Frequently Asked Questions

A fractional executive is a senior-level leader (CFO, CMO, COO) who works with your company part-time. You get the expertise and strategic leadership of a C-suite hire at a fraction of the cost.

Consultants advise. We operate. Our fractional executives sit in your leadership meetings, manage your teams, and are accountable for outcomes — not just recommendations.

We specialize in trades and home services (HVAC, plumbing, electrical, roofing) and professional services firms. We serve businesses between $2M and $50M in revenue; the CFO Partnership is designed primarily for businesses above $5M, with the Executive Advisory tier serving the $2M–$5M range.

Yes. Our core services are fractional CFO and CMO, but we operate alongside a trusted network of COO/Integrators, CTOs, CHROs, and implementation specialists. If your business needs a specific kind of senior leadership we don't carry in-house, we'll connect you — or integrate them into the engagement.

Yes, and many of our clients do. Pairing a fractional CFO and CMO creates powerful alignment between financial strategy and revenue generation. The CFO ensures marketing spend is tied to ROI, while the CMO ensures growth strategies are funded and prioritized. At Local Fractional, our CFO-CMO teams share data, KPIs, and accountability.

Cash flow planning, financial forecasting, KPI development, strategic guidance, leadership team participation, and exit planning preparation.

Our Fractional Executive Advisory tier is $2,500/month for strategic mentorship — best for businesses with clean, up-to-date bookkeeping. Fractional CFO Partnership engagements run $5,000–$10,000+/month flat retainer for embedded executive leadership: 13-week cash flow, KPI scorecards, EOS/Traction integration. Bookkeeping and controller-level support are available through strategic partners.

Yes. A fractional CFO works with your existing accounting team or bookkeeper. We can also provide bookkeeping through our network if needed.

A CPA is focused on tax compliance, reporting, and auditing the past. A fractional CFO is focused on the future — cash flow planning, strategic financing, pricing strategy, capital decisions, and executive-level counsel on where the business is going. Most growing companies need both, not one instead of the other.

A full-time CFO in Dallas-Fort Worth typically costs $180K–$300K+ in salary alone, plus benefits, bonus, and equity. A Fractional CFO Partnership with us runs $5,000–$10,000+/month flat retainer — roughly 30–40% of the fully loaded cost of a full-time hire, for 80–120%+ of the day-to-day impact for businesses in the $2M–$50M range.

We tie the engagement to measurable outcomes from day one: cash runway extended, margin improvement, successful capital raise, EBITDA lift, faster close cycle, or exit readiness. Before we take on an engagement, we agree on the 2–3 business outcomes that will define success, then report against them monthly.

Yes — this is the most common reason we're hired. We build rolling 13-week cash flow forecasts, stress test scenarios, identify trapped working capital, and install the reporting rhythm that keeps leadership ahead of cash events instead of reacting to them.

Absolutely. Exit preparation is one of our core strengths. We clean up financials, install the reporting and KPI discipline buyers expect, defensibly normalize EBITDA, build the data room, and work alongside M&A advisors and attorneys through diligence and close. Typical readiness work starts 12–24 months before a planned transaction.

Look for operating experience (not just consulting), industry familiarity, clarity on deliverables and accountability, and chemistry with your leadership team. Ask specifically how they'll measure the engagement's success and how they'll integrate with your existing bookkeeper, CPA, and key managers.

Prioritize firms with operational depth in your revenue range and industry, a track record of measurable outcomes (not just strategy decks), and the ability to extend beyond finance — because growth-stage businesses rarely need a CFO in isolation. Local Fractional was built around that specific gap for Dallas-Fort Worth businesses.

A bookkeeper records transactions and reconciles accounts. A fractional CFO interprets the financial data, builds forward-looking forecasts, develops KPI dashboards, guides strategic decisions, sits in your leadership meetings, and prepares your business for growth or exit. Think of it this way: your bookkeeper tells you what happened, your CFO tells you what to do about it.

Fractional CFO pricing varies widely by scope and business size. At Local Fractional, we offer two tiers: the Fractional Executive Advisory tier is $2,500/month for strategic mentorship (requires clean, current bookkeeping), and the Fractional CFO Partnership runs $5,000–$10,000+/month flat retainer for embedded executive leadership. Bookkeeping and controller-level support are available through strategic partners on higher-tier CFO engagements.

Strategic marketing leadership: brand architecture, channel strategy, team management, sales alignment, and accountability for marketing-driven revenue.

Most run 6-12 months. The first month is audit and roadmap, then ongoing execution and optimization.

Our CFOs and CMOs operate as a single leadership team on joint engagements. The CFO sets the financial targets and unit economics; the CMO builds the pipeline and spend strategy to hit them. Sales, marketing, and finance ship one forecast — not three competing ones. This is the combination most agencies and solo fractional executives can't deliver on their own.

Weeks 1-2 are a full brand and revenue audit: website, collateral, campaigns and analytics, a sales-and-marketing alignment assessment, and a competitor and market review. Weeks 3-4 turn that into a strategic roadmap — the North Star strategy tied to your revenue goals, channel selection and budget allocation, and the KPI framework we will measure against. You have a written plan before any spend changes.

Funnel maths, by channel rather than blended: traffic to lead to close, and customer acquisition cost against lifetime value for each channel separately. A blended number hides one channel quietly subsidising three others. The measurement framework is set up in the first month so there is a baseline to judge everything after it against.

Leading indicators — pipeline quality, cost per qualified lead, conversion rate between stages — usually move first, within the first weeks of execution. Revenue follows on your sales cycle, so a business with a 90-day cycle should expect roughly a quarter before the effect shows up in closed revenue. Anyone promising closed revenue in week three is describing a different business than yours.

Usually not — we direct them. A fractional CMO is an executive seat, not a replacement for the people doing the work: briefing agencies and freelancers, holding them to a standard, and giving your in-house marketer the strategy and air cover they have probably been missing. Where the audit finds a vendor or channel that is not earning its keep, we will say so plainly, and that is your call to make.

The seat owns positioning, the offer, channel mix, funnel maths, and team and vendor management. Execution runs through your existing team or through vendors we brief and hold accountable, which keeps the cost of the strategic seat separate from the cost of production. If you have no execution capacity at all, we will tell you what you need before we start rather than after.

Individual results, not averages, and yours will depend on your market and starting point. A professional services founder went from an agency she could not measure to a lead generation system booking 15 or more qualified appointments a month. An electrical contracting president went from zero qualified leads to a full pipeline in one quarter after a full strategy rebuild. Both are published in full on our testimonials page.

Dallas, Texas. But we work with clients nationwide. If you can use Zoom, we can meet you in your office.

Book a free introductory consultation. No pitch, just a conversation to understand your situation and see if we can help.

Our standard cadence is weekly leadership touchpoints, monthly full financial reviews, and board-style reporting when needed. Between meetings we're embedded via Slack, email, or your preferred channel — not hard-to-reach consultants. Pace can scale up for active transactions, capital raises, or crisis work.

We work alongside your bookkeeper, CPA, operations leads, and any existing management team — not around them. In the first 30 days we learn your tools, reporting rhythm, and decision-making style, then plug in without forcing you to rebuild your stack. The goal is leverage, not disruption.

Both. We're Dallas-based, so for local clients we're regularly onsite for leadership meetings, planning days, and critical reviews. National clients work with us fully remotely through video, shared dashboards, and async reporting. Either model can deliver the same outcomes.

Yes. While we are based in Dallas-Fort Worth and most of our clients are in Texas, we work with businesses nationwide. Our engagements are primarily remote with regular video meetings, and we travel to client sites for quarterly planning sessions and critical milestones when needed.