Services / Accounting or Fractional CFO

Financial support that grows with your business.

Whether you need dependable monthly bookkeeping or a financial partner for the next stage of growth, Explr meets you where you are.

Accounting keeps a trustworthy record of what happened.
Fractional CFO includes Accounting and helps you decide what happens next.
You begin at the level that fits today and adjust as the work changes.

The two levels

Same foundation. Different responsibilities.

Fractional CFO includes everything in Accounting. The difference is what Explr takes responsibility for once the books are right.

MAINTAIN

Accounting

Bookkeeping and financial reporting

From $1,250/ month

Keep a reliable financial foundation in place, month after month.

Typically includes

Monthly bookkeeping and accounting system upkeep, such as QuickBooks
Bank and credit card reconciliations
Monthly financial statements and reporting
Answers to routine transaction and accounting questions
Coordination of accounting workflows and open items
Calls when useful, within the agreed engagement

Best suited for owners who need accurate, organized records and a clear monthly picture, without recurring CFO advice.

How we work: Primarily asynchronous, with organized questions and follow-up. Calls are scheduled when useful.

MANAGE

Fractional CFO

Financial operations and advisory

From $2,500/ month

Turn reliable financial information into better business decisions.

Everything in Accounting, plus

Profitability and margin analysis
Cash-flow and working-capital planning
Forecasting and decision support
Financial process and operations improvement
Oversight and coordination of agreed financial priorities
Accountability and follow-through on agreed financial actions

Best suited for owners whose financial decisions and operations have become more complex than a monthly report can answer.

Typical rhythm: Monthly financial operating review with our accounting lead and quarterly strategic review with Robert, Explr’s fractional CFO, with ongoing work between meetings.

If the books first need cleanup or restructuring, that work is scoped separately as a Financial Foundation.

A third level, CFO + Coaching, is for owners who want a closer advisory relationship around the decisions that come with leading the business.

Side by side

What happened, and what happens next.

Bookkeeping helps you understand what happened. Fractional CFO support helps you decide what happens next. Here is how that difference shows up in the work.

Explr Accounting compared with Fractional CFO support
Area of work	AccountingMaintain · from $1,250/month	Fractional CFOManage · from $2,500/month
Bookkeeping and reconciliations	Every month: transactions recorded, bank and credit card accounts reconciled.	Included: the same monthly bookkeeping and reconciliations as Accounting.
Monthly financial reporting	Monthly statements that show what happened.	The same monthly statements, reviewed and interpreted: what changed, why, and what needs attention.
Accounting questions	Answered as they come up, mostly asynchronously.	Answered, and connected to the business decision behind them.
Cash-flow planning	Not part of this level. Reports show where cash went.	Cash-flow and working-capital planning for the months ahead.
Profitability analysis	Not part of this level. Reports show overall results.	Margins by product, service, customer or project, as agreed.
Forecasting	Not part of this level.	Forecasts and scenarios that support specific decisions.
Financial systems and process oversight	Recurring accounting workflows kept running.	Oversight of agreed financial workflows and systems, with improvements where they help.
Meeting frequency	Primarily asynchronous. Calls are scheduled when useful.	Typically a monthly operating review with our accounting lead and a quarterly strategic review with Robert.
Strategic decision support	Not part of this level. You get reliable numbers to decide with.	Analysis before hiring, pricing, purchasing or expansion decisions.
Responsibilities and accountability	Explr keeps the records current and follows up on open items. You provide information and documents on time.	Explr also coordinates agreed financial priorities and follows through on its part. You make the decisions and lead their execution.

Meeting rhythms are typical, not guaranteed. Your written agreement sets the responsibilities, deliverables and schedule.

When the work changes

When is it time to move from Accounting to Fractional CFO?

A bigger business does not automatically need a CFO. Plenty of larger companies are well served by dependable accounting for years. What matters is the kind of financial work you keep needing, and how often you need it.

These are the signals worth noticing:

The reports arrive on time, and you are still unsure what decisions to make.
Revenue is growing, and cash is still hard to predict.
Some products, services, customers or projects earn far more than others.
Hiring, purchasing, pricing or expansion decisions need financial analysis before you commit.
Financial work now runs across several tools, employees or outside professionals.
You need someone to coordinate financial priorities and see them through.
Questions that began as bookkeeping questions now come up every month as business decisions.

Illustrative example / Not a client

Imagine a landscaping company with three crews. Its books close every month and the reports arrive on time.

This spring the owner keeps asking the same questions. Why does one crew earn more than the others? Should the business buy a second truck before the busy season or after it? Why is cash tight when sales are up?

Each question starts as an accounting question. Answering it well takes margin analysis by crew, a cash forecast through the season and a decision about timing. That is Fractional CFO work.

The books did not change. The questions did.

Already working with Explr?

Your engagement was set for the work your business needed when it began. When the requests you bring us start to look like the signals here, we will say so and explain what we see. Quietly absorbing larger work would leave it under-resourced and the responsibility unclear.

Then you decide. You might adjust the scope, keep it as it is or handle that work another way. Any change is agreed in writing.

How support evolves

Begin where the business is. Adjust as it changes.

Explr’s services follow one path. You can begin at the level that fits, stay as long as it fits and move when the work changes. No business has to pass through every stage.

01
Build
Financial Foundation
Establish the foundation when records or systems need assessment, cleanup or restructuring.
Scoped and priced separately
02
Maintain
Accounting
Keep the records and reporting dependable.
From $1,250 / month
03
Manage
Fractional CFO
Interpret financial information and coordinate priorities.
From $2,500 / month
04
Lead
CFO + Coaching
Deepen the strategic and advisory relationship.
From $5,000 / month

Build is needed only when the records call for it. Moving between levels is a choice you make with us, never a requirement.

What sets the scope

Clear terms at every level.

This page describes typical work. Your written agreement is what counts.

Prices: Starting prices are starting points. Final pricing follows the scope and complexity of the work.
Responsibilities: Your written agreement sets the responsibilities, deliverables and meeting rhythm. Rhythms shown here are typical, not guaranteed.
Availability: Calls and access are structured, not unlimited. Daily communication or extensive relationship management is scoped separately.
Projects: Major cleanup, implementation or integration projects are scoped separately, often as a Financial Foundation.
Outside services: Tax preparation and filing may be separately scoped through qualified tax professionals. Outside specialist fees are not included. Legal and investment advice are not part of these services.
Your role: Oversight means coordinating agreed priorities, not taking over every compliance or operational task. You make the business decisions and lead their execution.

Find the right fit

Not sure where your business fits?

Let’s look at what you need. A first conversation covers what is working, which questions keep coming up and which level of support would help most. You don’t need to choose before we talk.