There's a point in most growing businesses where the owner is making bigger decisions than the numbers can support. You're hiring, buying equipment, signing a lease, pricing a large contract, maybe talking to a bank. Your bookkeeper keeps the records. Your accountant does the tax. Nobody is sitting beside you asking what the decision does to cash in four months.
That gap is what a fractional CFO fills. Here is what the role involves, what BPAG's plan includes, what it costs, and how to tell whether you need one yet.
What does a fractional CFO actually do?
A CFO's job is to make sure the business has the money it needs, earns the margin it should, and makes decisions with its eyes open. A fractional CFO does the same job for part of the month.
In practical terms that means:
- Reporting you can act on. A monthly pack that shows profit, cash, margins and the handful of numbers that drive your business, with commentary in plain English.
- Forecasting. A three-way forecast (profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow, linked together) so you can see the cash effect of a decision before you make it.
- Pricing and margins. Working out what each product, service, job or client actually earns after the costs that follow it.
- Decision support. Modelling a hire, a second site, a big purchase, a price rise or a new contract.
- Funding. Preparing the numbers a bank or investor wants to see.
- Tax and structure, joined up. Because the same team does your tax, the CFO advice and the tax plan point the same way.
Our blog post what is a fractional CFO covers the role in more general terms. This page is about how we do it.
What is fractional accounting?
Fractional accounting means buying part of a qualified accountant's time each month, on a fixed retainer, instead of hiring a full-time in-house accountant or only seeing an accountant once a year at tax time. A fractional accountant keeps your books, management accounts and compliance current through the year; a fractional CFO adds forecasting, KPIs and decision support on top.
The labels overlap, so here's how the three fractional roles usually split:
| Role | What they do each month | Who it suits |
|---|---|---|
| Fractional bookkeeper | Reconciles bank feeds, enters bills, runs payroll, prepares BAS figures | Any business that doesn't want to do its own data entry |
| Fractional accountant | Reviews the books, closes the month, prepares management accounts, lodges BAS, flags tax issues early, prepares year-end accounts and returns | Businesses that need accurate monthly numbers but not a strategy meeting |
| Fractional CFO | Builds and updates the forecast, tracks KPIs, works on pricing and funding, joins you for a monthly strategy meeting | Owners making decisions bigger than the numbers currently support |
At BPAG the three sit in one place. Compliance Essentials (from $149 per week + GST) is closest to fractional accounting, Business Insights (from $249 per week + GST) adds payroll and monthly management reports, and the Fractional CFO plan (from $499 per week + GST) adds the CFO layer. Our accounting and bookkeeping service explains the foundation work in detail.
Not sure which of the three you need? Ask us and we'll say which, including if it's the cheapest one.
Do you need a fractional CFO, a bookkeeper or an accountant?
Different jobs, and most businesses need more than one. Here's the honest comparison.
| Bookkeeper | Accountant (compliance) | Fractional CFO | Full-time CFO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Main question answered | Are the records right? | What do we owe and lodge? | What should we do next? | All of the above, every day |
| Looks at | This week's transactions | Last year | The next 3 to 24 months | Everything |
| Typical output | Reconciled books, payroll, bills | BAS, tax returns, financial statements | Management pack, forecast, KPIs, decision models | Finance team, systems, board reporting, funding |
| Cost model | Hourly or monthly fee | Fixed fee per job or per year | Monthly retainer | Full senior salary plus super and on-costs |
| Right when | Always | Always | You're making decisions bigger than your gut can carry | You need finance leadership every day |
BPAG's Fractional CFO plan includes the first three columns. That matters: the most common reason CFO advice goes wrong is that it's built on books that are three months behind.
Who is a fractional CFO for?
It usually suits businesses turning over somewhere between about $500,000 and $10 million that have outgrown basic bookkeeping but don't need a full-time finance executive. More useful than turnover is whether these sound familiar:
- Your profit and loss says you made money, but the bank balance doesn't agree.
- You price by feel, or by what competitors charge, rather than by your real costs.
- You're about to make a decision you can't easily reverse: a lease, a hire, a large purchase, a second location.
- You've had a surprise tax or BAS bill in the last two years.
- A bank or investor has asked for a forecast and you don't have one.
- You have more than one entity and can't see the group's position in one place.
Signs you don't need one yet: a stable sole trader business with steady income, no staff and no big decisions ahead. Our Compliance Essentials plan (from $149 per week + GST) or Business Insights plan (from $249 per week + GST) may be all you need, and we'll tell you so.
We work with owners in most sectors. Common ones on this plan include trades and construction, professional services firms, ecommerce and retail and medical practices.
What's included in BPAG's Fractional CFO plan?
From $499 per week + GST. Everything in our other plans, plus the CFO layer.
| Layer | What you get |
|---|---|
| Foundations | A dedicated client manager; bookkeeping kept current in Xero; BAS lodgements; company tax return; annual financial statements |
| People | Weekly payroll for up to 10 staff, with Payday Super built into each pay run |
| Insight | Monthly management reports; KPI and performance analysis |
| CFO | A monthly CFO strategy meeting; strategic cash flow forecasting; proactive annual tax planning; annual industry benchmarking |
Prices are "from" and exclude GST. Larger transaction volumes, more staff or more entities are quoted before we start. See our pricing page for the full comparison.
The monthly management pack
A good report is short. Ours usually fits on a few pages:
- The headline. Three or four sentences on what happened and what needs a decision.
- Profit and loss against budget and last year, with the big variances explained.
- Cash. Where it went, what's coming in, what's going out, and the forecast for the next three months.
- KPIs. The handful that drive your business, tracked as a trend.
- Actions. What we recommend, who's doing it, and by when.
Our management report agent drafts the pack from your Xero numbers, calculating the ratios and trends. Your CFO reviews it, writes the commentary that only someone who knows your business can write, and takes you through it.
The three-way forecast
A three-way forecast links profit, the balance sheet and cash, so a change in one shows up correctly in the others. If you win a big contract on 60-day terms, the forecast shows the profit, the extra debtors and the cash dip while you wait to be paid. Our cash flow forecast agent builds the monthly model from your history and the assumptions we agree, and the model is checked to balance every month. We go into the detail in our cash flow and profit optimisation service and the guide on how to do a cash flow forecast.
Which KPIs should your business track?
Fewer than you think. Five well-chosen numbers you look at monthly beat thirty you never read. These are the ones we start with, by business type.
| Business type | KPIs we usually track |
|---|---|
| Trades and construction | Gross margin by job, work in progress, debtor days, labour utilisation, quoted versus actual hours |
| Professional services | Utilisation, effective hourly rate, lockup (work in progress plus debtors), revenue per staff member, client concentration |
| Retail and ecommerce | Gross margin by product, stock turn, customer acquisition cost, average order value, returns rate |
| Hospitality | Food and beverage cost percentages, wages as a percentage of sales, sales per labour hour, average spend per head |
| Medical and allied health | Revenue per practitioner, practitioner utilisation, service fee mix, debtor days |
Every business also gets cash runway, net profit margin and a tax set-aside check, so the BAS and tax bills are never a surprise.
How do we approach pricing?
Pricing is where we most often find money. Three steps:
- Find the true cost. We allocate the costs that actually follow each job, product or client: materials, labour at its real loaded cost (wages, super, leave, workers compensation and payroll tax where it applies), and the overheads they drive.
- Find the margin. Rank your work from most to least profitable. Most owners are surprised by at least one line near the bottom.
- Decide. Raise the price, change the scope, change the terms or stop doing it. We model the effect of each option on profit and cash before you choose.
Example (hypothetical, rounded): An electrical contractor charges $110 an hour for apprentices and believes each one is profitable. Once super, leave, tools, vehicle, workers compensation, non-billable training time and supervision are loaded in, the real cost is close to the charge-out rate on some jobs. A modest rate increase and a change to how call-outs are billed turns the apprentice program from break-even into a contributor. The numbers differ for every business; the method doesn't.
How does a fractional CFO engagement work with BPAG?
- Free strategy call. We talk about the business, where it's going and the decision that's keeping you up at night. If you aren't ready for a CFO, we'll say so.
- Clean the base. We bring the books up to date and reconcile them. If you're moving from another system we handle the conversion.
- First 90 days. Month one: management pack and a first view of margins. Month two: three-way forecast and agreed KPIs. Month three: the first decision models, and an annual plan and budget.
- Monthly rhythm. Pack delivered, strategy meeting held, forecast updated, actions tracked.
- Annual cycle. Tax planning before 30 June, industry benchmarking, and a review of your structure.
Behind the scenes, BPAG runs on Nagaris, an AI practice platform built for Australian accounting firms. Its agents draft the report, the forecast and the ratio analysis; your CFO, a qualified accountant, reviews and signs off every figure and every recommendation. Nothing is sent to you without a person approving it. Meetings are written up automatically so decisions and actions aren't lost, and the whole team can see your file, so work doesn't stop when one person is on leave.
"It's been wonderful working with the BPAG team! They are true experts and have provided incredibly valuable business advisory and tax services, helping my business grow." Mitchell King, Google review
What does a fractional CFO cost compared with a full-time CFO?
Our Fractional CFO plan starts from $499 per week + GST, and that includes the bookkeeping, payroll for up to 10 staff, BAS, the company tax return and financial statements. A full-time CFO costs a senior executive salary plus super, leave and on-costs, before you add a bookkeeper and an external accountant for the tax.
The fairer comparison for many businesses is with what they pay now. If you already pay a bookkeeper and an accountant separately, the step up to a CFO layer can be smaller than you expect. We'll lay the two side by side on the strategy call.
An honest caution: a CFO is only worth it if you use what they tell you. If you won't read the pack or come to the meetings, save your money and stay on a compliance plan.
What should you send us?
- Xero access, or your last 12 to 24 months of profit and loss and balance sheets
- Your aged debtors and creditors reports
- Last year's tax returns and financial statements for each entity
- Loan and finance agreements, and any lease you've signed
- Your price list or quoting method
- The decisions you're facing in the next 12 months
- Anything a bank, investor or buyer has asked you for
You can send it by replying to our email or SMS, or upload photos from your phone. There's no portal password.
Which service should you start with?
If cash is the pressing issue, start with cash flow and profit optimisation. If tax is, start with tax strategy and planning. If you're planning to sell in the next few years, read about selling a business, because a business with clean monthly reporting and a forecast is easier to sell and easier to value. Or book the free strategy call and bring the decision you're stuck on.
Frequently asked questions
Is a fractional CFO the same as a virtual CFO?
In Australia the terms are used interchangeably. Both mean a senior finance professional who works with your business part-time and usually remotely, on a retainer rather than a salary. Outsourced CFO and part-time CFO mean the same thing. What matters is what's included, so compare the deliverables, not the label.
How many hours does a fractional CFO spend on my business?
It varies with what's happening. A typical month includes preparing and reviewing the management pack, updating the forecast and a strategy meeting, with more time when you're raising finance, pricing a big contract or planning a purchase. We price the plan as a fixed weekly fee rather than by the hour, so you don't ration phone calls.
Can a fractional CFO help me get a bank loan?
Yes. Lenders want current financial statements, a forecast that shows how the loan will be repaid, and someone who can answer their questions. We prepare the forecast and supporting numbers, and our loan calculator agent tests whether the repayments are affordable under different scenarios. The lending decision is always the bank's.
Do I need to use Xero?
We work in Xero day to day and most clients on this plan use it, because live bank feeds make monthly reporting faster and more reliable. If you're on MYOB or another system we can still help, and we can move you across if it makes sense. We'll explain the trade-off rather than insist.
What's the minimum commitment?
We'll agree the scope and term with you before we start, and you'll know the fee upfront. Most of the value comes after the first few months, once the forecast and KPIs have a track record, so we suggest giving it at least two quarters before judging.
What does a fractional bookkeeper do?
A fractional bookkeeper keeps your records for part of each week or month: reconciling bank feeds, entering bills, running payroll and getting the BAS figures ready. It's the transaction layer, not the advice layer. On every BPAG plan the bookkeeping is included and done in Xero, so it doesn't need to be bought separately.
Can you work with my existing accountant?
Yes, though most clients move everything to us so the bookkeeping, tax and CFO work sit in one place. If your current accountant is staying, we'll agree who does what so nothing is missed and you aren't paying twice for the same work.
Official sources
General information only, current as at 23 October 2026. It is not personal tax, legal or financial product advice and doesn't take your circumstances into account. Talk to us before you act. Where a recommendation needs a licensed financial adviser or a solicitor, we work alongside them.