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CFO Services
Flexible CFO Support for Startups
A fractional CFO and finance team that plugs straight into your business.
For VC-backed founders who've outgrown their accountant and aren't ready to hire a full-time CFO.
For VC-backed founders who've outgrown their accountant and aren't ready to hire a full-time CFO.
Book a Call With Imran
When Do You Need a CFO?
Where Founders or Ops Usually Are When They Call Us
A board meeting is coming up and the numbers aren't in a state you'd want to defend.
You're about to raise and the model won't survive diligence.
Management accounts turn up on the 25th, so you're making decisions on a month that's already gone.
You've opened a US entity (or a European one, or both) and nobody has looked at how it all works together.
The CEO is still the person who owns the forecast.
What We Actually Do
Get the foundations right
Chart of accounts, spend tools, the close, clean actuals. It's not glamorous, but your runway number is only as good as what's underneath it. One client's accounts used to arrive on the 24th. They now land on the 5th working day of the next month.
Chart of accounts, spend tools, the close, clean actuals. It's not glamorous, but your runway number is only as good as what's underneath it. One client's accounts used to arrive on the 24th. They now land on the 5th working day of the next month.
Build a model you trust
Budget, forecast, cash runway and scenarios. It's built in Excel or Google Sheets, owned by you, and updated every month against actuals.
Budget, forecast, cash runway and scenarios. It's built in Excel or Google Sheets, owned by you, and updated every month against actuals.
Board and investor reporting
The pack, the KPIs, the commentary, and someone in the room, should you need it, who can answer the second question.
The pack, the KPIs, the commentary, and someone in the room, should you need it, who can answer the second question.
Help you raise
The model, the data room, and handling investor questions during diligence.
The model, the data room, and handling investor questions during diligence.
Sort out the multi-country stuff
US entities, intercompany, transfer pricing, FX. Most founders don't know they need a transfer pricing policy until someone asks for it. Our tax team works alongside us on this.
US entities, intercompany, transfer pricing, FX. Most founders don't know they need a transfer pricing policy until someone asks for it. Our tax team works alongside us on this.
Hire your first finance lead
When you're ready, we'll scope the role, help you find the right person and hand over.
When you're ready, we'll scope the role, help you find the right person and hand over.
How It Works
We work as part of your team: access to your tools, a shared Slack channel. No set days. The time is spread across the month, so you're not waiting a week for an answer.
On bigger engagements there's a CFO plus a finance manager. The CFO works with you and the board, and the finance manager does the hands-on work, so you're not paying a CFO rate for it. On smaller ones it might be one person. Either way, Onside's accounting and tax team is there for bookkeeping, payroll, VAT and US tax.
Already have an accountant or a finance person? Keep them. We'll work with them and add the bit that's missing.
On bigger engagements there's a CFO plus a finance manager. The CFO works with you and the board, and the finance manager does the hands-on work, so you're not paying a CFO rate for it. On smaller ones it might be one person. Either way, Onside's accounting and tax team is there for bookkeeping, payroll, VAT and US tax.
Already have an accountant or a finance person? Keep them. We'll work with them and add the bit that's missing.
The First Three Months
Month One
We learn the business, pick up whatever model and reporting already exists, and agree what we're trying to get done this quarter.
Month Two and Three
Foundations first, alongside the model and the first board pack. Usually there's a board date or a raise driving the timing.
End of Month Three
We sit down and review: what's working, what's next, and whether you need more or less of us.
After that it flexes. Heavier around a raise, audit, system migration, or one-off project and lighter when you're in BAU. Plenty of clients start bigger while we build things and then drop down.
Part-Time Hire vs Us
A part-time finance manager can work, and might cost about the same. With us you don't recruit, manage or cover holidays. You can scale us up or down as things change, and you get CFO-level oversight on top of the hands-on work.
Cost
From £2,500 a month, with most clients between £5,000 and £15,000.
That gets you a CFO and the finance team alongside them, not just one person. It's a flexible monthly fee for an agreed scope. We set it based on what we're trying to get done over the next few months, and if you need more or less of us, it moves with you.
That gets you a CFO and the finance team alongside them, not just one person. It's a flexible monthly fee for an agreed scope. We set it based on what we're trying to get done over the next few months, and if you need more or less of us, it moves with you.
Book a Call With Imran
Not Ready Yet?
If you're pre-revenue, you probably don't need us. Our accounting team can get you set up properly in the meantime, and we'll be here when the complexity kicks in. Why not sign up to our newsletter in the meantime.
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Discover more about Imran, his background and experience, and what he brings to the team.
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FAQs
A fractional CFO is an experienced finance leader who works with your business part-time, giving you senior financial judgement without the cost of a full-time hire. At Onside, the CFO comes with a full accounting and tax practice behind them, and where the engagement needs it we add a Head of Finance or Controller to own day-to-day delivery.
Usually when decisions start outrunning the numbers. An accountant makes sure the historical record is accurate and compliant. A CFO uses it to decide what to do next: how to price, when to hire, whether the runway supports the plan, and what a board or investor needs to see. Most technology businesses hit that point around Series A, when revenue complexity arrives.
An individual gives you one person’s time and one person’s judgement, and when they are unavailable your finance function stops. We provide a senior finance lead backed by a full accounting and tax practice, and we add delivery capability underneath them where the workload calls for it. You get continuity, a wider skill set, and you are not paying CFO rates for work that does not need a CFO.
Not necessarily. Some CFO engagements sit on top of an existing external accountant who continues to handle bookkeeping, payroll and compliance. In those cases we become the day-to-day point of contact for them and build the forecasting, reporting and commercial layer above. If it makes sense to bring everything under one roof we can, but it's not a condition of working with us.
Fees depend on the shape of the engagement and are agreed as a monthly retainer, reviewed periodically as your needs change — or, for a single scoped piece of work, as a fixed fee. We scope engagements in a written Statement of Work with defined objectives and deliverables before anyone commits, so you know exactly what you're buying.
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