A CFO and a fractional CFO do the same work. The difference is commitment level and cost. A full-time CFO is an employee who works exclusively for one company. A fractional CFO splits time across multiple companies, giving each one a portion of their attention based on what’s actually needed.

The role itself covers strategic financial leadership. A CFO handles cash flow planning, financial forecasting, fundraising strategy, banking relationships, financial reporting for stakeholders, and the high-level decisions that accountants and bookkeepers don’t make. They’re thinking about where the business is headed financially, not just recording what already happened.

Full-time CFOs typically earn $150,000 to $300,000 or more in salary, plus benefits and equity. For a startup or growing business doing a few million in revenue, that’s hard to justify. The math doesn’t work until you’re significantly larger and have complex enough needs to fill 40+ hours a week of CFO-level work.

That’s where fractional comes in. Instead of paying a full salary for someone who might only have 10 hours of real CFO work each week, you pay for the hours you actually use. A fractional CFO might work with you five to twenty hours per month depending on your needs. The cost is a fraction of what you’d pay for a full-time hire, but you still get someone with the same experience and skills.

There’s another advantage beyond cost. Fractional CFOs typically work with multiple businesses across different industries and stages. They see patterns you wouldn’t see working inside just one company. A full-time CFO knows your business deeply, which matters. But a fractional CFO has likely seen your exact situation play out at three other companies and knows what worked.

Most growing companies don’t need a full-time CFO until they’re well past $10 million in revenue. Before that point, a fractional arrangement often makes more sense. You get strategic guidance during a fundraise, help building financial models, someone who can talk to investors and lenders, and a sounding board for financial decisions. When you’re a startup accountant situation where books are clean but you need higher-level thinking, fractional fills that gap.

The engagement can also scale with your needs. Heavy involvement during a capital raise, lighter touch during steady operations. You’re not locked into a fixed overhead cost regardless of what’s happening in the business.