Frequently asked questions
Thinking about hiring a fractional CFO? Here are the questions we get asked most.
A fractional CFO works with your business part-time, so you get real CFO-level help without paying for a full-time hire. In practice, that means we get your numbers current and readable, forecast cash flow, dig into profitability, and sit in on your leadership meetings to help you make better decisions with your money.
A bookkeeper records transactions and keeps your books accurate. A CPA handles taxes and compliance. We take that financial data and help you actually use it: figuring out when to hire, whether a project is really profitable, how to manage cash flow, where to put money next. We work alongside your bookkeeper and CPA, not instead of them.
We typically work with businesses doing $750K to $30M+ in annual revenue. Most of our clients fall in the $1.5M to $10M range, where they've outgrown their bookkeeper but a $200K+ full-time CFO doesn't make sense yet. We also work with nonprofits and earlier-stage companies that just need someone to help them read their own numbers.
No. After an initial onboarding period, everything is month-to-month. Most of our clients stick around because the work speaks for itself, not because they're locked in.
We start with a free Walkthrough: about 30 minutes, goals first, and you leave with a punch list of what's working and what to fix first. Send the last two years of P&Ls and a balance sheet beforehand so we can look at something real. If we move forward from there, we get into your books, figure out where things stand, and build a financial workbook you can actually use. After that, we meet one to two times a month to review the numbers, plus quarterly and annual planning sessions.
Depends on your tier. Foundation clients meet quarterly. Momentum clients meet monthly. Steward clients meet weekly. Everyone gets email support between meetings, and we'll sit in on leadership meetings when it's useful.
We work with whatever you already have, which is usually QuickBooks Online. We get the numbers current and readable, then sit with you on what they mean. The tools sort the data. A person still has to read it.
After the Walkthrough, we get access to your accounting system and spend 2-4 weeks going through your financial data, cleaning up what needs cleaning, and building your initial workbook. Then we walk through everything in a kickoff meeting. After that, we're part of your team.
Starts at $750/month for businesses that need basic financial reporting, and goes up to $5,500+/month for companies that want a CFO actively in the mix. Most of our clients land on the Momentum tier at $3,250/month. Compare that to $200K-$400K+ a year for a full-time CFO.
If you need financial leadership but can't justify a $200K+ salary, fractional is the move. Most businesses under $10M get more out of a fractional CFO anyway, because we've seen what works (and what doesn't) across a bunch of different industries. Once you're consistently above $10-15M and need someone in the building every day, that's when full-time starts making sense.
It depends on the business, but here are real examples: for one client we untangled over $1.2M in known accounting errors with their accountant and put a process fix in place so they wouldn't recur. For another, we identified an operational change that added $900K in annual revenue. Beyond the dollar amounts, most clients tell us the biggest thing is just knowing their numbers are actually right. We expect to pay for ourselves, and we usually do.
Yes. Our name comes from Luke 16:10: 'Whoever is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much.' We see business as stewardship, and we started 1610 Advisory to help believer-led companies manage their money well. We work with anyone who shares our values around integrity and stewardship, regardless of background.
Construction, agriculture, consumer packaged goods, lending, nonprofit, and professional services. The specifics change, but the financial fundamentals don't. And honestly, working across industries is an advantage. We've seen solutions in one business that would never have occurred to someone who only works in another.
1610 comes from Luke 16:10: 'Whoever is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much.' It's the conviction underneath everything we do: that stewardship is earned through consistency, not promised through pitch decks. We named the firm after it because it captures what we believe about money, business, and trust.
Lincoln, Nebraska. Most of our clients are in Nebraska and surrounding states, but we work with businesses across the country. Meetings are usually virtual, though we prefer face-to-face when the client is local.
Book a Walkthrough and we can talk through anything specific to your situation.