How long is a typical engagement?＋
Most engagements are ongoing partnerships measured in years, not months. The first 90 days focus on discovery, assessment, and initial systems work; months 4–12 build reporting rhythm and strategic infrastructure; year two and beyond focus on continuous improvement, leadership support, and evolution as the organization grows. Project-only engagements (cleanup, audit prep, system implementation) run 6–16 weeks.
Do you work with organizations that have messy books?＋
Yes — regularly. Most organizations we start with have some combination of unreconciled accounts, misconfigured QuickBooks, undocumented processes, or delayed close. The Financial Assessment phase is designed to diagnose exactly how messy, and the cleanup roadmap sequences the work so the organization isn't in cleanup forever. Messy books are the norm, not the exception, and they're fixable.
How is your process different from hiring a bookkeeper?＋
A bookkeeper executes the accounting process. Our process builds and leads the entire finance function — bookkeeping, controllership, and CFO strategy — as three distinct layers. Organizations that only hire bookkeeping end up asking a bookkeeper strategic questions and getting weak answers. Our engagements are staffed so each layer has the right expertise, with senior leadership at the top.
What if we only need help with one part of the process?＋
That's common. Many engagements start as a focused project — a QuickBooks cleanup, an audit preparation, a budget build, a systems implementation — and evolve into ongoing partnership as trust builds. Discovery is scoped to your actual need, not a pre-packaged deliverable list.
How involved will our internal team be?＋
As involved as they want to be. Some organizations hand finance off entirely; others want internal staff to grow into stronger ownership over time. We're explicit in discovery about which model fits your organization, and Continuous Improvement includes team development for those who want to build internal capability alongside external support.
Will you attend our board meetings?＋
Yes. Board and finance committee attendance is a standard part of Leadership Support engagements. We prepare the financial packet, present alongside the treasurer and executive director, and field questions directly. Boards consistently tell us this is the highest-value touchpoint in the engagement.
How do you handle grant compliance and audits?＋
Grant compliance and audit readiness are woven into every phase — from restricted funding assessment in phase two, to grant tracking automation in phase four, to audit-ready reporting in phase six, to audit liaison in phase seven. Single-audit navigation (for federal recipients above the $1M threshold) is a specific specialty.
What does the first 30 days look like?＋
Week 1: discovery and scope. Week 2: kickoff, systems access, and start of financial assessment. Weeks 3–4: assessment fieldwork, priority ranking, and the first read of the state of the finance function. By day 30, leadership has a written diagnosis, a prioritized roadmap, and clarity on what the next 60 days will produce.
How do we know the engagement is working?＋
We define measurable 90-day and 12-month outcomes in discovery — close time, forecast accuracy, board reporting quality, audit findings, cash visibility — and review them quarterly. If we're not moving the needle on the outcomes we agreed to, we say so first, and we adjust the engagement together.
What happens if we outgrow the fractional model?＋
That's a success outcome, not a failure. When an organization is ready for a full-time controller or CFO, we help scope the role, participate in hiring, and hand off the infrastructure we've built. Many former fractional clients keep us on for strategic advisory long after they've built internal finance leadership.
