CFO & Accounting · Fractional CFO
Fractional CFO in Raleigh, NC
Strategic financial leadership — forecasting, pricing, capital strategy, and board-ready reporting — on a flat monthly fee, starting at $5,000/mo.
A fractional CFO does the job a full-time CFO does — just scoped to what your business actually needs, at a fraction of the cost of a full-time hire. That means a rolling forecast you can actually trust, KPIs tied to the handful of numbers that drive your business, and a second set of eyes on pricing, hiring, and financing decisions before they're made, not after.
Most businesses reach for a fractional CFO at a specific moment: decisions are getting made on gut feel because nobody can produce a reliable number fast enough to check it, a lender or investor is asking for reporting the business doesn't currently produce, or the business has simply outgrown what a bookkeeper or part-time controller can give it. If that sounds familiar, the conversation is worth having now rather than after the next decision gets made wrong.
Raleigh and the Triangle have no shortage of growing, owner-operated businesses that have crossed exactly that threshold — construction companies bidding bigger jobs, real estate operators adding properties faster than their accounting can track them, and service businesses hiring their fifth, sixth, and seventh employee without ever formalizing how they price their work. A fractional CFO is the senior financial voice in the room for those decisions, without the cost or commitment of a full-time executive hire.
What's Included
What a Protea fractional CFO engagement covers
Forecasting & FP&A
Rolling forecasts and scenario planning built on your actual numbers, not a generic template.
KPIs & Unit Economics
The handful of metrics that actually drive your business, tracked monthly and explained in plain language.
Pricing & Margin Strategy
Pricing decisions made against real cost data, not gut feel — so margin erosion gets caught before it compounds.
Capital, Banking & Surety Strategy
Positioning the business for a line increase, a new loan, or a bonding capacity conversation before you need it.
Board- & Lender-Ready Reporting
Reporting packages built to the standard a board, bank, or investor actually expects — not an internal spreadsheet dressed up.
M&A Readiness
Clean, normalized numbers that hold up if a buy, sell, or raise conversation starts sooner than planned.
Who this is for
Fractional CFO work fits owner-operated businesses doing roughly $1M to $25M in revenue whose close is already reliable — through Protea's own controller service or an in-house bookkeeper who has the books current — and who are now making decisions that deserve more than a spreadsheet and a guess: pricing a new service line, evaluating a hire, negotiating a bank line, or preparing for a bonding increase. It's also a fit for businesses heading toward a buy, sell, or raise conversation that needs clean, defensible numbers sooner than expected.
It's not a fit if your books aren't current yet — that's what Protea's outsourced controller service is for, and most clients start there before adding CFO work on top.
How this connects to tax
Strategic decisions and tax decisions are the same decision viewed from two angles — a pricing change affects taxable income, a capital raise affects basis, an owner compensation decision affects both payroll tax and the bottom line. Because the same CPA handles your tax planning and your CFO work, those decisions get made with the tax consequences already in view — not discovered in April.
Fractional CFO Questions
Frequently Asked Questions
What owners ask before bringing in a fractional CFO.
Get a fixed-fee CFO quote
Answer a few questions about your business. You'll have a tailored, fixed-fee quote from Andrew within one business day.