Twelve real questions and twelve plain-English answers - cost, scope, comparison to controllers, transaction work, the four-layer Stack. Use the chips below to jump.
StackedCFO engagements are custom and scope-based, not list-priced. The simplest way to see what your engagement would actually cost is to use the quote builder - it produces a number in under two minutes based on what you actually need.
As a baseline: a one-time CFO Audit (the two-week diagnostic) sits in the mid four-figure range. Monthly retainers and transaction work depend on entity count, complexity, and turnaround requirements. Public price tags would be misleading because two companies with the same revenue can need very different engagements.
Yes. The CFO Audit is a fixed-scope, two-week diagnostic that produces:
(1) a teardown of your current finance function (books, close, KPIs, dashboards, capital readiness), (2) a capital readiness scorecard if a transaction is on the horizon, and (3) a 90-day remediation plan you can execute on your own or hand back to your team.
Many clients use the Audit as a stand-alone deliverable. A subset converts into a retainer once they see how much is broken.
No. StackedCFO engagements are fee-only and structured by scope.
Equity in exchange for fractional CFO work creates misaligned incentives - and complicates exit planning, which is the very thing many engagements are preparing for. The fee model keeps the advisor / operator boundary clean.
Three common triggers:
1. Outgrowing your bookkeeper or controller. Revenue and complexity have crossed a threshold where you're making big decisions on numbers you don't fully trust.
2. A transaction is on the horizon. Raise, acquisition, exit, or first audit. The finance function that worked at $3M doesn't survive diligence at $10M.
3. The founder is doing finance. The CEO is spending hours in QuickBooks or Excel that should go to product, sales, or hiring. That's a hidden cost most founders under-count.
Professional services firms and B2B SaaS companies in the $2M to $20M revenue range are the sweet spot.
Smaller companies usually aren't ready for a fractional CFO and are better served by a strong bookkeeper. Companies above $20M typically need a full-time CFO. Exceptions on both ends - especially around pre-transaction work where complexity matters more than revenue size.
Generally no. Pre-revenue companies don't yet have the complexity that justifies fractional CFO fees, and the highest-leverage work - pricing, unit economics, fundraise prep, transaction work - requires actual revenue to operate on.
Exceptions exist for fundraise modeling at the seed-to-Series-A boundary. Reach out and we'll discuss whether it's a fit before scoping anything.
StackedCFO LLC is based in Boston, Massachusetts. Engagements are remote-first across the US, with occasional in-person work for transaction support if the situation calls for it.
Working hours are US Eastern; we operate on the Eastern business calendar. Client work happens on QBO, Xero, Excel, Google Drive, and whatever else fits the operating stack.
Bookkeepers categorize transactions. Controllers close the books and run reporting. A CFO - including a fractional one - looks forward: capital strategy, pricing, unit economics, scenario planning, transactions.
The additional differentiator: deep technical accounting and transaction services experience from PwC, BDO, and a leading global accounting advisory firm. So the same operator can engage on QoE, M&A diligence, and ASC-606/842/805 technical work - things generalist fractional CFOs typically can't do.
From signed engagement letter to first deliverable: typically two to four weeks, depending on scope.
Clean books are a prerequisite for any retainer engagement. If the books need cleanup before CFO work can begin, we'll point you to a bookkeeper first - that's the most cost-effective sequence. Skipping the cleanup means paying CFO rates for bookkeeping cleanup, which doesn't serve anyone.
The engagement model is built around four layers:
Foundation - clean books, close, GAAP, audit prep
Operating - KPI dashboards, cash, runway, board pack
Growth - pricing, unit economics, scenario planning, capital strategy
Transaction - QoE, fundraise materials, M&A readiness, exit defense
Each layer can be engaged independently or stacked. Most retainer clients engage on Foundation and Operating. Companies with a near-term event add the Transaction layer.
A Quality of Earnings analysis normalizes a target company's reported earnings for buyers, lenders, or investors. It strips out one-time items, owner add-backs, accounting irregularities, and adjustments so the buyer sees the real run-rate economics.
QoE is standard in PE-backed acquisitions, often required by lenders, and increasingly common in SaaS M&A above $5M. StackedCFO has supported 100+ M&A transactions and produces both buy-side and sell-side QoE.
Both - the practice is built on the assumption that you don't get to be a real CFO without both.
Casper Zhao is a CPA (active Massachusetts, 2013) with 13+ years across PwC, BDO, and a leading global accounting advisory firm - audit, transaction services, technical accounting. Post-CPA designations: FMVA, CMSA, CBCA, FPWM. MBA in Accounting from SUNY Oswego.
The differentiator vs. other fractional CFOs: AI-native workflows. Big Four-grade output without Big Four turnaround times or pricing.
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