The signal to hire
The most common pattern is this: a founder is making good operational calls on instinct, has a clean accountant, and the brand is growing. Then a decision arrives that does not yield to instinct. A raise needs a model an investor will believe. A bigger stock order needs a cash forecast. A new hire needs an honest answer to "can we afford it". A second paid channel is underperforming and no one is sure whether to scale it, cut it, or fix the tracking first.
At that point a fractional CFO stops being a nice-to-have and becomes the cheapest way to make the next ten decisions well. The cost of getting one of those decisions wrong usually exceeds a year of retainer.
What good scope looks like
- Full ownership of the numbers, working alongside your accountant
- Business and cash forecasting so you always know your runway
- Cost optimisation — finding the margin and fixing the leaks
- Ad hoc analysis for the big decisions before you commit
- A monthly board pack with clear recommendations, not just numbers
What this is not: bookkeeping, VAT, or year-end accounts. Those belong with a specialist ecommerce accountant.
How much time it takes
Usually two to six days a month, depending on what is going on. A baseline of a monthly check-in, a decision session, and ad-hoc availability is roughly two days. During a raise or a cash crunch it steps up to weekly contact and more like four to six days a month. The retainer reflects how much you need, not your revenue.
What to pay
For a consumer-brand fractional CFO with the right specialist background, the UK market price for ongoing work is broadly £2,000 to £6,000 a month, depending on scope. The same retainer should cover a raise or exit preparation when you need it. Anything materially lower is usually part-time hours, not strategic capacity.
The first 90 days
A good fractional CFO produces a cash forecast and the obvious margin wins in the first month, a clear view of which channels and products make money in the second, and a board-ready pack plus the next-quarter plan in the third. By day 90 you should know which channel funds which, which products to scale, and what decision is up next. If the only output is a tidier monthly pack, the hire was not the right one.
Questions to ask in the intro call
- What stack do you typically work in, and what would you do with mine?
- What does month one produce, concretely?
- What is your notice period and your fee structure?
- What types of engagement do you refuse, and why?
- If we needed to raise in six months, how would that change the engagement?
Red flags
- A multi-month lock-in
- A commission on capital raised
- An unclear scope ("whatever you need") and an unclear price
- Subcontracting the work to junior staff