Fractional CFO Cost for a $25M Company
What CFO-level support typically looks like at $25M, how the team configuration usually shapes up, and why the conversation shifts when lenders, boards, and PE are at the table.
$25M Operating Company
Strengthening a stretched team.
At roughly $25 million in revenue, an operating company sits at a different point on the curve. Financial complexity is materially greater than at $10M, the consequences of underpowered finance leadership show up on the P&L, and the team configuration usually involves more than one role.
For pricing detail — driven by team configuration and engagement length, not company size — see the fractional CFO cost guide.
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The Business
What a $25M business usually looks like at this point.
A $25M operating company typically has a small accounting team — usually two to four people, often led by a long-tenured Controller or accounting manager who has more institutional knowledge than formal training. The owner has lenders, possibly a board, and often PE conversations already underway. Reporting requirements have expanded beyond the IRS to include covenants, KPI dashboards, monthly board packages, and increasingly granular requests from advisors, sponsors, and counterparties.
The pattern we see: the existing finance team is doing its best but is structurally underpowered. The owner can’t always tell whether the numbers they’re seeing are reliable. Decisions wait for data that never quite arrives.
The Engagement
What we usually configure at $25M.
Most $25M engagements involve more than one role.
Configuration 1
CFO-led with light Controller oversight
When the in-house accounting team is competent, the engagement is primarily CFO-level work — strategic decision support, banking relationships, board reporting, FP&A — typically one to two days per week of CFO time. The Controller layer reviews and supports rather than executes.
Configuration 2
CFO plus Controller actively working the operation
When the engagement also requires upgrading the accounting operation — cleaning up close processes, building proper monthly reporting, instituting internal controls, or modernizing systems — both roles are active. Engagements with transaction context (M&A diligence, PE sponsor onboarding, capital raise prep, recap) also typically run this configuration.
Industry complexity matters. Construction, manufacturing, multi-entity real estate, and SaaS/technology operating companies tend toward more team. Simpler services firms tend to need less.
Deliverables
What you should expect to get.
- Monthly board package or owner package — the financial story of the business, presented in a way leadership can actually act on
- Real FP&A — budgeting, forecasting, scenario analysis, and variance reporting that ties back to operational drivers
- Banking relationship management — covenant tracking, lender communication, refinancing conversations
- Strategic decision support on acquisitions, hires, capital structure, and pricing
- If included, Controller-level work to upgrade the close, the chart of accounts, and the monthly reporting infrastructure
- Mentoring and development of the in-house accounting team — making them better, not replacing them. More on how we develop the team you have.
- Transaction support when M&A, PE work, or institutional capital is in scope
Starting
How most $25M engagements begin.
Many begin with a Financial Discovery Assessment — a fixed-fee diagnostic that surfaces what the business actually needs and routinely identifies more dollar value than it costs. The Assessment defines the scope of the ongoing engagement.
Others come in with defined scope already: an interim CFO during a transition, M&A readiness work, PE sponsor onboarding support, a turnaround mandate, or a specific finance modernization initiative. We work to whichever path fits.
The Shift
What’s different at $25M vs $10M.
At $25M, decisions have bigger consequences.
A bad pricing call costs more. A missed covenant becomes a real problem. A botched acquisition takes longer to recover from. Lenders, employees, and counterparties are watching the financial reporting more carefully.
The CFO function is no longer optional. It just becomes a question of whether you build it in-house with a full-time hire or buy the capability fractionally.
Also See
Fractional CFO cost — related pages.
The Pillar
The full cost guide
Range, drivers, what you’re paying for. The complete picture for operating companies $5M to $70M.
Read the guide →$10M Operating Company
Building the finance function
Growing past the bookkeeper-plus-CPA setup. Owner needs decision support and reliable forecasting.
See what’s typical →$40M Operating Company
CFO function at decision scale
Real lenders, often PE at the table. Sale, recap, acquisition, or institutional capital conversations underway.
See what’s typical →Work With Vessel Advisors
Ready to Know Where Your Business Actually Stands?
Most engagements begins with a Financial Discovery Assessment™ — a structured diagnostic that reveals where your finance function stands today and what it needs to support where you're taking the business.