Services
What I offer
Fractional controller
I own the monthly close, reporting package, cash forecast, and board-ready financials. You get reliable numbers and a finance partner who already knows the context when a question comes up.
- Monthly close and account reconciliations
- Revenue, billing, and collections review
- AP, corporate card, and expense oversight
- Payroll and equity administration coordination
- Monthly reporting with clear variance notes
- Board and investor financials
- Rolling cash forecast
- Budget vs. actuals and operating forecast
- Tax, licenses, and compliance coordination
- Fundraising and due diligence support
- Systems roadmap and implementation ownership
- Day-to-day answers to your accounting and finance questions
How engagements work
This is flexible, but typically ongoing engagements use a flat monthly fee scoped after the intro call. The flat fee replaces hourly billing, timesheets, and surprise invoices; either of us can end the engagement with 30 days' notice. It covers ownership of the function regardless of how many minutes a task takes.
Common questions
- How is this different from a bookkeeper? From a fractional CFO?
A bookkeeper records transactions. I own the close, controls, reporting, forecast, systems, and the decisions that depend on them. A fractional CFO usually spends more time on strategy, fundraising, and capital planning; at an early-stage company, there can be useful overlap.
- How do you plug into our existing operations?
I'll work directly with your support and operations team to keep things running smoothly and ensure I have all the info I need to do my job. I'll oversee billing and payables and build up your processes around both, but the day-to-day operational work will stay with your team.
- We're behind and our books are a mess. Is that a problem?
Messy books are nothing new to me - presumably that's why you're looking for help. I'll scope cleanup separately when it is substantial, then move the company onto a normal close cadence.
- What tools do you work with? Will you make us switch?
Listing all the systems I've used over the years would take far too long. I consider tooling to be one of my strengths and I do have strong opinions based on years of experience. I'm all for keeping what works and replacing what creates recurring manual work.
- How does AI factor into the work?
I use AI for data preparation work, with clear checks around the output. It has made me far more efficient and allows me to do much more without the assistance of a bookkeeper.
- How many clients do you take on?
I keep the roster small because I do the work myself. Capacity depends on scope, and I will tell you early if I cannot give the engagement enough attention.
- What happens when we outgrow you and need a full-time hire?
Growing the business to the point that a full-time hire makes sense is the goal. At my last full-time role I took over from a fractional controller and I'll happily onboard your new hire and set them up for success.
- Do you do taxes or audits?
The core engagement covers accounting operations, reporting, forecasting, systems, and finance ownership. I coordinate with outside tax providers and auditors, but High Signal does not perform audit or attest work.