Ongoing CFO support
CFO-level judgement in the room when the decision is being made.
Fractional CFO support gives an owner-managed business that judgement at the point where the decisions have outgrown the information behind them, without taking on the cost and commitment of an in-house CFO.
When ongoing support earns its place
Usually not at a particular size or turnover. It tends to arrive with a specific decision: a hire, a contract, a funding conversation, an acquisition, a sale.
- You are making decisions monthly that you used to make once a year.
- The reporting tells you what happened, but not what to do about it.
- Cash needs planning rather than checking.
- A lender, investor or funding conversation is coming.
- Your finance team is capable, but has nobody senior to escalate to.
- Something significant is being decided, and nobody is asking whether the numbers support it.
For the fuller version of that question, see when a business needs a CFO.
What that judgement covers
Not all of it, and rarely all at once. The work follows what the business needs at the time.
Cash visibility and planning
A forward view of cash, not just a balance. Short-horizon cash models where cash is genuinely tight.
Management reporting
Reporting that explains performance and supports a decision, instead of restating history.
Forecasting
Forward numbers built on assumptions that can be stated, challenged and revised.
Working capital
Debtors, creditors and stock treated as things to be actively managed.
Margin and profitability
Which services, customers or activities genuinely make money, and which do not.
Decision support
A senior finance view in the room when pricing, hiring, investment or capacity is being decided.
Finance team and capability
Whether the shape and seniority of the finance function still match the business.
Systems and process priorities
What is worth changing, what is worth automating, and what is fine as it is.
Funding and transaction readiness
Getting the numbers into a state that stands up to outside scrutiny, where that is relevant.
How the work is shaped
Ongoing support
A regular senior finance rhythm: a recurring commitment, agreed in advance, sized to what the business actually needs, not to a standard package.
A defined project
One piece of work with a clear end. A cash flow model, a reporting rebuild, a margin analysis, or getting ready for a funding conversation.
Board and adviser support
Periodic senior input around board or management meetings, where the business needs finance judgement at decision points rather than continuously.
Scope and fee are agreed before work starts, in every case. There are no packaged tiers, because the right shape depends on what the business is actually dealing with.
Where this sits alongside your accountant and your systems
Good accountants and good finance systems do real work, and this replaces neither. Both can be doing exactly what they should and still leave a gap.
The layer that is often missing is interpretation: someone senior enough to say what the numbers mean for the decision in front of you, and willing to say when they do not support it. Where an accountant already advises the business, this works alongside them rather than across them.
The aim is fewer decisions resting mainly on instinct and recollection, and more resting on information you have reason to trust.
Where to start
If the need is already clear
Where you already know what the problem is - a cash flow model, a reporting rebuild, a funding process - support can be scoped directly. A Health Check is not a prerequisite.
If it is less clear
Where several issues overlap, the reporting is weak, or it is genuinely not obvious what level of support is needed, The Pelican Finance Health Check is usually the better first step. It establishes what is actually wrong before anyone commits to an ongoing arrangement.
Where a Health Check has been carried out, its fee is credited against ongoing CFO support started within 60 days. See what the Health Check reviews .
When ongoing support is not the answer
Plenty of businesses do not need ongoing senior finance support. Sometimes two or three specific fixes will do more good than an ongoing commitment. Where that is the honest answer, that is the one you will get.
Senior-led by design
CFO support depends on judgement, so the senior finance input should not disappear once the engagement starts. PelicanCFO is structured around senior-led delivery, with additional specialist support brought in where the work requires it.
PelicanCFO provides fractional CFO support to owner-managed businesses across Guildford, Surrey and the South East.
Would ongoing CFO support actually be useful for your business?
A short call is usually enough to tell whether ongoing CFO support is appropriate, whether a Health Check should come first, or whether you need neither.