Ad hoc finance projects: when you don't need a CFO, but an answer

Most business owners who call me don't actually need a CFO at that moment.

That's an odd sentence coming from someone whose profession is fractional CFO, but it's true. They have one question that keeps nagging. Should I buy that machine or lease it? Why is revenue rising while cash is falling? Which of my three business units actually makes money? Those aren't questions for an open-ended engagement. They're questions for a scoped project of four to twelve weeks.

And that's fine. A well-scoped project often delivers more than a vague advisory relationship, because it has a deadline, a concrete deliverable, and an answer you can actually act on.

Three questions that don't need a retainer

1. Is this investment worth it?

An investment analysis is the most underrated exercise in an SME. Not because it's hard, but because it almost always happens too late. The decision has already been made, and the math is used to justify it to the bank or the co-shareholder.

Reversed, it works better. What you concretely get:

• The full cash cost over the lifetime, not just the purchase price. Maintenance, financing, training, opportunity cost of the cash tied up.
• Payback, NPV and IRR, with a discount rate that matches your cost of capital, not a number from a textbook.
• A scenario analysis. Not just the base case, but also: what if volumes are 20% lower? What if energy prices double? The real question is rarely whether it works at expected numbers. It's at which numbers it stops working.
• An explicit list of assumptions, so you can see what the model actually rests on.

The real output is usually not yes or no. It's clarity on which single variable your decision hinges on. Nine times out of ten the whole business case hangs on one parameter, and it's one the founder didn't know upfront.

2. What do my numbers actually say?

Your accountant delivers the statutory accounts. Correct, legally required, and backward-looking. What they don't do is tell you why your margin is slipping, or which client is costing you money.

A deep dive into your numbers isn't an audit in the legal sense. It's slicing your own data differently until something surfaces:

• Margin per client, per product, per project. Almost every SME running this exercise discovers that part of the revenue contributes negatively. Not fun, but useful.
• The bridge between profit and cash. Being profitable and short on cash isn't a paradox. It's working capital. Inventory, receivables, VAT timing.
• Cost structure: what's fixed, what's variable, and where does break-even actually sit?
• The numbers you already have but never look at. Usually 80% of the answer is already in your accounting system.

This is the cheapest exercise with the highest return, and at the same time the one most postponed. Usually because no one has the time; sometimes because people suspect what will come out.

3. How do I decide this every time again?

This is the most interesting type of project, and the least known.

Some decisions don't happen once, but fifty times a year. Every new location, every new client, every new quote. A one-off analysis is a waste. You build a tool.

Concretely: a model where your sales, finance or leadership team fills in the parameters themselves and instantly sees what it means. Revenue, margin, payback, five-year P&L impact. With multiple views, because a sales profile wants different numbers than a board. With Excel or PDF export, because the decision rarely lands inside the tool itself.

The effect isn't in the math. It's this: the discussion is no longer about whose spreadsheet is right, but about the assumptions. Everyone calculates the same way, so the conversation is finally about the business.

What separates a good project from an expensive PowerPoint

Three things.

• It's yours when it ships. A model only the builder can operate is worthless the moment they're gone. Every tool I deliver comes with a handover and assumptions written explicitly into the model, not into someone's head.
• It gives an answer, not options. Five scenarios without a recommendation is just handing work back. You should expect a conclusion, even if it's that you shouldn't do it.
• The scope is fixed before we start. Deliverable, timing and price upfront. A scoped project deserves a project fee, not an open-ended clock.

When ad hoc isn't enough

Honest disclosure: sometimes a project is a band-aid.

If you're asking the same question every quarter, the problem isn't the question. It's structure: no steering information, no forecast, no rhythm. An investment analysis won't fix that. In three months you're back at square one.

The distinction is simple. A project answers one finished question. A fractional CFO makes sure the question answers itself. If you're not sure which category you're in, read when do you need a CFO.

In practice it often starts with a project. That's the logical order too: first see if it works, then engage. I'd do it that way myself.

How it works practically

• 30-minute intro call. You explain the question. I tell you if a project makes sense, or if you need something else, even if that means you don't need me.
• Scope and price in writing. Deliverable, timing, price. Before you sign anything.
• Execution. Four to twelve weeks, depending on scope and how fast the data is available. An investment analysis sits at the short end, a multi-view business case tool at the long end. With interim check-ins so there are no surprises at delivery.
• Delivery and handover. The model, the conclusion, and the explanation so you can run with it yourself.

A specific question that keeps nagging?

Book a 30-minute call. No sales pitch. Just an honest answer to whether this is a project or something else.