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Services / Virtual CFO

A finance leader. Without the full-time hire.

Most growing businesses hit a point where the bookkeeper isn’t enough and a CFO is too much. The Virtual CFO sits in between (the strategic finance work, the monthly cadence, the cashflow rigour) without the $250k salary, super and equity.

What you get

Six things that change once we’re in.

01

Strategic clarity

We start where the business is going, not where the books are. Three- to five-year strategic plan that the financial model serves, not the other way around.

02

A three-way financial model

P&L, balance sheet and cashflow, fully linked. Monthly for the next twelve months, annual for years two and three. Driver-based so a change to one assumption flows through the whole model in seconds.

03

Monthly board-grade reporting

A clean monthly pack: P&L, balance sheet, cashflow, KPI dashboard, commentary on the variances that actually matter. Built so it would survive a private-equity diligence.

04

Monthly strategy meeting

We sit with you each month, walk the numbers, agree the three things that need to happen next. Not a status update, an actual decision-making session.

05

Cashflow as the lens

Every decision tested against cash. Will it generate or consume cash? When? How much headroom do we lose? Because every business that fails, fails because it ran out of cash.

06

Capital allocation discipline

Each dollar of profit has four homes, reinvest, pay down debt, acquire, pay shareholders. We make sure every dollar goes where it earns the highest return for your situation, not the textbook answer.

How it works

From kick-off to running cadence in 30 days.

Step 01

Strategy first

Two-hour session. We get your strategy on paper. Where do you want this business in 35 years, what gets in the way, what does success look like. Without this the financial model is just spreadsheets.

Step 02

Build the three-way model

Twelve-month monthly view, three years annually. P&L, balance sheet, cashflow, fully linked. Built around your operating drivers (units, prices, sites, headcount) so it tells you what changes the answer.

Step 03

Reporting pack

Monthly management report template designed for your business. Site-level if multi-site. Cohort-level if SaaS. Project-level if construction. Built once, runs every month.

Step 04

Monthly meeting cadence

Same week each month. We come prepared with the numbers, the variance analysis, and the two or three decisions we think you need to make. You bring what’s actually happening in the business.

Step 05

Quarterly strategy refresh

Every three months we step back. Is the strategy still right? Is the model still capturing reality? What needs to change? Then we re-baseline.

How we work in

Three ways to bring us into your team.

Model 01

Embedded with your team

You have a bookkeeper, controller or finance manager. We sit above them, strategic direction, model ownership, board-pack quality control. They get upskilled, you get a finance leader without losing the team you already have.

Model 02

Capacity-add

You have a finance team but they’re flat out. We take a defined piece (the monthly close, the model, the board pack, the cashflow forecasting) and own it as part of the team. They keep doing what they do best.

Model 03

Fully outsourced

You have a bookkeeper but no finance leader. We become the finance function above bookkeeping, strategy, model, reporting, monthly meetings, capital decisions. Bookkeeper keeps the books; we run the finance leadership.

The right fit

Businesses doing $2M to $100M in revenue.

Past $2M you can’t run the finance function on instinct any more. Past $100M you probably need a full-time CFO. The sweet spot for Virtual CFO is the gap between businesses growing fast enough that decisions matter, not yet big enough to justify a $250k+ salaried CFO with equity.

  • You’ve outgrown your bookkeeper but a salaried CFO is at least two years away
  • You’re making capital decisions on gut, not on a model
  • Your monthly numbers arrive too late to act on
  • You’re preparing for a raise, sale or acquisition in 13 years
  • You’re growing fast and cashflow is getting harder to see
  • Your team’s finance reporting is built around tax compliance, not management decisions
What it costs

From $1,500 per month.

Fixed monthly fee, scoped before we start, no surprises. The exact number depends on revenue, structure complexity and the engagement model. Below $2M revenue is usually too early; above $20M we’ll scope a package that matches the complexity. No retainers without scope. Cancel any month with 30 days’ notice.

Book a Virtual CFO discovery call
Selected results

What changes once we’re on the inside.

Names removed; outcomes real, achieved with the client’s permission to share.

$15M hospitality group

From monthly chaos to dividend resumption

Before: Numbers arriving 6 weeks late. Owner running on instinct. No view of which sites were earning their cost of capital.

Work: 12-month three-way model. Board-quality monthly pack delivered by day 10. Cost discipline brought to every site.

Result: Sales up, costs down via variance analysis, underperformers fixed or closed. EBITDA materially improved. First meaningful owner dividend in three years.

Multi-site retail

Stock confidence restored

Before: Stock the biggest balance sheet item and nobody believed the number. Year-end adjustments running into six figures.

Work: Stock controls rebuilt. POS-to-Xero reconciliation tightened. Monthly stock review embedded into the management pack.

Result: Confidence in the stock number for the first time. No more year-end shocks. Working capital freed up that had been silently locked in dead stock.

Services business

Margin recovery in two quarters

Before: Revenue growing, profitability flat. Owner working harder every year for the same take-home. Couldn’t tell where the margin was going.

Work: Model built around utilisation, rate, cost-to-serve. Surfaced project types earning vs destroying margin.

Result: Pricing reset on loss-leading work. Margin recovery within two quarters. Owner regained confidence and cashflow to invest in next stage of growth.

Ready when you are

Let’s look at your numbers.

Bring whatever you’ve got, the latest management accounts, last year’s tax return, a napkin sketch. 25 minutes. We’ll tell you whether a Virtual CFO is the right move, and if so, what it would look like for you specifically.

Book a Virtual CFO discovery call