Fractional CFO Services in Colorado Springs
Fractional CFO and controller services for Colorado Springs construction, contractors, distribution, manufacturing, and service businesses.
The Market
Colorado Springs runs on defense, and every business feels it.
The Colorado Springs metro is anchored by an unusually concentrated defense and aerospace base: five military installations including Peterson SFB, Schriever SFB, the Air Force Academy, Fort Carson and Cheyenne Mountain, Space Command headquarters, and a large defense supplier ecosystem across cyber, space, and specialty aerospace. That base drives a manufacturing and services economy underneath it — specialty industrial, healthcare through UCHealth Memorial and Penrose-St. Francis, construction, and tourism.
The finance-function pattern reflects the government-contracting base: businesses that grew through defense contracts and never built commercial-grade financial reporting. Cost pools that satisfy DCAA but wouldn't survive a strategic acquirer's diligence. Reporting that is compliance-first rather than management-first. Owners approaching a strategic sale or a private-equity transaction who realize the finance function needs a rebuild before the process starts.
What we see most:
- Aerospace and defense contractors across space, cyber, specialty aerospace, and industrial supply.
- Manufacturers in specialty industrial, precision fabrication, and consumer packaging.
- Healthcare and healthcare-services businesses across the UCHealth and Penrose-St. Francis networks.
- Tourism, hospitality, and destination operators serving the Pikes Peak region.
- General contractors and specialty trade contractors building through the Front Range growth cycle.
- Family-owned businesses across construction, distribution, and specialty consumer.
Industries
Where we work most in Colorado Springs and the southern Front Range.
Aerospace and defense
Space, cyber, and specialty aerospace contractors, along with industrial suppliers serving the defense supply chain. Government contract accounting, cost pools, and the specific compliance reporting the defense economy requires.
Manufacturing and industrial
Specialty industrial, precision fabrication, and consumer packaging manufacturers. Standard cost, inventory accuracy, and gross-margin visibility. See our manufacturing pillar.
Construction and specialty trades
General contractors, residential builders, and specialty trades building through the Front Range growth cycle. WIP schedule accuracy, over- and under-billings, retention, and the bonding capacity that gates larger work. See our construction practice and how cleaner WIP supports larger bonded work.
Healthcare and healthcare services
Multi-facility healthcare operators, physician groups, and healthcare-adjacent services across the UCHealth and Penrose-St. Francis networks. Payer mix, provider productivity, and the specific reporting the payer side requires.
Tourism and hospitality
Hotel operators, restaurant groups, and destination hospitality serving the Pikes Peak region. Per-property P&L, prime cost, and the multi-unit reporting hospitality operators need.
Professional services and agencies
Engineering firms, IT services, and technical consultancies serving the defense and commercial base. Utilization, realization rate, and engagement-level profitability. More on how we serve professional services firms.
Colorado Coverage
Fractional CFO and Controller services for Colorado Springs-area businesses.
We staff Colorado Springs engagements with CFOs and Controllers who have run finance functions in the industries that operate here — defense and aerospace supply, precision manufacturing, healthcare, and multi-property hospitality — and pull from a vetted national bench when scope demands additional depth.
Colorado Springs is a defense and aerospace economy at its core: five major military installations, a substantial defense supplier base, and the space and cyber industries built up around them. The finance functions of businesses here have to speak the language of government contracting, complex cost pools, and the reporting rigor the defense supply chain requires.
How can we help?
What’s going on in your business and where would you like help?
An Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Private Company for two consecutive years.
Coverage
We cover Colorado Springs.
We serve the southern Front Range from our vetted national bench of finance leaders with deep defense, manufacturing, and hospitality experience. Coverage area: Colorado Springs, Monument, Manitou Springs, Fountain, Woodland Park, Pueblo, and the broader El Paso and Teller county region.
Call the team
866-324-4473Colorado Springs Taxes and Compliance
Colorado follows the federal write-off for research costs. Its R&D credit applies only inside enterprise zones.
Beyond research costs, a Colorado Springs company answers to a flat 4.40% income tax, with no TABOR cut for 2026. The city collects its own share of the sales tax, and the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department (PPRBD) licenses contractors and takes El Paso County's use tax with building permits.
Taxes
Sales tax
8.20% in Colorado Springs
That total is the city's 3.07%, El Paso County's 1.23%, the regional transportation authority's 1.00% and the state's 2.90%. The Department of Revenue collects the state, county and transportation authority shares. The city collects its own 3.07% online, through its GenTax portal or SUTS, and no longer accepts paper returns.
Federal conformity
Research expensing and 100% bonus carry through
Colorado starts from federal taxable income and adopts federal changes as they take effect, so §174A expensing of domestic research, 100% bonus depreciation and the higher §179 limits reach the state return with no add-back. The state decoupled in narrow places: the FDDEI deduction is added back from 2026, and from 2027 the subtraction for wages disallowed by §280C ends and Opportunity Zone gains are added back unless invested in a Colorado-qualified fund.
R&D credit
3% of research growth inside an enterprise zone
Colorado has no general research credit. The enterprise zone credit equals 3% of the increase in research spending in a zone over the prior two years' average, is used 25% a year and carries forward until used. From 2027 it requires $150,000 or more of research spending in the zone, and a business pre-certifies each year before the activity.
Business personal property
Exempt only at $56,000 or less per county
Equipment and furniture are exempt for 2025 and 2026 when the total actual value of a company's personal property in the county is $56,000 or less. The figure is a threshold, not a deduction, so a company above it is taxed on all of it; the declaration is due April 15, and El Paso County also asks first-time filers to file. The state income tax credit for personal property tax paid is gone for 2026.
Income tax
4.40% flat, with no minimum or franchise tax
C corporations and individuals pay the same rate, and with no TABOR surplus from 2025-26 there is no temporary cut for 2026. Colorado has no minimum tax, franchise tax or gross-receipts tax and no LLC fee. The only recurring state charge on an entity is the Secretary of State's $25 periodic report, with a $50 penalty when it is late.
Employers
Minimum wage
$15.16 statewide, $15.71 from January 1, 2027
Colorado Springs sets no minimum wage of its own, so the state rate applies, adjusted for inflation each January. Tipped employees get at least $12.14 in 2026, with a tip credit of up to $3.02, and $12.69 in 2027. The salary floor for exempt executive, administrative and professional employees is $57,784.
Paid sick leave
One hour per 30 worked, up to 48 a year
Every employer has owed accrued sick leave since 2022, when the exemption for employers with 15 or fewer employees ended. Covered uses include domestic-violence safety needs, evacuations and unexpected closures. An extra 80 hours of public-health emergency leave applies only during a declared emergency, and none is in effect.
FAMLI
No employer share below 10 employees
The paid family and medical leave premium is 0.88% of wages up to the Social Security cap for 2026 and 0.86% for 2027, and employers may deduct up to half from pay. Below 10 employees, not counting owners, a company remits only the employees' 0.44%. Colorado runs no separate state disability insurance program.
Unemployment insurance
$30,600 wage base, 3.05% for new employers
The 2026 new-employer rate includes a 1.35% solvency surcharge, and heavy construction employers start at 6.285%. The introductory rate usually lasts a year, or three years for construction employers. The wage base was $27,200 in 2025.
Final paychecks
Due immediately on a discharge
If the payroll unit isn't scheduled to be working, wages are due within six hours of the start of its next workday, or 24 hours if the payroll unit is off-site. An employee who quits is paid on the next regular payday.
Construction
Contractor licensing
Licensed by PPRBD, not the state
Colorado has no statewide general-contractor license, so PPRBD licenses contractors in Colorado Springs and El Paso County: Building Contractor A for general commercial work, B for limited commercial, then C and D, with D covering a single trade. A license requires $1 million per occurrence and $2 million aggregate of general liability coverage plus workers' compensation, or a filed rejection of coverage.
Use tax on materials
1.23% at permit, the city's 3.07% separately
Contractors pay tax as the consumers of their materials, not on the contract price. PPRBD collects only El Paso County's 1.23% use tax with a permit, so the city's 3.07% is paid to suppliers at purchase or remitted to the city as use tax.
Retainage
5% cap on private jobs of $150,000 or more
The cap has applied since September 7, 2021, and also binds the subcontracts and supply agreements under those contracts. For contracts created on or after August 12, 2026, owners and general contractors must accept a retainage bond of up to 5% of money earned in place of cash. Bonds aren't available on public work.
Mechanics' liens
Four months to record a lien
Colorado requires no preliminary notice, but a notice of intent to lien must reach the owner and prime contractor at least 10 days before recording. The four months run from the claimant's last labor or materials, and the foreclosure suit must be filed within six months after the last work or completion.
Questions Colorado Springs owners ask
Is software we build for clients taxable in Colorado Springs?
Custom software generally isn't: Colorado Springs treats it as a nontaxable service, while prewritten software is taxed however it is delivered, SaaS subscriptions included. The city doesn't tax payroll or data-processing services. From January 1, 2027, the state's sales tax reaches software delivered by any means unless it is used under an individually negotiated license signed by both parties or was developed for one particular user; click-through and boilerplate terms don't count as negotiated.
Does a Colorado Springs business need a city business license?
Not a general one; the city licenses only 12 regulated business types. Sellers need a city sales tax license, which is free, and the application is online.
Do Colorado's pay-range rules apply to remote jobs?
Yes, to any remote job that can be done from Colorado; postings for jobs performed entirely outside the state are exempt. A covered posting shows the pay or range, a general description of benefits, how to apply and the application deadline, and “open until filled” doesn't meet the deadline rule. Employers can't ask about or rely on an applicant's wage history.
Can a Colorado Springs medical practice hold physicians to a non-compete?
Not under the exception for highly compensated workers. Since August 6, 2025, physicians, advanced practice registered nurses and dentists can't be bound under it. Other workers can be held to one only if they earn at least $130,014 in 2026, and only to protect trade secrets.
Does Colorado set a deadline for paying contractors on private jobs?
No. Colorado sets no payment deadline or interest rate on private projects, so the contract's timing and any pay-if-paid or pay-when-paid terms govern. Money paid to a contractor or subcontractor is held in trust for the subcontractors, suppliers and laborers who could lien the project, and misusing it is theft. On public projects, the prime contractor pays its subcontractors within seven calendar days of being paid, and late payments carry the contract rate or 15% a year, whichever is higher. More on fractional controllers for construction companies.
What does Colorado require when we sell the business?
The seller files a final sales tax return within 10 days of selling the business or its stock of goods. The buyer holds back enough of the price to cover unpaid sales tax until the seller produces a Department of Revenue receipt or a certificate that none is due, or becomes personally liable with the seller. A non-compete given in the sale is allowed, though since August 6, 2025, the law limits how long one can bind a minority owner who received equity as compensation. See how we help owners prepare a business for sale.
How does a Colorado divorce treat a family business?
Colorado divides marital property equitably; it is not a community property state. The growth in value during the marriage of a spouse's premarital, gifted or inherited asset counts as marital property, and that reaches a founder's premarital shares and inherited family stock.
Do we file an unclaimed property report if we have nothing to report?
Yes. Colorado requires a negative report when a holder has nothing to report. Reports and payments are due before November 1 for the 12 months ending June 30, filed electronically after notice to the owners. Most property goes dormant after three years, and wages, commissions and bonuses after one.
Figures verified October 2026 against the Colorado Revised Statutes and the General Assembly's 2025 and 2026 acts; the Colorado Department of Revenue and Division of Property Taxation; the Legislative Council's September 2026 revenue forecast; the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment, including the FAMLI Division; the Secretary of State; the State Treasurer's unclaimed property program; El Paso County; the City of Colorado Springs; and the Pikes Peak Regional Building Department. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.
Colorado Springs Finance Talent
Colorado Springs pays its 710 financial managers a median $172,680, 3.7% above the national figure.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 710 financial managers in the Colorado Springs metro, the category that covers controllers and finance directors. Median pay is $172,680, 3.7% above the national median of $166,570, while the top tenth earns $291,350 or more, below the national $323,270. Accountants and auditors earn a median of $85,000, level with the nation's $83,680.
Those 902 locations sit in El Paso and Teller counties, which make up the metro, and any of them that hires a controller or finance director locally recruits from the same 710 people. A company that needs CFO judgment doesn't need to hire one of them away from another employer to get it.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Colorado Springs MSA. U.S. Census Bureau, County Business Patterns 2023 and Vintage 2025 population estimates.
How we engage.
When It's Broken
Put out the fire.
Interim CFO & Controller. At the loss of a key employee. When things crash or break. We deploy interim professionals — repairing what's broken and keeping the system running while you decide what's next.
When You're Building & Exiting
Advise and serve.
CFO, Controller & Accounting Team. Right-sized financial leadership — and the team to execute. Embedded for the long run. The CFO Power Team: right roles, right cost.
When You Don't Know What You Don't Know
Assessment services.
Financial Discovery Assessment. A structured deep-dive that reveals where your finance function stands today — and what it needs to support where you're going.
Transaction Readiness Assessment. Will the books and reporting tell the right story to a buyer or investor — and do the systems and processes support merger or acquisition activities?
Our Proprietary Diagnostic
The Financial Discovery Assessment shows you what’s working, what’s missing, and the plan to get where the business needs to go.
Every Assessment applies the same structured examination — accounting systems and technology, processes and procedures, team members and team structure, and team-member will-skill — refined across hundreds of engagements in businesses that look like yours.
The output is the Financial Heat Map System: dollarized findings, hidden inefficiencies, and a sequenced plan. It’s presented at the Executive Action Meeting, where your stakeholders review findings and recommendations in non-clinical, non-technical language they can act on.
We’ve walked into hundreds of businesses at the stage yours is in now. We know where to look. We know how to fix what we find.
Prefer to call? 866-324-4473