Whether your business is having financial troubles or undergoing transition, such as a merger or acquisition, McCracken can provide the right fractional CFO for you.
Fractional CFOs, also known as part-time CFOs, are a great option when you need an executive-level finance professional but can’t afford a full-time CFO.
As a business owner, you want to keep your company operating at peak performance while staying out of potential trouble. The problem is that in most cases:
You are the only person looking at the numbers, gauging the performance of the company on your own.
You are carrying a large load of finance tasks, which have been growing in size and complexity along with your business.
You are told by your banker, auditor, or another advisor that your company has a finance problem of sorts, but you don’t know how to begin tackling the issue, let alone identify its source.
To top it all off, finance may be a challenging journey for many, a journey where you have to make sense of the numbers along the way, and the term baptism by fire rings true.
If any of this applies to you, then a fractional CFO could help you and your business:
They could be an extra pair of eyes poring over your books, monitoring your growth metrics, and identifying opportunities for capital improvements.
They can carry the lion’s share of your company’s financial tasks, ensuring that your company’s books are balanced and that you are fully compliant.
They can rely on their decades of expertise to help your company uncover skeletons in the closet you might not be aware of. After all, you don’t know what you don’t know, but a fractional CFO has seen the end of many movies, so they know which rocks to turn over.
Fractional CFOs are an investment, one that usually pays its price several times over. Here are a few real-life examples we were involved in:
A company was facing a financial crisis as it had failed to pay payroll taxes, and the IRS was coming down on them.
The fractional CFO got to work, poring over three years worth of messy financials. In the end, the fractional CFO reduced the company’s tax liability, and they paid what was owed and have remained compliant ever since.
A company was going through an M&A process and needed an experienced fractional CFO to ferry it through the process.
Because of the involvement of a CFO with deep M&A experience, the company was able to secure a significantly higher sale price in the transaction.
A company was struggling to get accurate financial information from its accounting function and needed counsel from an experienced industry professional.
When we provided them with a fractional CFO, the company got their finance department back on track, and management regained clarity regarding the company’s financials. Additionally, the company was able to identify underutilized tax breaks, saving them $800k.
McCracken is a partnership of CFOs, Controllers, and other finance talent here to help you maximize value for your organization. Our CFO partners are all proven leaders in the office of the CFO, with years of experience supporting a wide array of industries and company sizes.
We provide leadership development programs, where we train and educate finance professionals and teams on how best to lead the office of the CFO. So far, we have been fortunate enough to serve more than 1,000 businesses in over 40 US cities.
We developed the curriculum for our development programs alongside CFOs, leadership specialists, and subject matter experts as well as well-recognized universities and institutions, including Georgia State University, Rollins College, and Northwestern University. Accordingly, McCracken is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors.
Mike, the founder and CEO of McCracken, is a former partner with EY, where he ultimately reported directly to the CEO and Chairman. Afterward, he founded Tatum, which became the first national and largest professional CFO firm with 37 practice offices throughout the country.
After selling Tatum, Mike leveraged his close relationships with talented CFOs and other leaders in business and founded McCracken.
No matter how turbulent your financial situation may be, we have ferried companies through the same challenges to safety.
If you call us today with an urgent matter and you need a fractional CFO, one of our CFOs can be on a plane, headed to your offices tomorrow. Before the week is over, we will be helping you put your financial house back in order.
You don't know what you don't know, which makes it difficult to ask for help in areas where you are not sure what the improvements are or if they're even needed. We will commonly perform an assessment of your organization's finance function at the start of any engagement. It is the CFO's job to inform the CEO about both what is needed from a finance perspective as well as where finance can contribute additional value to the overall vision of the company.
Fractional CFOs work a flexible number of hours based on the changing needs of the business they serve. This could be a few hours a month up to 10 or 20 hours a week.
Fractional CFOs are used to working flexibly and on-demand. This means that you may need them close to full-time for a few weeks before converting to a low number of hours for ongoing guidance. Your business may not need the full-time support of a CFO, but having fractional guidance to support your controller and advise your CEO can be an invaluable asset in creating company strategy.
A startup can benefit from the council of a seasoned industry CFO from day one, but realistically the startup won't have demands on their finance and accounting function that warrant the involvement of a CFO until they've raised seed capital. Preparing for future rounds of funding is just one of the many areas that a fractional CFO can add value to a startup.
A fortune 500 CFO may not make the best fit in a startup environment. Similarly, a fractional CFO with a background in telecommunications is unlikely to have the expertise needed in a healthcare organization. A CPA can be a great credential to find in a CFO, but not every company will need a CFO with a heavy background in accounting. Circumstances vary for each company depending on the stage and needs of the organization.
A fractional CFO's involvement depends greatly on the stage and needs of the organization. In smaller companies, the fractional CFO may personally take on a broad set of responsibilities, including managing the books, negotiating contracts, and more. In a larger company, the fractional CFO may oversee and guide the controller who manages the accounting function as well as other leaders in the finance function.
We have partners, associates, and clients in over 40 US cities. ²
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