Fractional CFO & finance leadership

Finance leadership for owner-operated businesses — and the people who buy them.

We're the outsourced finance office for businesses run by their owners. Monthly close, KPI dashboards, cash flow forecasting, and the boring fundamentals — done properly, in plain English, by someone who's seen it before.

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Built for
Search funds & ETA buyers Self-funded acquirers Owner-operated SMEs £2M–£20M revenue
Who we work with

Two types of owner. One playbook.

We do one thing well, for two closely related groups of people. If you don't see yourself below, we're probably not the right fit — and we'll say so on the call.

Acquisition entrepreneurs

You've just closed (or are about to close) on a small business. The previous owner kept the books in a shoebox. The lender wants reporting. You need to know what's actually going on.

  • Search funds & ETA buyers, 0–18 months post-close
  • Self-funded acquirers integrating an inherited finance function
  • Lender or SBA reporting covenants you can't afford to miss
  • Quality-of-earnings shock and the post-close reality check

Owner-operated SMEs

You've built a real business. It's profitable. But finance is held together by a part-time bookkeeper and a feeling, and you're starting to feel exposed every time someone asks for numbers.

  • £2M–£20M revenue, 10–80 employees
  • Run by a non-finance founder or family operator
  • Considering an exit, a refinance, or a second site
  • Tired of running the business with your eyes half-closed
What we fix

The boring fundamentals, done properly.

Most owners we meet don't need a strategy weekend. They need the basics working, on time, every month, by someone who actually understands the numbers.

01Monthly close that lands on time

Books closed by working day 10. Standardised P&L, balance sheet, and cash flow. Same format every month so trends are obvious.

02A KPI pack you'll actually read

Five to ten numbers that matter for your business. Trended. Annotated. Delivered with a one-page commentary, not a 40-tab spreadsheet.

0313-week cash flow forecast

So you stop wondering if payroll clears. Updated weekly. Owner-friendly. The single most useful tool in any small business.

04Lender & investor reporting

Covenant packages, board packs, monthly investor updates. Done in the format your bank or partner actually wants, not the one that's easiest for you.

05The decisions hiding in your numbers

Pricing, hiring, capex, expansion, exit prep. Models that answer the question instead of generating more questions.

06An adult in the room

Someone who's seen the post-close mess before, who'll tell you the truth, and who isn't trying to upsell you into audit or tax work.

Standalone projects

Two- and four-week fixed-fee projects.

Sometimes you don't need a transformation — you need a deliverable. These two productised projects exist for owners who already know exactly what they want.

2 weeks £3,000

The Operating Model

A clean, usable, owner-friendly financial model in 14 days. For owners who say "I just need a proper model."

  • 30-min kickoff to capture the business model and key drivers
  • Three-statement monthly model (P&L, balance sheet, cash flow), 36-month horizon
  • 13-week rolling cash flow forecast
  • Single-tab KPI dashboard with 5–8 metrics
  • Two scenarios (base + downside) with one-page commentary
  • 45-min handover so you can drive it yourself

Best when: you're not ready for a full retainer but want something serious to work from.

4 weeks £6,500

The Capital Raise Pack

Investor-ready model, deck, and exec summary in four weeks. For owners raising equity, refinancing debt, or testing the market.

  • Three-statement model with sensitivities and returns analysis
  • 20-page pitch deck (or memo, depending on raise type)
  • One-page executive summary for warm intros
  • Source data room checklist
  • Two rounds of revisions
  • One walkthrough rehearsal call before your first investor meeting

Best when: you're going to market in the next 60–90 days and need the materials yesterday.

The foundation engagement

The 60-Day Finance Reset.

A fixed-fee, fixed-scope project that takes a messy or non-existent finance function and turns it into a real monthly rhythm. By day 60, you'll have a clean close, an operating model, a KPI dashboard, and a 13-week cash forecast — and you'll know whether you want to keep us on retainer.

Fixed fee
£8,500
60 days. Defined scope. No discovery phase, no surprise invoices, no upsells.
Book a 30-minute call
  • Week 1 Diagnostic. Where are the books? What's missing? What does good look like for this specific business? Written report at the end of week 1.
  • Weeks 2–4 Rebuild the close. Clean chart of accounts. Standardised monthly close process. Working with your bookkeeper, not around them.
  • Weeks 4–6 Operating model & KPI dashboard. Three-statement model and the 5–10 numbers that actually matter for your business.
  • Weeks 7–8 13-week cash flow & handover. Forecast built. Owner / bookkeeper trained to update it. Decision on retainer made on a no-pressure call.
Embedded CFO retainer

Stay on, or don't. Your call.

Most clients move from the 60-Day Reset onto a monthly retainer. Three tiers, each a fraction of a full-time CFO, all with a 6-month minimum and no long lock-ins after that.

Standard
£3,500/mo
For owners who need a steady monthly rhythm.
  • Monthly close review
  • KPI pack delivered by working day 10
  • One strategy call per month
  • Ad-hoc questions by email or Slack
  • Annual planning session
Plus
£5,500/mo
For owners deciding what's next.
  • Everything in Standard
  • Quarterly board pack
  • Scenario & forecasting work
  • Two strategy calls per month
  • Lender / investor relations support
Premium
£8,500/mo
For owners running hard at growth or exit.
  • Everything in Plus
  • Weekly cadence, embedded in operating reviews
  • M&A support (buy-side or sell-side)
  • Exit-prep & vendor due diligence
  • Direct access, same-day response
About

Built and run by Tom McCollum.

Tom McCollum
Trained at KPMG ACA Chartered Accountant 10+ years finance leadership £10m–£250m deal experience

I'm an ACA-qualified finance director with ten-plus years across M&A, private equity, and CFO roles for growth-stage and founder-led businesses. Compass & Ledger is the firm I'd have wanted to hire on the way through.

I trained at KPMG in Corporate Finance, working on M&A transactions in the £100m–£200m range across the TMT sector — buy-side and sell-side due diligence on private equity deals. From there I moved into buyside investment, running LBO, DCF and credit models on transactions from £10m to £250m, spanning debt raises, refinancings, MBOs, and minority stake sales.

Since 2021 I've been the embedded finance lead for a small number of venture-backed startups, off-market real asset platforms, and hospitality and consumer brands — building finance functions from scratch, running monthly close and KPI reporting, and supporting capital raises along the way.

Most fractional CFO offerings either drown owners in jargon or hand them a bookkeeper with a fancier title. Neither helps. What helps is someone who can sit across from you, look at the same numbers you're looking at, tell you what they actually mean, and then go and build the systems so next month's numbers come out cleaner.

That's the work. It's not flashy. It compounds. I take on a small number of clients at any time so each gets real attention — if we're not a fit on the discovery call, I'll tell you and try to point you somewhere better.

Book a 30-minute call

Common questions

Things owners and acquirers ask before we start.

Do you replace my bookkeeper or accountant?
No. We work alongside them. A good bookkeeper is essential — they handle data entry, payroll, VAT, statutory accounts. We sit on top of that: we make the numbers tell a story, build the dashboards, run the forecasting, and translate it all into decisions. If you don't have a bookkeeper, we can introduce you to one we trust.
What if I just acquired the business and the books are a mess?
That's exactly what the 60-Day Reset is built for. We assume nothing works. We start with a diagnostic, fix the chart of accounts, rebuild the close, and have you running on a clean monthly rhythm by day 60. Most of our acquirer clients arrive in roughly this state.
Why fixed fee instead of hourly?
Hourly billing punishes both sides. You're afraid to send an email; we're incentivised to drag work out. Fixed fees mean you know what you're paying, and we're incentivised to do the work efficiently and well. Same reason your accountant doesn't bill the audit hourly.
Should I start with the Operating Model, the Reset, or the Capital Raise Pack?
If you just need a clean, usable model and don't have wider finance issues to fix, start with the £3,000 Operating Model. If your finance function is genuinely broken or you've inherited a mess from a previous owner, start with the 60-Day Reset. If you're going to market for capital in the next 60–90 days, start with the Capital Raise Pack. We'll tell you on the discovery call which one fits — and if none of them do, we'll say so.
Do I have to start with a project before going onto a retainer?
Almost always, yes. A project (most commonly the Reset) gives us both a defined, low-risk way to find out if we work well together, and it leaves you with real deliverables even if you decide not to continue. We occasionally take on retainer-only clients but only when the finance function is already in good shape.
How is this different from hiring a full-time financial controller or CFO?
A full-time controller costs £60–90k a year plus overhead and rarely brings strategic perspective. A full-time CFO at a £5M business is over-engineered for the stage and costs £120k+. Our retainers run £42k–£102k a year and give you someone who's seen the same problems across many similar businesses. Once you're past £15M revenue or genuinely need full-time presence, we'll tell you and help you hire.
Do you work with US clients?
Yes. We work with UK and US-based owners and acquirers, async-friendly, and we're familiar with both UK GAAP / FRS 102 and US GAAP at the level needed for owner-operated businesses. For audit-grade US work we'll partner with a US CPA.
What industries don't you work with?
VC-backed software startups (different game), regulated financial services (different specialism), and very early-stage businesses below £1M revenue. Beyond that, we're industry-agnostic — the finance fundamentals look similar across most operating businesses.
Next step

Thirty minutes. No pitch deck. Just your situation, and what we'd do.

If we're a fit, we'll tell you. If we're not, we'll tell you that too — and where to look instead. Either way you'll leave the call with a clearer picture of what good finance looks like for your business.

Book a 30-minute discovery call

Or email tom@compassandledger.co.uk directly.