Fractional CFO services for small businesses.

How do I solve my cash-flow issues, and how do I see the next one coming before it's severe?

We stand up a 13-week rolling cash forecast against your actual receivables, payables, payroll, and debt service, refreshed weekly. Variance to forecast is where problems show up two months before the bank balance does.

Why am I selling more but making less?

Unit-economics analysis: gross margin by customer, product, and channel; a real look at how much your cost of delivery has crept up; and where the leaks are between top-line growth and bottom-line profit.

Is this new product, service, or location going to be profitable?

A contribution-margin model that pressure-tests the assumptions before you commit capital: what has to be true for it to break even, and what's a realistic payback window.

Are my employees supporting profitability enough to make their payroll a worthwhile investment?

Revenue-per-head and gross-profit-per-head trends against benchmarks; a per-team look at whether the added cost is producing added output; and the hard call on when a hire is a growth investment vs a drag.

How do I improve the inefficient processes in my business that are costing me time and money?

A finance-stack audit of your close, AP, AR, and reporting workflows: where hours go, what can be automated, and what actually pays off if you fix it. Not consultant-slideware — implementation.

Can I afford this: the hire, the loan, the equipment, the acquisition?

Runway impact, financing options compared, covenants and personal-guarantee exposure, and the debt-service coverage the deal actually leaves you with. The math before the handshake.

How a Rubric Financial fractional CFO engagement works

1. 1

   Intro call & scope

   We start with a short call to understand the business, the decisions ahead, and what a CFO needs to own. You get a fixed-fee proposal scoped to your needs the next business day.

2. 2

   Onboarding & baseline

   Your partner gets into the numbers, cleans up the reporting foundation, builds the forecast and budget, and establishes the baseline you'll steer from.

3. 3

   Monthly operating rhythm

   Each month you get a close, a plan-vs-actual review, an updated cash forecast, and a working session on the decisions in front of you, with your partner reachable within one business day in between.

4. 4

   Strategic milestones

   When a raise, loan, acquisition, or exit comes up, your CFO is already in the numbers and runs the financial workstream end to end, no ramp-up, no scramble.

What does a fractional CFO do?

A fractional CFO owns the strategic finance function part-time: cash-flow forecasting, budgeting and FP&A, board and lender reporting, pricing and profitability analysis, and financial leadership through raises, loans, acquisitions, and exits. It is the senior financial judgment of a CFO without the cost of a full-time executive hire.

How is a fractional CFO different from a bookkeeper or accountant?

Bookkeeping and accounting tell you what already happened, accurate books, closed months, filed returns. A fractional CFO uses those numbers to drive what happens next: forecasting cash, setting budgets, pricing, and making the financial case to boards, banks, and buyers. At Rubric Financial the same partner-led team can do both, so the CFO work is built on books we trust.

When does a small business need a fractional CFO?

Common triggers: you're making decisions off the bank balance instead of a forecast, approaching or past ~$1M in revenue, raising capital or taking on debt, planning an acquisition or exit, or your books are clean but no one is turning them into a plan. If you need CFO-level judgment but not 40 hours a week of it, fractional is the right fit.

How much does a fractional CFO cost?

It depends on scope and cadence. Rubric Financial typically works on a fixed monthly fee scoped to what you actually need, with retainer or hourly arrangements where they fit better, and no per-question fees. See our fractional CFO cost breakdown for how pricing works and for market context.

Is the fractional CFO engagement remote?

Yes. Rubric Financial is headquartered in San Francisco at 2 Embarcadero Center and works with small businesses across the U.S., run remotely with periodic in-person meetings as needed.

Who actually does the work?

A partner. Rubric Financial is partner-led, the same senior person runs your engagement start to finish, backed by CPA review. No rotating associates, no handoffs, no per-question billing.

Sound familiar?

• Your business is profitable, but you're not sure how to grow from here — and the wrong move at this stage costs more than at any earlier one.
• You want the next business move to be based on strategy grounded in real numbers rather than intuition. You've been the intuition CFO long enough.
• Your business has financial pain points that need relief and resolution, and you're not sure whether the answer is more information, a better system, or a different call altogether.

If any of that lands, the fit call is the next step. It's free, it's a conversation, and it's how we scope a proposal.