Offering virtual CFO services can help you grow your firm’s revenue and build stronger client relationships.
I’m talking about moving beyond compliance work into strategic advisory services that can be more valuable to clients.
Why?
Because many clients appreciate having a strategic partner who could help them make better financial decisions.
Ready to stop being seen as the “tax person” and a firm clients always look forward to working with?
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
- What Are Virtual CFO Services?
- Why Should You Provide Virtual CFO Services?
- What Services Do Virtual CFOs Offer?
- When Are Virtual CFO Services Recommended?
- How to Offer Virtual CFO Services
- Virtual CFO Pricing: How Much Should You Charge?
- Popular Virtual CFO Tools
What Are Virtual CFO Services?
Virtual CFO services are professional financial management services delivered remotely.
These services are also called:
- Fractional CFO services
- Outsourced CFO services
- Part-time CFO services
Virtual CFOs typically support the CEO by providing financial advice.
They are also aware of financial dangers or opportunities that may arise in their clients’ businesses.
Generally, virtual CFOs handle higher-level and more strategic responsibilities rather than getting involved in the specifics of things.
But why do businesses need them?
According to a research on financial literacy by Xero, 60% of small business owners report cash flow issues, with 14% of them not having recovered from them.
Source: Xero
What does this mean for you?
There’s an opportunity here for experienced financial professionals to step in and help business owners solve these problems through virtual CFO services.
Why Should You Provide Virtual CFO Services?
Here are some of the advantages of being a virtual CFO services provider:
- Help your clients improve and grow: You get to work with multiple clients and actually see the impact of your strategic advice on their businesses. It’s way more rewarding than just processing transactions.
- There’s a growing demand: Most small business owners want CFO-level expertise but can’t afford a full-time hire. Virtual CFO services fill that gap perfectly.
- Recurrent source of income: Instead of one-off projects, you’re building ongoing monthly clients at prices you’re happy with.
And for small business owners, these are some of the great benefits of hiring a virtual CFO:
- Cost-effective: They get senior-level financial expertise without the $150K+ salary, benefits, and overhead of a full-time CFO.
- Broad experience: Virtual CFOs have worked across different industries and company stages. They’ve seen problems before and know how to solve them.
- Flexibility: They can scale services up or down based on business needs. Busy season? More support. Slow period? Dial it back.
What Services Do Virtual CFOs Offer?
Let’s take a closer look at some popular CFO services. Keep in mind this is a non-exhaustive list.
- Financial strategy: Developing a financial strategy for the client’s business. This may include creating budgets, financial risk management, and developing long-term financial goals for a more profitable business.
- Budgeting and forecasting: Creating business budgets, implementing cost-saving measures, and managing cash flow. Cash flow forecasting helps them make informed decisions about hiring, inventory, and expansion.
- Financial reporting: Providing financial reports that give insights into the business’s financial health. This may include balance sheets and financial statements.
- Board meeting preparation: Help clients present their financials confidently to boards or investors. Prepare analysis that shows not just what happened, but why it matters.
- Implementation of financial systems and processes: Set up the right accounting software and processes so their books stay clean without constant hand-holding from you.
- Maintain relationships with external parties: Handle communications with banks, auditors, and investors. You become their financial spokesperson for the important conversations.
When Are Virtual CFO Services Recommended?
As a virtual CFO service provider, it’s important to note that some level of vCFO services benefits all businesses, but you should recommend deeper engagement when clients have any (or all) of these factors:
- Rapidly growing business: When a business sees explosive growth, they often lack the internal resources to handle the financial complexity. A virtual CFO helps manage cash flow, forecasting, and financial planning so growth doesn’t become a roadblock.s.
- Business is undergoing many changes: Companies launching new products, expanding into new markets, or making strategic pivots need someone to manage the financial impact. A vCFO provides strategic planning to ensure financial decisions support long-term growth.
- Revenues above 1M: Once a business hits seven figures, the financial complexity jumps significantly. They need dedicated financial leadership to manage that complexity and continue scaling effectively.
- Operations becoming more complex: As companies grow, their financial processes become more sophisticated. Multiple revenue streams, larger teams, and complex partnerships all require higher-level financial management.
How to Offer Virtual CFO Services
The key is structuring these services for recurring revenue whenever possible.
Some services work great as ongoing retainers (budgeting, cash flow management) while others are better as one-time projects (loan applications, due diligence).
I recommend focusing on the recurring model — it creates predictable revenue for you and consistent support for your clients.
Here are a few examples of how to structure recurring virtual CFO services:
Monthly Financial Planning
- Step 1: Initial discovery meeting to understand their business model and financial goals
- Step 2: Create their budget and 12-month cash flow forecast
- Step 3: Monthly check-ins to review performance, update forecasts, and adjust plans
Strategic Financial Advisory
- Step 1: One-time setup to build their financial dashboard and reporting system
- Step 2: Monthly meetings to review key metrics and discuss strategic decisions
- Step 3: Quarterly deep-dives on bigger picture planning and goal-setting
Financial Coaching Retainer
- Step 1: Assess where they are now versus where they want to be
- Step 2: Create a documented action plan with specific financial milestones
- Step 3: Bi-weekly or monthly coaching calls to track progress and problem-solve
Virtual CFO Pricing: How Much Should You Charge?
A good virtual chief financial officer service can easily charge $1,000 per month at the minimum.
It could go up to $10,000/month for strategic advisory work with all the bells and whistles.
To give you a better idea, here’s what CFOs charge on average per month, taken from the 2025 U.S. Accounting and Tax Pricing Benchmark I helped Ignition create.
And to put this in perspective, salary.com estimates the average salary of Chief Financial Officers (CFO) to be around $450,000 per year.
Source: salary.com
(Truthfully, this figure is what you can expect from bigger, corporate accounting firms.)
Now, let’s say you want to charge as much as $10,000 per month…
And you’re hesitating because you think it’s “too high.”
But if you think about it, that $120,000 per year is less than half of what a lot of companies pay for full-time CFOs.
Plus, it’s realistic to assume that you won’t get a highly skilled in-house CFO on the team for less than $150,000 per year.
In other words, for a fraction of the cost of hiring an in-house Chief Financial Officer, businesses can have access to all the same high-level financial expertise and services through a virtual CFO role.
So, charge the amount you’re happy with if you know that’s the value you provide.
The key is positioning this as strategic expertise, not just accounting work.
When clients see the value you’re providing versus the cost of hiring internally, the pricing becomes a no-brainer.
If you want more detailed guidance on structuring your rates, check out my complete guide to pricing accounting services.
Popular Virtual CFO Tools
There are many different types of software and apps that are used by virtual CFOs, but some popular ones include:
- Fathom: One of my favorites for financial analysis and management reporting. It integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks, Xero, and MYOB to help you track trends and identify growth opportunities.
- Futrli: Acquired by Sage, this tool lets you generate forecasts and reports from both financial and non-financial data. Perfect for small to medium businesses that need comprehensive cash flow reporting and flexible dashboards.
- Float: A solid cash flow forecasting tool that shows real-time cash position. Integrates with Xero, FreeAgent, and QuickBooks so you can ditch those complex spreadsheets.
- Jirav: All-in-one business planning software that’s strong on financial modeling and forecasting. It can import data from most major accounting platforms, though there’s a bit of a learning curve.
- Spotlight Reporting: Built by financial professionals for financial professionals. Offers detailed performance reports, customizable dashboards, and three-way forecasting capabilities.
- Helm: Focuses specifically on short-term cash flow forecasting with clean, easy-to-understand reports. Has a cool integration with Veem for scheduling bill payments directly from the platform.
Ready to Offer Virtual CFO Services?
I hope you found this guide helpful.
Now, I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Which virtual CFO services will you offer first?
Is there anything I missed in this guide?
Let me know in the comments!
Very detailed and informative.
Shared CFO services is getting popular now a days.
Small businesses cant afford to have full time CFO while CFO is must to scale up new business.
Financial monitoring and control is very important for start ups.
Ryan thanks for writing this. Very helpful and gives me a lot to think about.
One thing I would like help with is getting more “skilled” at these kinds of services. What are some resources to help train an up and coming vCFO?
Hey Scott, thanks for this. I did have a podcast episode on the skills required to deliver these services: https://futurefirm.co/skills-to-deliver-effective-virtual-cfo-services/
Are you asking how/where you can learn the skills mentioned in the episode? Or something else?
Great article. I was just asking my network of financial professionals this question. Small businesses have similar but different needs vs. corporate, so this is super helpful to know where to focus.
Glad you enjoyed it!
well explained , thanks for blog.
Thank you for appreciating our content!
Thanks for the blog.