkeeping and accounting, going from unaudited to audited, getting proper balance sheets, optimizing inventory and cash flow, keeping track of receivables and working capital etc. The CFOs of smaller companies generally also become involved in financial decision making together with the CEO.
Hire Us as Your Fractional CFO
Oak CEO provides experienced fractional CFO services that bring control and value to your finance function—quickly, reliably, and with a flexible footprint. Contact us to align on approach and cadence.