What is a Strategic CFO and how is it different from most fractional CFOs?

A fractional CFO typically comes from a career in the accounting ranks and manages financial reporting and compliance. Many do not have operational experience outside of their own firm. Strategic CFOs have wider and deeper operational and strategic experience in a variety of businesses and industries. They operate at the executive level, translating what the numbers mean into business decisions, and are well-suited to be true partners to the CEO in managing today's needs and building the future.

What does a fractional CFO do for a small-to-medium-sized business?

At a minimum, fractional CFOs oversee financial reporting, profitability and margin analysis, cash flow management, budgeting and forecasting, banking and capital relationships, and planning. Strategic CFOs go beyond that to shape the future of the business.

When should a business owner consider hiring a fractional Strategic CFO?

When the business owner wants to use their financial data to be proactive about the growth of their company, but is not yet at a scale where a full-time CFO makes sense. Common triggers include revenue growth without profitability improvement, a major event approaching, and persistent cash flow unpredictability.

Where does Canoan Strategy & CFO provide Strategic CFO services?

Canoan is based in Urbandale, Iowa and primarily serves B2B business owners across Iowa and the broader Midwest. Clients are closely held businesses, typically with revenue between $5M and $25M, though those revenue bands can shift depending on the industry.

How does Canoan price its Strategic CFO services?

Canoan is exclusively fixed fee. Clients are never billed hourly. Engagements are scoped and priced based on the outcomes the client wants to achieve, not on blocks of time. This means clients know exactly what outcomes they are getting rather than buying someone's hours.

How is an embedded fractional CFO different from hiring through a staffing firm?

Most staffing firms charge hourly. Canoan structures scopes and pricing based on achieving outcomes, not blocks of hours. You do not pay for someone's time. You pay for the outcomes for your business. All engagements are led by Kathleen Riessen, CPA, CEPA.

What happens if we need to expand the scope mid-engagement?

The Advisory Power-Up handles this situation. If you need to tap into more expertise for a defined period of time, a temporary scope expansion is added. Once the event is over, the engagement returns to the original scope.

What is the difference between an embedded fractional CFO and a full-time CFO hire?

A full-time CFO hire requires a six-figure salary and a level of business scale most growing companies have not yet reached. An embedded fractional Strategic CFO provides the same executive-level financial leadership without the full-time commitment.

Embedded Strategic CFO

What it looks like with Canoan Strategy & CFO

As an embedded Strategic CFO, Kathleen works alongside you and your team. She’ll be in the important meetings, leading the team, and working with key leadership to ensure strategy turns into execution.

Financial leadership and visibility

Clear, accurate, trustworthy financial picture. Reports that support making business decisions. Leadership of the accounting and finance functions.

Profitability and margin management

Continuous margin monitoring and management, aligning with your strategy and goals for the company.

Banking and capital relationships

Making connections and managing relationships proactively, before the business need arises.

Strategic planning and goal alignment

Ongoing strategic planning and alignment because it’s no longer an annual event. Translate financial results and forecasts into proactive and ongoing strategy and goal alignment.

Cash flow management

Optimized cash flow that supports your company’s health and growth.

Decision-level counsel

Beyond generating reports and providing a narrative of what’s happened. Using the data to work with you on making important decisions.

Engagement Timeline

First 90 days

Team integration, build a genuine outside picture of the business. Actual financial reality, real drives of performance. This foundation is what everything else is built on.

First year

Financial function becomes less about reporting and more about supporting the company vision, strategy, and goals. Owner has a strategic financial partner. Business is being managed toward something specific. Results start to show.

Following years

Building results that compound over time. Business is in the condition it needs to be so the owner can be opportunistic and proactive, not reactionary.

Frequently asked questions

What does a typical month look like in an Embedded Strategic CFO engagement?

Kathleen will be working on the business with you as much as is required to meet your goals. We don’t sell blocks of hours. We focus on getting you the outcomes that you want. Our engagement scopes are custom, based on your specific needs, so the day-to-day looks different for all of our clients. Some clients need help building out an entire finance function, while others have solid internal players that handle the day-to-day and only need the top level of financial leadership.

How is this different from hiring a fractional or part-time CFO through a staffing firm?

Most staffing firms charge hourly. So you pay for their inefficiencies. Even if they don’t charge hourly, you often are forced to choose a package of deliverables (x number of reports, certain number of meetings, etc.). We structure our scopes and pricing based on achieving outcomes. In our experience, this is the fairest model for our clients. You don’t care about buying someone’s time. You care about the outcomes for your business.

What is the monthly cost of an Embedded Strategic CFO?

The investment varies based on the scope, and because of that, it’s a wide range. As the complexity of your company and desired outcomes increase, the investment increases. The price will certainly be less than hiring a full-time Strategic CFO, but likely more than hiring a controller.

What happens if something happens mid-engagement and we need to modify the scope?

The Advisory Power-Up exists to handle this situation. If you need to tap into more expertise for a defined period of time (like exploring the acquisition of another company), we’ll add a temporary scope power-up. Once the event is over, we’ll return to the original scope.

How long is an Embedded Strategic CFO contract?

Change doesn’t happen overnight, so our minimum contracts are 12 months. If you need something shorter, we’d suggest a project engagement. We do have provisions in our contracts that allow for either one of us to exit the contract early if for some reason we find that we aren’t a good fit for each other and we want to part ways. Our working relationships get to be beneficial and productive for all parties.

How do I know if I’m ready for the Advisory versus starting with the Diagnostic?

The clearest signal for the Advisory is that you have a clear picture of the problem, you’ve confirmed that you need an executive-level expert in the seat, and you’re ready for a sustained partnership. If any of those are uncertain, we recommend starting with the Diagnostic,

This is not a vendor relationship with reports on a schedule. This is a Strategic CFO that works with you to lead the charge to what you’re building.

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