Distressed-Company CFO
Distressed-Company CFO
When liquidity is tight and the lender is watching, you need a CFO who has done this before — cash measured in weeks, a bank that wants answers, and a way through.
A distressed company runs on a different clock. Cash is measured in weeks, every disbursement is a decision, and the lender wants visibility you may not currently produce. The generalist playbook doesn't apply, and most fractional CFOs have never run the distressed one.
This is the heart of the practice. The work is active liquidity management, a credible weekly cash flow, lender-ready reporting that rebuilds confidence, covenant bridges, and the analysis behind a restructuring or refinancing. The goal is simple: protect the business and create options while there are still options to create.
Distressed work is reporting-intensive under deadline, which is exactly where the discipline earns its keep — producing and refreshing a 13-week cash flow, a covenant bridge, and a lender package fast enough to keep pace with the situation.
What lands each month
Concrete deliverables with a defined scope — so you see exactly what you get, not an open hourly meter.
Active liquidity control
Weekly 13-week cash flow with receipts-and-disbursements detail, and disciplined disbursement decisions.
Lender-ready reporting
The forecast, narrative, and covenant bridge that keep the bank informed and patient.
Covenant bridge
Where you stand against each covenant and the realistic path back into compliance.
Restructuring analysis
Scenario and liquidity modeling to inform a workout, refinancing, or sale.
A steady hand
Senior presence in the room — with the board, the lender, and the team — through the critical period.
Why not a staffing firm
Distress is the one situation a 300-person bookkeeping bench is structurally built to handle worst. It needs an operator who has sat across from a lender in a workout — not whoever was free this week.
Case study · Manufacturing
13-week
cash flow stood up and run weekly through the workout
A covenant breach put the company into a lender workout. The bank wanted weekly cash visibility and a credible plan; the founder had neither the time nor a finance function built for that pressure.
Read the case studyQuestions
What does a distressed-company CFO actually do?
Protects liquidity and creates options. Day to day that's a weekly 13-week cash flow, disciplined disbursement decisions, lender-ready reporting, covenant bridges, and the analysis behind any restructuring, refinancing, or sale — plus being the steady senior voice in the room with the board and the bank.
We may be heading into forbearance — can you help?
Yes. Forbearance support is core: the weekly cash reporting the lender will require, the covenant bridge, the narrative and forecast that earn an extension, and the analysis behind amended terms. See the Turnaround CFO page for the full restructuring side.
How fast can you start?
Days. In a distressed situation the first priority is triage — stand up the 13-week cash flow, assess covenant exposure, and stabilize lender communication — so nothing critical slips while we get oriented.
How much does a Distressed-Company CFO cost?
Distressed engagements start at $15K/month given the weekly liquidity control and lender work involved. When time allows, a Diagnostic Sprint ($7,500) gives a fast read on the situation first. See Pricing.
Related engagements
Turnaround / Distressed CFO
For the rooms where the bank is already on the phone — forbearance, covenant breach, restructuring. This is the work most fractional shops never touch.
PE-Backed CFO
Sponsor-grade reporting and covenant discipline for portfolio companies — built for the cadence a PE owner expects, without a full-time hire the platform can't yet justify.
Interim CFO
When the seat opens unexpectedly, you need a steady hand in days — to stabilize cash, hold the board and the bank, and hand off clean.
Book a working session.
A 20-minute call, a clear read on your numbers, and a straight answer on whether a fractional CFO is the right call right now.