A fractional CFO provides CFO-level strategic advisory on a part-time basis, often as an outsourced CFO or virtual CFO, so you get senior financial leadership without the full-time cost.

Fractional CFO services typically include cash flow management, forecasting and budgeting, KPI reporting, tax reporting, and strategic planning, plus oversight of accounts receivable, payroll, expense controls, and payment planning, giving you clearer financial visibility and better decision-making as you scale.

Engaging a fractional CFO can offer several advantages over hiring a full-time CFO:

• Cost-effectiveness: Fractional CFO services give you CFO-level strategy and oversight without the full-time salary, benefits, and long-term fixed cost.
• Flexibility: You can scale support up or down based on seasonality, growth stage, and current priorities—without committing to a permanent hire.
• Broader experience: A fractional CFO brings pattern recognition from working across multiple businesses, helping you apply proven frameworks for cash flow, forecasting, and decision-making.
• Objectivity: As an external partner, a fractional CFO can pressure-test assumptions and give straightforward recommendations based on the numbers—not internal politics.
• Continuity of support: With a fractional CFO team model, you’re less dependent on a single person, and coverage can be maintained if availability changes.
• Faster onboarding: Our fractional CFOs can get up to speed quickly and start delivering value within the first 90 days. In contrast, hiring a full-time CFO often involves a lengthy search and onboarding period—sometimes taking up to a year to fully realize the value (or lack thereof).

In contrast, hiring an in-house CFO can be expensive, slower to ramp, and less flexible—plus turnover can create disruption while you search for a replacement.

Our fractional CFOs are CPAs with senior-level finance experience, combining public accounting rigor with hands-on leadership across multiple industries.

One of the Dark Horse advantages is that you’re not relying on one person. Our fractional CFOs collaborate with our accounting and tax teams, so you get deeper expertise and continuity as priorities shift.

Depending on what you need, we support financial reporting, cash flow management, forecasting and scenario planning, KPI reporting, and audit readiness—so you get clearer numbers, tighter accountability, and a plan you can execute.

Fractional CFO engagements are tailored to each client’s needs, but typically include strategic finance support like:

• Strategic financial planning and analysis: Aligning financial strategy to your business goals and operating plan.
• Cash flow optimization: Improving cash flow visibility, managing spend, and planning around payment timing.
• Budgeting, forecasting, and financial reporting: Building budgets, forecasts, and reporting that turn numbers into decisions.
• Financial performance review (KPIs): Reviewing financials (overhead, accounts receivable, payroll) and KPI reporting to improve profitability.
• Board and stakeholder meetings: Presenting financial results and KPIs with clear recommendations for next steps.
• Systems review: Evaluating accounting systems and reporting workflows and recommending improvements when needed.

Depending on your goals, an outsourced CFO may also support:

• Fundraising and investor relations
• Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) support
• Capital structure optimization
• Risk management and audit prep
• Profitability analysis
• Pricing strategy
• International expansion
• Financial systems and process improvement
• Succession planning and exit strategies
• Financial training and education
• Tax planning and optimization
• Wealth management

We begin with a detailed CFO Assessment. This gives us a clear view of your books, financial operations, reporting, and business objectives.

From there, we identify the highest-impact opportunities—so your fractional CFO services focus on the work that moves the needle (cash flow visibility, forecasting, KPI reporting, margins, and decision support) without paying for services you don’t need yet.

Then we build a tailored scope aligned to your goals and budget, including priorities, deliverables, and a working cadence. As your business evolves, we adjust the plan and stay closely connected to ensure the work remains relevant and outcomes-driven.

That’s the Dark Horse approach: personalized, flexible, high-impact CFO support designed to drive clarity now and build a stronger foundation for long-term growth.

We believe the best KPIs (key performance indicators) come from a collaborative process. Here’s how we approach KPI reporting:

• Industry benchmarks: We start with the KPIs that matter most in your industry, so you have a proven baseline for tracking performance.
• Understanding Your Business: We’ll take the time to understand your business model and constraints. Together, we’ll pinpoint where you’re facing pressure or excelling (cash flow, margins, pricing, overhead, working capital) and tailor KPIs to those specific needs, so you’re tracking what actually drives outcomes.
• Goal Alignment: We'll connect your selected KPIs to your financial forecasts. This ensures that the metrics we're tracking directly contribute to achieving your overall business objectives.

We're committed to working closely with you to develop the most meaningful and actionable KPIs for your business.

Absolutely. Cash flow is where growth gets won or lost. We help you forecast cash flow based on current operations and expected changes, map timing for inflows and outflows, and plan ahead for working capital needs. Then we build a practical plan to improve cash flow—tightening collections, prioritizing payments, and reducing or delaying non-essential outflows—so you can protect runway and make decisions with confidence.

We tailor engagement to your needs and preferences. For our Fractional CFO services, where we play a more active role in your business operations, we'll maintain a regular cadence of meetings to stay closely connected.

To maximize convenience and efficiency, the majority of our meetings will be held virtually. However, we understand that some business owners may initially be reluctant and prefer in-person interactions. The remote-focused model actually gives you a significant advantage: access to a much wider pool of experienced CFOs. You're not limited by location, allowing you to select the expert with the ideal skillset for your specific industry and business needs.

Of course, we recognize the value of occasional in-person interactions. If you have critical on-site meetings, your Fractional CFO can attend with appropriate notice.

Absolutely. Our team has experience working with businesses across a wide range of industries. We take the time to understand how you operate, what’s driving (or constraining) performance (cash flow, margins, working capital), and the reporting and compliance requirements in your space. If your industry has unique complexity, we’ll connect you with the right CPA for your needs. Take a look at the industries we serve here.