Controller
Make the numbers reliable
“Is what happened recorded correctly?”
- Owns accounting, reporting, and the close
- Focuses on accuracy, controls, and compliance
You need one when numbers are late, wrong, or nobody can explain them.
An outsourced CFO for companies that already have an accountant.
Some companies need a CFO. Some need a controller. The diagnostic tells you which, in two weeks.
- $700M+
- Transaction Value
Advised - 30+
- Cross-Border M&A and Financings
- 100+
- Financial Models
Built & Reviewed - 9+
- Years in M&A, investing and private markets
Does your business need a CFO, a controller, or both?
The most expensive mistake in this purchase is buying the wrong function. They are not interchangeable.
CFO
Use the numbers to make decisions
“What should happen next?”
- Owns financial strategy and planning
- Focuses on cash, pricing, profitability, and funding
You need one when numbers are reliable, but nobody is using them to guide decisions.
Why businesses outsource the CFO function
You have a business that works. Revenue is real, customers renew, the bank is comfortable.
What you do not have is anyone whose job is to look at the numbers and tell you what they mean.
Your management accounts arrive six weeks after month end
By the time you see them, the decisions they should have informed have already been made on instinct.
By the time you see them, the decisions they should have informed have already been made on instinct. Late information is not information; it is history. The problem is never effort — it is that nobody has built a reporting process that can run without heroics.
You are profitable on paper and permanently short of cash
Cash is trapped in receivables not being chased or payment terms nobody has renegotiated since the business was half the size.
The most common complaint from businesses in the $2m–$20m range, and it is almost always working capital. Cash is trapped in receivables they are not chasing or payment terms nobody has renegotiated since the business was half the size.
The bank wants reporting you cannot produce
Covenant compliance is a monthly discipline, not an annual scramble. Lenders underwrite cash flow not growth.
Covenant compliance is a monthly discipline, not an annual scramble. Lenders underwrite cash flow rather than growth, and a covenant breach you did not see coming is materially worse than one you flagged and negotiated in advance.
Your finance person is leavingYour finance person is leaving — or is the only one who understands anything
Key-person risk in finance is quiet until it is not. If one departure would leave nobody who knows how the month-end closing actually works.
Key-person risk in finance is quiet until it is not. If one departure would leave nobody who knows how the month-end actually works, that is an operational risk sitting on your balance sheet without being recorded on it.
You do not know which parts of the business make money
Most owner-managed businesses have at least one product line, customer segment or channel that is consuming profit generated elsewhere.
Most owner-managed businesses have at least one product line, customer segment or channel that is consuming profit
generated elsewhere, and it usually survives because nobody has cut the numbers finely enough to see it.You are thinking about selling, and the numbers are not ready
A buyer's diligence is more forensic than an investor's. Across the 100+ financial models we built, 83% contained hardcoded figures buried inside a formula.
A buyer's diligence is more forensic than an investor's. Across the 100+ financial models we built, 83% contained at least one hardcoded figure buried inside a formula — the kind of thing that turns a confirmatory diligence process into a renegotiation.
How the engagement works
No open-ended retainers that drift. Every engagement starts with the same diagnostic and then narrows to what you actually need.
- 1Weeks 1–2
Diagnostic
A full read of what exists: statutory and management accounts, the reporting pack, the cash position and commitments against it.A full read of what exists: statutory and management accounts, the reporting pack, the cash position and commitments against it, any lending facilities and their covenants, and how the month-end runs. The output is a written assessment of what is sound, what is broken, and what it costs to fix.
- 2Weeks 2–8
Foundations
Whatever the diagnostic identified as load-bearing. Typically a management reporting pack that assembles in hours rather than days, a 13-week cash flow forecast, a working capital review.Whatever the diagnostic identified as load-bearing. Typically a management reporting pack that assembles in hours rather than days, a 13-week cash flow forecast, a working capital review with the specific levers quantified, and profitability cut by the dimensions that actually drive your business.
- 3Ongoing
Operating Rhythm
A monthly cycle: close review, variance against plan with drivers explained, rolling forecast update, covenant position where relevant, and the two or three decisions that need a view this month.A monthly cycle: close review, variance against plan with drivers explained, rolling forecast update, covenant position where relevant, and the two or three decisions that need a view this month. Availability between cycles, because the questions that matter rarely wait for the meeting.
- 4Event-driven
Funding, Refinancing or Sale
Lender negotiations, refinancing, valuation work, and exit preparation. This is where over nine years in M&A, investing and private markets does the most work, and it is the reason to engage someone with transaction experience rather than a career accountant.
Not sure whether you need an outsourced CFO or a fractional CFO?
Book a Diagnostic CallWhat you get
Concrete deliverables, not advisory hours - models, forecasts, dashboards, and decision tools your team can actually use.
A Management Reporting Pack
P&L, balance sheet, cash, KPIs and variance against
plan with the drivers explained, delivered every month
A 13-Week Cash Flow Forecast
Updated weekly, showing the specific week cash
gets tight under each scenario
A Working Capital Review
Receivables, payables and inventory, with each lever quantified in cash terms rather than described in principle
Margin Profile Analysis
By product, customer, channel or contract —
whichever dimension actually drives your business
Budget and Rolling Forecast
Built around the operational drivers that move performance—not last year’s numbers with a percentage added
Exit or Transaction Readiness
Clean historicals, a defensible model, and the
diligence questions answered before they are asked
Outsourced CFO vs the alternatives
| Option | Cost | What you get | Where it breaks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accountant / bookkeeper | Low | Accurate records, compliance filed on time | Records the past. Does not forecast, price, or model a decision |
| Outsourced controller | Low–mid | Reliable close, working controls, clean numbers | Produces the numbers. Does not decide what to do with them |
| Full-time CFO | High | Daily presence, builds and runs a finance team | Salary plus employer costs and equity. Hard and expensive to reverse if the fit is wrong |
| Outsourced CFO | Mid | Senior judgement on pricing, cash, capital and profitability | Depends on the numbers underneath being reliable |
What it costs
Outsourced CFO engagements sit in broadly the same bands as fractional ones:
- $3,000–$12,000 a month in the US, most commonly $5,000–$8,000
- £2,500–£8,000 in the UK.
What moves your number, in rough order:
- The state of your historical accounts
- Whether you need operational or strategic work
- Structural complexity rather than headline revenue
- Whether a financing or sale process is live
- How often you need the rhythm.
Why ControlFi
Transaction experience, not just accounting experience
30+ cross-border M&A transactions and financings with $700M+ in
total aggregate value.
You work with the operator
You work directly with the person doing the work. No junior handoff.
100% honest scoping
The diagnostic exists to establish whether you need this. Sometimes the answer is a financial controller.
One thing to be straight about:
If what you need is a fully staffed finance department with built-in redundancy, that is a different story.
More on how ControlFi thinks about this
Practical guides to understanding the numbers behind your business and what a finance function actually costs.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are outsourced CFO services?
Senior finance leadership delivered on a part-time, retained basis rather than through an employee. Typically covering management reporting, forecasting, cash and working capital, profitability analysis, lender relationships and transaction support.
What is the difference between an outsourced CFO and a fractional CFO?
Largely who is buying. "Outsourced" usually describes an established business handing over a function; "fractional" usually describes a startup adding part-time senior capacity. The underlying work overlaps heavily.
What does an outsourced CFO cost?
Published ranges across the market are $3,000–$12,000 a month in the US and £2,500–£8,000 in the UK, with most engagements in the middle of those bands. See the rates comparison for figures by firm.
Do I need a CFO or a controller?
A controller owns the accounting function — close, controls, accuracy. A CFO uses those outputs to decide what happens next. If your numbers are late or unreliable, the controller work comes first.
Can an outsourced CFO work alongside my existing accountant?
Yes, and that is the normal arrangement. Your accountant handles compliance and statutory filing; the CFO function sits above it, using those numbers for forecasting and decisions. Neither replaces the other.
How much of your time do we get?
Scoped by deliverable and rhythm rather than logged hours. A defined monthly cycle, defined outputs, and availability between cycles for the questions that cannot wait.
Is this suitable for a small business?
It depends less on size than on complexity and stakes. A £3m business with a lending facility, three product lines and an owner planning an exit needs this more than a simpler £10m business does. If the honest answer is that a good bookkeeper would solve your problem, the diagnostic will say so.
We are planning to sell in a few years. When should we start?
Two to three years before the process, not two months. Buyer diligence is more forensic than investor diligence, and the things that reduce a valuation — unclear revenue recognition, unreliable historicals, undocumented adjustments — take years to fix properly and are obvious when fixed hastily.
What happens in the first two weeks?
A diagnostic: statutory and management accounts, reporting pack, cash position, facilities and covenants, and how month-end actually runs — followed by a written assessment of what is sound, what is broken, and what it costs to fix.
Talk to an outsourced CFO
The first conversation is a 30-minute review of where your finance function is now and what is actually missing from it.
Book a Diagnostic Call