Part-Time CFO: Cost and When It Makes Sense
A part-time CFO gives a company real financial leadership one or two days a week: reporting that can be trusted, cash discipline, bank and investor relations, and the numbers a board can actually decide on.
What a part-time CFO actually does
- Monthly reporting that closes on time and is believed by the board
- A rolling cash forecast and the discipline that keeps it accurate
- Bank relationships, covenants, and the financing conversation
- Margin analysis by product and customer, which usually changes the strategy
- Board and investor material, written to a standard that survives scrutiny
How it differs from an accountant or a controller
The accountant records what happened and keeps the company compliant. The controller measures it. The CFO decides what it means and what the company should do about it. Many Italian mid-sized companies are well served on the first two and completely unserved on the third, which is why the numbers arrive accurately and late and nobody uses them to make a decision.
When to move to a full-time CFO
The usual triggers are a financing round, an acquisition, a covenant-heavy debt structure, or revenue past thirty to forty million euro with real complexity in the group structure. Until one of those arrives, one or two days a week of genuine seniority beats five days a week of someone more junior.
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