Fractional CFO Services in Knoxville
Fractional CFO and controller services for Knoxville construction, contractors, distribution, manufacturing, and service businesses.
The Market
Knoxville sits on research, manufacturing, and healthcare, all growing quietly.
The Knoxville metro is anchored by an unusual set of institutional drivers: Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the broader Oak Ridge energy and technology complex, the TVA headquarters, the University of Tennessee system, and Pilot's national retail headquarters. The manufacturing base underneath — automotive suppliers, specialty industrial, food processing — is substantial, and healthcare through UT Medical, Covenant and Tennova rounds it out.
The finance-function issues are those typical of a steady-growth mid-market: businesses built through decades of grinding execution that never rebuilt the accounting infrastructure. Owners in their sixties thinking about the next generation or a strategic sale, realizing the finance function isn't ready for the transition. That is the specific work — building the discipline before the transition, not during it.
What we see most:
- Manufacturers in automotive supply, specialty industrial, and food processing.
- Healthcare and healthcare-services businesses across the UT Medical and Covenant networks.
- Energy and specialty tech operators adjacent to Oak Ridge and TVA.
- Retail headquarters operations and specialty consumer businesses.
- General contractors and specialty trade contractors working across East Tennessee.
- Family-owned businesses across manufacturing, distribution, and services approaching generational transition.
Industries
Where we work most in Knoxville and East Tennessee.
Manufacturing and industrial
Automotive suppliers, specialty industrial, and food processing manufacturers. Standard cost, inventory accuracy, and gross-margin visibility. See our manufacturing pillar.
Healthcare and healthcare services
Multi-facility healthcare operators, physician groups, and healthcare-adjacent services across the UT Medical and Covenant networks. Payer mix, provider productivity, and cost-per-visit reporting.
Energy and specialty tech
Specialty tech and energy operators adjacent to Oak Ridge and TVA. Project-based revenue recognition, government contract accounting, and the specific reporting the energy sector requires.
Construction and specialty trades
General contractors, residential builders, and specialty trades working across East Tennessee. 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.
Family-owned and closely-held businesses
Multi-generational family operators approaching ownership transition. Governance, succession, inter-company clarity, and exit-readiness — the finance function that makes the transition clean.
Professional services and agencies
Engineering firms, IT services, consultancies, and marketing agencies serving the regional base. Utilization, realization rate, and engagement-level profitability. More on how we serve professional services firms.
Tennessee Coverage
Fractional CFO and Controller services for Knoxville-area businesses.
We staff Knoxville engagements with CFOs and Controllers who have run finance functions in the industries that operate here — automotive and industrial manufacturing, healthcare, energy and research-adjacent technology, and multi-generational family businesses — and pull from a vetted national bench when scope demands additional depth.
Knoxville is an unusual mid-market economy: a major research and energy hub in Oak Ridge, ORNL and TVA, a substantial manufacturing base, a major healthcare center, and one of the country's larger private retail headquarters. The finance functions of businesses here often reflect owners who built through steady growth and are approaching a transition without the infrastructure to make it clean.
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 Knoxville.
We serve East Tennessee from our vetted national bench. Coverage area: Knoxville, Farragut, Oak Ridge, Maryville, Alcoa, Sevierville, Pigeon Forge, and the broader Knox, Blount, and Anderson county region.
Call the team
866-324-4473Tennessee Taxes and Compliance
Tennessee allows 20% bonus depreciation for 2026, not the federal 100%.
Equipment purchases get less bonus depreciation on a Tennessee return than on the federal one, and research earns no state credit. Knoxville companies also owe franchise and excise tax, the state and city business tax on gross receipts, and 9.25% sales tax.
Taxes
Bonus depreciation
20% for 2026, 0% from 2027
Federal bonus above the Tennessee percentage is added back and depreciated under MACRS, and qualified production property gets no Tennessee bonus at all. Section 179 expensing still conforms, up to $2.5 million.
Franchise and excise tax
6.5% of earnings plus 0.25% of net worth
Excise applies after a $50,000 deduction, and franchise tax carries a $100 minimum even for an inactive entity. Both are apportioned on sales alone for tax years ending on or after December 31, 2025.
Sales tax
9.25% in Knoxville
Local tax of 2.25% sits on the 7% state rate, half a point below the Nashville and Memphis totals. In most jurisdictions, local tax stops at the first $1,600 of a single item, and a 2.75% state single-article tax applies from $1,600.01 to $3,200.
Business tax
Knoxville levies a city layer; Farragut doesn't
Tennessee taxes gross receipts at the state level, and cities that adopt the tax add a layer for businesses located there. A Knoxville location pays both and a Farragut location only the state's. Annual returns start at $100,000 of gross sales in each jurisdiction.
Personal property tax
Machinery assessed at 30% of value
Manufacturing equipment is taxable personal property, reported to the Knox County assessor by March 1, and there is no exemption threshold. The shortcut for small holdings fixes the value at $2,000 or $10,000 once the business certifies its depreciated value falls in that tier.
Employers
Not required in Tennessee
Federal minimum wage, no sick-leave mandate
Knoxville employers pay at least the federal $7.25, since Tennessee has no minimum wage law and cities can't set a higher one. No state or local law requires paid sick leave, and Tennessee has no paid family leave program, retirement-plan mandate or pay-range posting rule.
Non-competes
Two years for employees, three for dealers
From July 1, 2026, courts presume a non-compete reasonable at up to two years for employees and independent contractors, and up to three years for distributors, dealers and franchisees. Any non-compete with an employee paid under $70,000 a year is void.
Health care non-competes
Two years and 10 miles or the county
A separate statute treats a licensed provider's non-compete as reasonable at two years or less within the larger of 10 miles or the practice's county, or when it is limited to the facilities where the provider worked. The rule does not cover emergency physicians.
E-Verify
E-Verify starts at 35 employees
The count is full-time equivalents across every location under one FEIN. Smaller employers, with 6 to 34, may use E-Verify or keep document copies.
Unemployment insurance
New manufacturers don't start at 2.7%
New employers outside manufacturing pay 2.7% on the first $7,000 of each employee's 2026 wages. A manufacturer's new-employer rate depends on its sector, and experience rating takes over after 36 months.
Questions Knoxville owners ask
Is there a Tennessee tax credit for research and development?
No. Tennessee has no research credit, though research machinery counts toward the industrial machinery credit, generally 1% of cost and up to 10% with large investments. Domestic research costs can be expensed: Tennessee has allowed it since 2022 and follows the new federal rule from 2025, with an add-back for amortization of 2022 to 2024 costs deducted on a 2025 or 2026 federal return.
Is Tennessee changing its bonus depreciation rule?
Nothing has passed. A 2025 bill that would have allowed a 40% election, or the federal rate if higher, stalled in both chambers in April 2025 and saw no action in 2026. Under current law, assets bought in 2026 get 20% and assets bought from 2027 get none.
How long can a non-compete run when I sell my Knoxville company?
For agreements made, renewed or amended from July 1, 2026 onward, courts presume a seller's non-compete reasonable for up to five years or the payout period, whichever is longer. Anything longer is presumed unreasonable, and a court may modify a covenant that reaches too far. See how we help owners prepare a business for sale.
Is Tennessee a community property state?
No. Spouses can opt in through a Tennessee community property trust, which has to declare itself one, name a qualified trustee and be signed by both spouses. Without one, community-property rules that require a spouse to join a personal guaranty don't apply.
Why is our family LLC's annual report fee more than $300?
Tennessee scales the LLC fee by membership: $300 minimum plus $50 for each member over six, up to $3,000. A corporation pays $20. An entity that doesn't file can be administratively dissolved.
How long does a Tennessee contractor's lien last?
A prime contractor's lien lasts one year after completion or abandonment, and through any enforcement suit filed in that year. Recording a sworn statement within 90 days keeps its priority over later buyers and lenders. A subcontractor or supplier serves a notice of lien on the owner within those 90 days, and the lien then lasts 90 days from service, plus any timely suit.
Does a Knoxville remodeler need a contractor license?
Residential remodeling jobs from $3,000 to $24,999 need a home improvement license in Knox County, backed by a $10,000 surety bond. At $25,000 and up, a contractor license is required before bidding or pricing the job as prime contractor. Electrical, mechanical, plumbing, HVAC and roofing subcontractors need one when their portion reaches $25,000.
What can a Knoxville contractor do when an owner stops paying?
Unpaid amounts earn interest at the contract rate, or 1.5% a month when the contract is silent. After written notice and 10 days without payment or a valid reason, the contractor can sue for an injunction and stop work, with a matching schedule extension. Attorney's fees can be awarded against a party that acted in bad faith. See our construction case study.
Figures verified October 2026 against the Tennessee Code, the Tennessee Department of Revenue, the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury, the Tennessee Department of Labor and Workforce Development, the Tennessee Secretary of State, the Tennessee Board for Licensing Contractors and the U.S. Department of Labor. This is general information, not tax or legal advice.
Knoxville Finance Talent
Knoxville's financial managers earn a median $133,570. The national figure is $166,570.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics counts 2,090 financial managers in the Knoxville metro, the category that covers controllers and finance directors. Median pay is $133,570, against a national median of $166,570, and the top tenth earns $262,970 or more.
The metro has 1,238 business locations with 50 to 499 employees, all drawing on the same 2,090 people. Owners who need CFO judgment don't have to win a full-time search in that market to get it.
Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025, Knoxville, TN 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