CFO for hire
CFO for Hire: Senior Financial Leadership Without the Full-Time Cost
Some companies need a CFO but cannot — or should not — hire one full-time. A CFO for hire gives you the same senior judgment in the seat: cash management, board and lender reporting, and a steady hand on the numbers when the stakes are real, without the $400K salary or the six-month search.
Who hires a CFO this way
A hired CFO is the right answer when the need for financial leadership is real but a full-time executive is the wrong shape — too slow to land, too expensive for the stage, or simply more seat than the company needs every week. Three situations come up again and again.
- PE-backed portfolio companies that need sponsor-grade reporting and a finance leader who has managed lenders and boards before.
- Founder-led companies scaling past $5M in revenue that have outgrown a bookkeeper but cannot yet justify a full-time CFO.
- Companies in distress or a lender workout that need someone who can sit across the table from the bank and rebuild trust through accurate numbers.
What a hired CFO actually does
“CFO” is a broad title, so here is the concrete day-to-day. A hired CFO owns the financial leadership layer that sits above bookkeeping and below the CEO — the work that turns clean data into decisions.
- Cash management — the 13-week forecast, working-capital discipline, and knowing the low point weeks before it arrives.
- Reporting — board-ready monthly packages and the narrative that explains what changed and why.
- Lender calls — owning the covenant reporting, the borrowing base, and the direct communication with the bank.
- Board prep — the deck, the numbers, and the hard questions answered before they are asked.
- Team management — directing the controller, bookkeeper, and finance staff so the function runs without the CEO in it.
Interim vs. fractional vs. full-time
“Hiring a CFO” can mean three different things. The right one depends on whether you have a gap to fill, an ongoing need below full-time, or a finance organization at real scale.
| Interim | Fractional / Outsourced | Full-Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cost | Premium day rate; short, intense | $5K–$15K/mo retainer | $250K–$450K all-in |
| Speed to start | Days | Days to weeks | 3–6 month search |
| Commitment | Weeks to months | Ongoing, flexible scope | Permanent hire |
| Best for | A gap or a crisis to stabilize | Ongoing leadership below full-time need | Large, complex finance org at scale |
Why Cipher CFO
Plenty of firms will rent you a CFO. What sets Cipher CFO apart is where we are strongest: the hard situations most fractional shops avoid.
- Distressed-company specialization — turnarounds, workouts, and negative-working-capital chapters are core work here, not an exception.
- Forbearance experience — we have negotiated covenant relief and managed lenders through live defaults, and come out the other side.
- PE portco reporting — sponsor-grade monthly packages and the lender management that comes with leverage.
- Utah-based, serving nationally — a founder-led practice with one named CFO on every engagement, wherever you are.
Explore the full range of CFO services, see transparent fractional CFO pricing, or learn more about the practice behind the work.
Engagement models
We structure the engagement around your situation, not a fixed package.
- Retainer — ongoing monthly leadership with a defined scope and hours, scalable up during a crisis and down when it passes.
- Project — a bounded engagement with a finish line: a fundraise, audit prep, a restructuring, or a model build.
- Interim placement — full CFO coverage to bridge a departure or carry a company through an acute period.
What that looks like in practice
Anonymized, outcome-first snapshots of the kind of work a hired CFO does here.
Turnaround · Manufacturing
PE-backed manufacturer, $40M revenue, six-month forbearance period. Built the 13-week cash flow model, managed the lender relationship week to week, and steered the business through the workout — default avoided, covenant relief secured.
Scaling · Consumer products
Founder-led consumer brand past $8M revenue with no finance leadership. Stood up board-ready monthly reporting, a driver-based forecast, and a clean data room — giving the founder and board a credible picture for the first time ahead of a growth financing.
Distress · Distribution
Distribution company in a covenant breach with a nervous lender. Took over the reporting package and the bank communication, rebuilt trust through accurate weekly forecasts that landed within points of actuals, and negotiated an amended credit agreement.
Tell us what you're dealing with.
A 20-minute call. Describe the situation — the lender, the board, the cash, the gap — and we'll tell you straight whether we can help and how we'd approach it.