Fractional ControllerFractional controller or a full-time hire?

Signs a fractional controller fits

Look at your volume first. A fractional controller tends to fit when the company is one business, or a small handful, with a monthly volume that one person could check in a few days. It tends to fit when a bookkeeper is already in place and the entries are made, even if they're not checked. And it fits when you want closed, checked numbers each month but don't need someone in the room every afternoon.

If that sounds like you, the arrangement gives you the checking at a size that makes sense. You can read the whole job on what a fractional controller does.

Signs you have outgrown it

Some companies reach a point where a part-time arrangement stops being enough. Daily volume may be high enough that someone has to be in the building. Several entities may trade heavily with each other, which multiplies the matching. A finance team may have grown to the point where it needs managing, and managing people is a full-time job on its own.

When you see those signs, a full-time controller is the right hire. That's not a failure of the part-time arrangement. It means the company grew.

Ask which fits

The honest not-yet cases

We'd rather say so than take your money. If you don't have bookkeeping at all, bookkeeping comes first, and we can start there. If your books are years behind, a catch-up comes first, priced apart from the monthly work and with a date. If you need statements that come with a signed outside report, that report belongs to a licensed firm, and our job is to get your books ready for it. The line page explains what that means.

A clean handoff if you hire later

Choosing part-time now doesn't lock you in. Every closed month stays with the company, and so does the checklist. If you hire a full-time controller in two years, they walk into locked periods, matched accounts and a list of what is still open. That is a far better starting point than a stack of unreconciled statements.

How we size it

We look at the number of accounts, the number of entries per month, whether you run payroll through a provider, whether you collect sales tax and how quickly your records reach us. Then we write down how much of the month your company needs. There are no salary comparisons on this page, because the numbers depend on where you live and the person you hire. What we can say is that a fractional arrangement is sized to the work, and a salary isn't.

What to ask before you decide

Ask what the person will check, not how many hours they'll sit. Ask what you'll hold in your hands each month. Ask who has the final say on whether a month is closed. And ask what happens when the volume grows. Those four answers tell you more than any job title does. The close checklist is a good yardstick for them.

Checked and closed. If part of a controller is enough, your month ends with matched accounts and a locked period, and nobody is on the payroll for hours your volume never needed.

Size my volume

See what a controller does