Get the financial clarity of a CFO—without the cost of a full-time executive.
Your business has grown beyond simply keeping the books.
Now you need to know what the numbers mean, where the business is headed, and which financial decisions will help you reach your goals.At Hottenrott & Associates, LLC, our Fractional CFO Services give growing businesses access to experienced financial leadership without adding a full-time CFO to payroll.We help you turn accurate financial information into better decisions through budgeting, forecasting, cash-flow planning, KPI tracking, tax strategy, and ongoing financial guidance.Stop managing your business through the rear-view mirror. Start planning what comes next.
When Bookkeeping Is No Longer Enough Good bookkeeping tells you what happened. A CFO helps you decide what to do next. As your company grows, the questions become more complex: Can we afford to hire another employee? Why are profits increasing but cash is still tight? Which products, services, or customers are actually making us money? How much cash should we keep in reserve? Are our margins where they should be? Can we afford a major equipment purchase or expansion? What should next year's revenue and profit targets be? How will today's decisions affect our taxes? Is the business financially ready for financing, acquisition, or eventual sale? If you're asking questions like these, you may have outgrown basic accounting—but you may not need a $150,000+ full-time CFO. That's where a fractional CFO can make sense.
What Is a Fractional CFO?
A fractional CFO provides senior-level financial strategy to your business on an outsourced basis.
Rather than hiring a full-time executive, you gain an experienced financial partner who works with you throughout the year to understand your numbers, identify opportunities, anticipate problems, and make informed decisions.
At Hottenrott & Associates, we combine CFO-level financial guidance with the accounting and proactive tax strategy that growing business owners already need.
That means your financial decisions aren't made in isolation from your tax strategy.
Your accounting, tax planning, cash flow, and business goals should all work together.
Our Fractional CFO Services
Your engagement can be tailored to your company's needs, but CFO advisory services may include:
Financial Forecasting
Build forward-looking financial projections so you can evaluate where the business is heading—not simply where it has been.
We can help model revenue, expenses, profitability, hiring plans, capital expenditures, and other major business decisions.
Budgeting
Develop a realistic operating budget tied to your business goals.
Then compare actual performance against the plan throughout the year so problems can be identified while there is still time to address them.
Cash-Flow Management
Profit and cash are not the same thing.
We help you understand cash coming into and leaving the business, anticipate potential shortages, establish appropriate reserves, and make better decisions about distributions, debt, investments, and growth.
KPI & Management Reporting
Financial statements are useful—but business owners often need more.
We help identify the key performance indicators that matter most to your company and develop reporting that makes those numbers easier to understand.
Depending on your business, those may include:
Gross margin
Net profit margin
Labor efficiency
Revenue per employee
Accounts receivable aging
Customer concentration
Cash conversion
Break-even point
Recurring revenue
Budget-to-actual performance
Profitability Analysis
Revenue growth does not automatically produce a healthier company.
We can help analyze profitability by product, service line, customer, location, or other meaningful segments so you can understand where the company is actually making—or losing—money.
Strategic Decision Support
Before making a major financial decision, it helps to understand the numbers behind it.
We can help you evaluate decisions such as:
Hiring employees
Adding locations
Purchasing equipment
Taking on debt
Changing pricing
Expanding service lines
Making large capital investments
Owner compensation and distributions
Tax Strategy Coordination
This is where Hottenrott & Associates can differentiate the service from a standalone CFO consultancy.
Your CFO strategy and tax strategy should not operate in separate silos.
Banking & Financing Support
If you're pursuing financing or preparing for a conversation with a lender, we can help organize financial information, develop forecasts, and improve the quality of the financial reporting behind your request.
Who Our Fractional CFO Services Are For
Our CFO services are designed primarily for established, privately held businesses that have moved beyond startup accounting and need more sophisticated financial guidance.
You may be a good fit if:
Your business generates approximately $1 million or more in annual revenue
You've built a team and payroll has become more complex
You have reliable bookkeeping but need greater financial insight
You're growing quickly and cash flow is becoming harder to predict
You're making larger hiring, equipment, financing, or expansion decisions
Your CPA currently talks to you primarily at tax time
You want financial reporting you can actually use to run the company
You're profitable but aren't always sure where the cash went
You're preparing the business for its next stage of growth
Your CFO and CPA Should Be Working Together
One of the biggest advantages of working with an accounting firm for fractional CFO services is integration.
Consider a typical growth decision.
You want to purchase equipment.
That one decision may affect:
Cash Flow
How much cash should you preserve?
Financing
Should you pay cash or borrow?
Profitability
What additional revenue must the investment generate?
Taxes
How should depreciation and available tax incentives factor into the decision?
Forecasting
How will the purchase affect the next 12–24 months?
Those aren't five separate decisions.
They're one business decision viewed from five financial angles.
Our goal is to help you see the complete picture.
From Financial Statements to Financial Strategy
What Does a Fractional CFO Cost?
The cost of fractional CFO services depends on the complexity of your business and the level of support you need.
Factors may include:
Company size
Number of entities or locations
Quality of existing bookkeeping
Reporting requirements
Frequency of meetings
Forecasting complexity
Number of KPIs being monitored
Additional accounting or tax services required
Rather than billing you every time you ask a question, we prefer clearly defined engagements with an agreed scope of service.
After an initial strategy session, we'll recommend a service level based on the financial support your business actually needs.
A typical CFO advisory relationship follows a simple progression:
1. Understand Where You Are
We review your financial statements, accounting systems, tax situation, cash flow, and business goals.
2. Improve Financial Visibility
We identify the reports and KPIs you need to understand the financial health of the business.
3. Build the Plan
Together, we develop budgets, forecasts, targets, and financial priorities.
4. Review Performance
We compare actual performance to the plan and identify meaningful variances.
5. Make Better Decisions
Instead of reacting after problems appear, we use the numbers to address issues and opportunities earlier.
6. Adjust as the Business Changes
A useful financial plan isn't created once and forgotten.
We update forecasts and priorities as your company evolves.
Fractional CFO vs. Bookkeeper vs. CPA
Bookkeeper
Keeps your financial records accurate and current.
CPA
Provides accounting expertise, tax preparation, tax strategy, and other financial services.
Fractional CFO
Uses your financial information to help you plan, forecast, allocate resources, manage cash, measure performance, and make strategic decisions.
For a growing business, you often need all three functions working together.
Hottenrott & Associates can provide that integrated financial partnership.
Frequently Asked Questions
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There isn't a specific revenue number at which every company suddenly needs a CFO. The better indicator is complexity.
If you're making important decisions involving hiring, pricing, financing, cash flow, expansion, or profitability and don't have reliable forward-looking financial information, CFO-level support may be appropriate.
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A full-time CFO is an employee dedicated to one organization.
A fractional CFO provides similar high-level financial guidance to a business on a part-time or outsourced basis, allowing growing companies to access experienced financial leadership without the cost of another full-time executive.
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Usually, no.
Bookkeeping creates the accurate financial data that CFO analysis depends upon. CFO services use that information for forecasting, planning, analysis, and decision-making.
If your bookkeeping needs improvement, we can also discuss accounting support.
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Yes. Budgeting and financial forecasting should be core components of the CFO relationship when appropriate.
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Yes. We can help analyze cash-flow patterns, identify pressure points, develop forecasts, evaluate working-capital needs, and establish financial targets.
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Yes. We can help determine which financial and operational metrics provide the clearest picture of your company's performance.
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Potentially. We would first review your existing accounting environment and the quality of the underlying financial data.
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Yes, we can serve clients anywhere.
Stop Guessing. Start Managing the Business by the Numbers.
You've built a successful company.
The next stage requires more than an accurate tax return.
It requires financial visibility, forward-looking planning, and someone who can help you interpret the numbers before you make important decisions.
Hottenrott & Associates provides Fractional CFO Services that help growing business owners understand where they are, anticipate where they're going, and make better financial decisions along the way.