Studio Bananas
A fractional CFO is a senior finance executive who works for you part-time on a fixed monthly fee. At Studio Bananas that is $5,500 a month for two days, $9,500 for four, and $16,000 for eight.
No hourly billing, no minimum term past the first month, and the same person every time. Below: what the days buy, how the role differs from a controller or a bookkeeper — the confusion that wastes the most money in this category — and when we would tell you not to hire one.
| Days a month | Monthly fee | Suits |
|---|---|---|
| 2 days | $5,500 | Numbers are reliable; you want a senior read on pricing, cash and the plan |
| 4 days | $9,500 | The common starting point. Reporting to rebuild, decisions to own |
| 8 days | $16,000 | A raise, a refinance, a sale, or several entities |
Rates current as of .
The largest factor, and the simplest.
If the numbers are not currently trustworthy, the early months are reconstruction rather than strategy. That work is real, it takes time, and it is the most common reason a first quarter costs more than expected.
A raise, a refinance, a sale, a lender asking harder questions. Deadlines compress the work into fewer weeks.
Three companies in two currencies is not three times the work of one, but it is not the same job either.
Not a report. Someone who owns the financial decisions and answers for them.
In practice: what you charge and why, which customers and products actually make money, where the cash is going and when it runs short, what to tell a lender or an investor and when, and which numbers the business should be run on week to week.
You get the analysis in writing. You also get the person who has to live with the recommendation — which is the whole difference between this and consulting.
Most owners who think they need a CFO need a controller first. These roles are used interchangeably and they are not the same job.
| Bookkeeper | Controller | Fractional CFO | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Job | records what happened | makes sure it is right, closes the month | decides what to do about it |
| Looks | backwards | backwards, accurately | forwards |
| You need one when | there are transactions | the close is late or you do not trust the numbers | the numbers are reliable and the decisions are hard |
| Typical cost | lowest | middle | highest |
If your month-end close is late, a CFO will spend expensive days doing a controller's work. Fix the foundation first and the CFO time becomes worth what it costs. We will tell you if that is where you are.
| Fractional | Full-time | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | monthly, by days | salary, plus benefits, bonus and recruiting |
| Starts | in weeks | after a search |
| Right when | the work does not fill a week | finance is the engine of the business |
| Risk | you must define the days well | an expensive hire before the role is clear |
Fixed monthly fee, an agreed number of days, a written scope. Month to month after the first month.
What we do not do, and this matters: we do not audit, we do not give tax advice, and we do not hold your funds. Those are separate, regulated jobs that belong with practitioners licensed to do them. We work alongside your accountant and your auditor rather than replacing them.
He leads SB Financial. He has spent his career in senior finance roles inside operating businesses rather than advising from outside — the distinction this whole page is about.
You are not passed to an analyst. The person in the first conversation is the person in the seat.
Read his background →You hire one person, and the firm stands behind them. When the question stops being their discipline — when finance runs into marketing, or marketing runs into what the systems can actually do — they do not guess and they do not refer you out. They turn to the colleague here who does that for a living, and the answer comes back inside their recommendation.
We get informed, so you don't have to guess.
Two weeks. $2,500. One written recommendation you own — the priorities, the order, and what to do first. If it becomes a seat, it comes off your first month.
Most people start here. It is a complete piece of work, not an interview.
Sometimes the recommendation is that you need a controller rather than a CFO, or that the reporting needs rebuilding before anyone can advise on it. We would rather say that in week two than bill you for a year of the wrong thing.
$5,500 for two days a month, $9,500 for four, $16,000 for eight. Monthly against agreed days, never hourly.
Almost always. A bookkeeper records what happened, a controller makes sure it is right, and a fractional CFO decides what to do about it.
Weeks, not the months an executive search takes.
Usually — you buy a portion of a senior salary without benefits, bonus or recruiting cost. Whether it is better value depends on whether a full-time CFO would have been fully used.
Month to month after the first month.
No. We do not audit, advise on tax, or hold funds. We work with the people who do.