CFO services cover the judgement layer of finance: the model, cash and runway, board reporting and raise support. At seed that is a few hours a month on top of clean books; before and after a raise the scope grows, and past Series A it becomes a job.
What CFO services cover, and what sits underneath them
CFO services sit at the top of the finance stack. Underneath is the transactional layer, accounts payable, reconciliations and payroll, which a bookkeeper or accounting firm handles well and cheaply. Above that is the month-end close and the reporting. CFO services are the judgement layer: what the numbers mean, what to do about them, and what to tell a board or an investor.
Founders often buy from the top down when the problem is at the bottom. If your reporting is late and your data is not clean, a CFO service spends its first months fixing the layer underneath it, at CFO rates. Get the transactional and close layers working first, then buy judgement on top of numbers you trust.
Tom Hunter's view: The mirror-image mistake is what I called on Olive Insights “hiring a race car to pull a tractor. Because in small businesses, there's so many CFOs or so many senior finance people on 200K plus that are processing invoices and reconciling the bank.” Give them the resource and the systems, or even junior offshore staff, to deal with that, so they can focus on what you're actually paying them for. And “if you don't have consistent enough workload for a part-time person, there's the option of getting a gun fractional CFO to guide you through the strategy.” (Olive Insights, March 2025)
What CFO services should cover at each stage
The scope that makes sense for a seed company is not the scope that makes sense a year after a Series A. This is how I see it change, and it is the version I walk founders through when they ask whether they are buying the right thing.
| What CFO services should cover | What to leave out, or buy elsewhere | |
|---|---|---|
| Pre-seed and seed | A monthly review, a cash and runway view, and a sanity check on the model. A few hours a month, on top of a bookkeeper. | Bookkeeping and tax lodgement, which your bookkeeper and accountant do more cheaply. A financially capable founder with good tooling may not need the service yet. |
| Six to twelve months before a raise | Raise readiness: the model, defined metrics, the data room and support through the process. | An open-ended retainer. Scope it as a project with a finish line, the close of the round. |
| After the round, through Series A | Senior input on capital, the board and the next raise, alongside an in-house financial controller or head of finance. | The day to day. That now belongs to the internal finance hire, with an outsourced bookkeeper underneath. |
| Series B and beyond | Project work only: a specific deal, a systems change, a second opinion. | Leadership of the function. Capital strategy, institutional investors and audit-grade reporting need a full-time CFO. |
The structure I see work best for a growing startup is a financial controller in-house doing a bit of everything at the higher end, with an outsourced bookkeeper covering accounts payable, reconciliations and payroll. It is not the controller doing everything, and it is not several full-time finance people too early.[1] CFO services then sit on top of that for the specific jobs that need senior judgement, most often the raise.
Whether you should buy fractional CFO help or hire, and the signs you have outgrown a fractional CFO, are set out separately.
Before a raise: the job CFO services are best at
The classic brief is a startup that does not need anyone full time but has problems to fix before a raise, or needs help with the raise itself, most of all visibility over cash and runway.[2] It is the clearest case for buying CFO services from outside, and the reason is experience. A founder might only raise a few times in the life of the company. The people running fractional CFO practices do it many times a year across their clients, so they know what investors will ask, what a clean data room looks like and which metrics need defining before anyone sees them.[3]
Be specific about the mandate. The useful version is a bounded engagement: get the model, the metrics and the data room ready, and support the process. Agree up front what happens after the round, because that is usually when the business makes its first internal finance hire and the scope of the outside service should shrink.
What AI has changed about CFO services
A lot of what small businesses used to buy from a virtual CFO is now within reach of a founder. What was a vCFO-level workload three years ago is increasingly something a financially capable founder can do with AI in the loop.[4] If you are comfortable with the tools, a fractional bookkeeper plus software can cover runway tracking, actual against forecast and light commercial analysis at seed, and you can defer CFO services for a while.
It is already happening inside Australian finance teams. In one scale-up a controller refreshes the board pack every Monday with a single instruction, then checks revenue, cash and ARR against Xero and adds the commentary.[5] In another, a controller turns finished month-end commentary and charts into a near-complete performance pack within minutes.[6]
What AI does not replace is the challenge. The tools are still poor at questioning the assumptions behind a model, and that pushback is where a good CFO service earns its fee. As I said on Celia's Corner, AI can run the checking, the reconciliation and a basic forecast, but toward the end of the process you still need a qualified human in the loop who understands the problem and what a good outcome looks like. Buy the judgement, and let the software do the assembly.
Choosing a provider
You are choosing between an individual and a firm. A solo operator gives you one relationship and consistent judgement, with limited capacity and no cover. A firm gives you depth and cover, with the risk that the person in your business changes. For a small business continuity of judgement is usually worth more than bench strength.
Screen on niche. The one criterion I use for my own referral list is the specific market, industry or growth stage where the provider does their best work.[7] Then ask what happens when they are unavailable, what the engagement explicitly does not cover, and what the exit looks like. The good ones answer all three without hesitating. For the monthly and hourly rates, solo against firm, see what a part-time CFO costs in Australia.
Where I fit
I do not sell CFO services. When a founder is too early for a permanent hire, I introduce them to a provider I have vetted and take no fee for it. My work starts where the service runs out: the first finance hire and the first CFO in Australian VC-backed startups and scale-ups.
Common questions
What do CFO services include for a small business?
The judgement layer of finance: the financial model, cash and runway planning, board and investor reporting, and support through a raise. Accounts payable, reconciliations, payroll and the month-end close sit underneath, and a bookkeeper or accounting firm handles them more cheaply. Where reporting is late or data is not clean, fix that layer first, or a CFO service spends its first months doing it at CFO rates.
What should CFO services cover for a startup?
It depends on the stage. At seed, a few hours a month: a monthly review, a cash and runway view and a sanity check on the model. Six to twelve months before a raise, raise readiness: the model, defined metrics and the data room. After the round, senior input alongside an in-house financial controller or head of finance, who owns the day to day. From Series B, leadership of the function usually needs a full-time CFO.
Can a startup manage without CFO services?
Often, at seed. A financially capable founder comfortable with AI tooling can cover runway tracking, actual against forecast and light commercial analysis with a fractional bookkeeper and software. What the tools do badly is challenge the assumptions behind the numbers, which is where senior judgement earns its fee.
How much do CFO services cost?
Most seed-stage founders pay $1,000 to $3,000 a month for five to ten hours a month, and complex, fast-growing businesses pay $5,000 to $10,000 a month for five to ten hours a week. The full stage-by-stage bands and solo against firm hourly rates are on our part-time CFO cost page.
References
- Something I wrote about in February 2026: the classic startup setup is a financial controller doing a bit of everything at the higher end, with an outsourced bookkeeper for AP, reconciliations and payroll. It is the most common model, and it avoids both the controller doing everything and several full-time finance people too early.
- From founder conversations: fractional CFOs are a classic startup requirement, because the business does not need someone full time but has issues to fix ahead of a raise, or needs help with the raise itself, mostly around visibility and runway.
- Why I suggest an outside adviser for the raise: founders might only raise a couple of times on the journey, while the people running fractional practices go through raises many times a year and know what investors look for in the data room, the reporting and the metrics.
- From my First Finance Hire playbook: what was a vCFO-level workload three years ago is increasingly something a financially capable founder can do themselves with AI in the loop, but AI tools are still poor at challenging the assumptions behind them.
- An Australian scale-up example I point people to: a controller uses AI to refresh the board pack every Monday with a single instruction, then checks revenue, cash and ARR against Xero and adds the commentary, instead of rebuilding the pack by hand.
- Another Australian example: a controller turned finished month-end commentary and charts into a near-complete performance pack within minutes, and spent the saved time on the narrative rather than the layout.
- How I choose who goes on my referral list of fractional and virtual CFO advisers: their absolute niche, the specific market, industry or growth stage where they do their best work and give the most value.
These guides set out how we see it, drawn from the searches we run and the finance leaders we work with. They are general information about the market, not financial, accounting or legal advice, and they are no substitute for advice on your own circumstances.