Fractional CFO Services
Experienced fractional CFOs matched to your business in around 7 days. Houston & Ko sources senior freelance and remote finance leadership globally, all under one Swiss contract, with hourly rates or monthly mandates built to flex with your needs.
Find a fractional CFO who brings senior financial leadership when you need it most
From a single fundraising round to an ongoing strategic finance function, we match Swiss and EU businesses with experienced fractional CFOs, on hourly rates or monthly mandates, sourced from around the globe. Every CFO is experienced, has run a finance function before, and is covered by a single Swiss contract from day one.
Cash flow and liquidity management
Rolling cash flow forecasting, runway modelling and liquidity planning, so you know what the next twelve months look like before you commit to anything.
Fundraising and investor readiness
Financial models, data room preparation and investor reporting, built to the standard the people reviewing them expect.
Financial strategy and planning
Budgeting, scenario planning and the long-range view that turns a set of accounts into a decision-making tool.
Management reporting
Board packs, KPI reporting and monthly management accounts, prepared so the numbers tell the story rather than needing one.
Pricing and margin analysis
Which products carry the margin, which customers cost you money, and what a price change actually does to profit.
Banking and financing
Credit applications, bank relationships and debt structuring, handled by someone who has sat on both sides of that conversation.
Finance function build-out
Processes, controls, systems and hiring plans, so the finance function keeps working after the engagement ends.
M&A and transaction support
Due diligence preparation, valuation support and post-deal integration for businesses buying, selling or merging.
Interim and project cover
Short-term senior finance capacity for a specific project, a system migration or a gap in the team.
What is a fractional CFO?
A fractional CFO is an experienced chief financial officer who works with your business part-time, usually a few days a month, providing the strategic financial leadership a full-time CFO would without the cost of a full-time hire.
The role is forward-looking. A bookkeeper records what happened, an accountant reports it and a financial controller makes sure it is accurate and compliant. A CFO uses all of that to answer what happens next: whether you can afford the hire, what the runway actually is, whether the pricing model works, and what the business needs to look like financially to raise or sell.
How this differs from an interim CFO
The terms get used interchangeably but the engagements are different.
An interim CFO steps in full-time to cover a gap, usually while a permanent CFO is being recruited, and the job is continuity. A fractional CFO works a few days a month on an ongoing basis for a business that does not need a full-time CFO at all, and the job is strategic direction.
If you are covering a departure, our interim CFO service is the better fit. If you need senior financial thinking without a full-time salary, this page is the right one.
At a glance
Experienced finance leaders who have run a finance function before
Strategic focus: cash flow, fundraising, pricing and planning
Hourly rates or monthly mandates, scales with what you need
Senior financial leadership without a full-time CFO salary
Why hire a fractional CFO?
Most growing businesses reach a point where the accounts are accurate but nobody is reading them strategically. The bookkeeping is fine, the numbers arrive on time, and yet nobody can say with confidence what the cash position will be in six months, whether the new product line is actually profitable, or what the business needs to show an investor.
That gap usually appears somewhere between CHF 1 million and CHF 20 million of revenue. Too big to run on instinct, too small to justify a CFO salary that in Switzerland starts around CHF 180,000 and climbs well past CHF 250,000.
A fractional CFO fills it. Two or three days a month from someone who has done the job before is usually enough to build the reporting, set the planning rhythm and be in the room for the decisions that matter.
The benefits of outsourcing CFO services
Bringing in a fractional CFO gives you senior financial leadership at a fraction of the cost of a permanent hire, and on exactly the scale your business justifies.
Senior finance leadership without a full-time CFO salary
Experience from businesses further along than yours
Scale up around fundraising and scale back afterwards
An outside view of numbers your team may be too close to
One simple Swiss contract covers all your support
Hourly rates or monthly mandates, no permanent contract needed
Industries we help find fractional CFOs
From a scaling startup to an established mid-sized business, we match finance leadership to the economics of your sector. Every CFO we place already understands the margins, cash cycles and reporting expectations your industry runs on.
Startups and scaling businesses
Runway modelling, fundraising preparation and investor reporting for founders heading into a round or trying to avoid needing one.
Technology and SaaS
ARR, churn, CAC payback and unit economics, handled by CFOs who know which metrics a tech investor actually interrogates.
E-commerce and retail
Inventory financing, working capital cycles and channel profitability for businesses where cash is tied up in stock.
Manufacturing and industrial
Cost accounting, capital expenditure planning and margin analysis across long production and payment cycles.
Professional services and consulting
Utilisation, project profitability and partner compensation modelling for businesses whose main cost is people.
Transportation and logistics
Asset financing, fuel and fleet cost modelling and the thin-margin discipline the sector demands.
Hospitality
Seasonal cash flow, covers and occupancy economics, and financing for businesses with heavy fixed costs.
Health and medical practices
Practice economics, equipment financing and partner structures for clinics and medical groups.
Real estate and property
Project financing, development appraisals and portfolio-level reporting for developers and property businesses.
Insurance and finance
Regulatory capital, reporting standards and compliance-aware financial leadership in a supervised environment.
Charities and non-profits
Restricted fund management, grant reporting and reserves policy, prepared to the standards trustees and funders expect.
Marketing and creative agencies
Retainer versus project revenue, resourcing economics and the cash flow swings agency life produces.
Law firms
Matter profitability, work in progress and partner drawings for practices where cash and billing rarely get managed strategically.
Family businesses
Succession planning, governance and the financial structuring that keeps ownership transitions from becoming disputes.
Education and training
Enrolment-driven revenue, fixed cost bases and multi-year planning for schools and training providers.
Tell us what you need and we’ll match you with an experienced fractional CFO, ready to start in around 7 days.
How hiring works
From the first conversation with us to your fractional CFO starting – in about a week.
1. Tell us what you need
Share the role, the tasks, and the hours. A quick call is all it takes to get started.
2. We match you with talent
We shortlist fractional CFOs, the top 14% who pass our screening, and present the best fits for you to choose from.
3. Start in around 7 days
Choose your CFO and start working, under one simple Swiss contract with us.
Businesses we supported with expert remote talent
*A 30-min, no-obligation consultation call.
Ready to find your fractional CFO?
Tell us what you need and we’ll match you with an experienced fractional CFO, ready to start in around 7 days.
*A 30-min, no-obligation consultation call.
Fractional CFO FAQs
The usual trigger is a decision you cannot answer with confidence. Can we afford these hires? What happens to the runway if growth slows for two quarters? Is this product line actually making money once everything is allocated to it? If those questions get answered with estimates rather than numbers, that is the gap.
Other signals: you are heading into a fundraise, a bank wants projections you cannot produce, growth has outpaced the reporting, or you are spending time on financial questions that is coming out of running the business. In practice the need tends to appear somewhere between CHF 1 million and CHF 20 million of revenue.
Our fractional CFOs work on an hourly basis, from CHF 150 to CHF 250 per hour, or on a fixed monthly mandate for ongoing engagements, depending on experience and scope.
Most businesses need two to four days a month, which is a fraction of the CHF 180,000 to CHF 250,000 a full-time CFO commands in Switzerland before employer costs. No recruitment fees, no upfront costs, one rate, one Swiss invoice. See the full pricing guide on our Pricing page.
Our fractional CFOs cover the full strategic finance remit including:
- Cash flow forecasting, runway modelling and liquidity planning
- Budgeting, scenario planning and long-range financial strategy
- Fundraising preparation, financial models and investor reporting
- Board packs and monthly management reporting
- Pricing, margin and profitability analysis
- Bank relationships, credit applications and debt structuring
- Building out the finance function, processes and controls
- M&A, due diligence and transaction support
- Hiring and mentoring the internal finance team
Need something specific to your sector or stage? Tell us at briefing and we’ll source for it.
Our CFOs are freelance professionals, but your commercial contract is with Houston & Ko, an established Swiss GmbH, so all of your finance support sits under a single, robust Swiss agreement. You deal with us; we handle the legal setup, compliance and invoicing. In Switzerland fractional CFO engagements run under a service agreement rather than an employment contract, which is exactly how ours are structured.
Most fractional engagements run between two and six days a month, which is enough for monthly reporting, planning and being available for decisions as they come up. Common setups include:
- A fixed number of days each month on an ongoing basis
- Heavier involvement around a fundraise, then back to a lighter rhythm
- A defined project such as building a financial model or preparing for a bank
- Short-term full-time cover during a transition
Hourly rates or monthly mandates scale up or down at any time, with none of the constraints of a permanent contract.
Our founders work with you directly to define the role, then match you with candidates from our pre-vetted pool, only the 14% who pass full screening. For a CFO engagement, be clear on:
- Your revenue and stage, which determines the level of experience that fits
- What is driving the need: fundraising, growth, a bank, or simply better visibility
- Whether you want ongoing support or a defined project
- Your sector, since industry economics vary enormously at this level
- Who they will work with internally, and what finance capability already exists
See how our process works → Process page.
At this level, past experience matters more than technical testing. Good questions include:
- “Tell me about a business at our stage you worked with. What did you change first?”
- “Walk me through a cash flow situation you had to manage. What did you do?”
- “How do you work with a founder who disagrees with your recommendation?”
- “What would you expect to see in our numbers in the first month?”
- “What does this business look like financially in two years if the engagement works?”
Ask about failures too. A CFO who has been through a business running out of road has judgement that one who has only seen growth does not.
1. Be clear on whether you need strategy or execution. If the issue is that the numbers are late or wrong, you may need a financial controller rather than a CFO. If the issue is that the numbers are fine but nobody is deciding anything with them, that is a CFO.
2. Match seniority to your stage. Someone from a CHF 500 million business often struggles in a CHF 3 million one, where there is no team to delegate to. Ask what size businesses they have worked with recently.
3. Check sector experience honestly. At CFO level, industry economics matter. Inventory-heavy retail and a services business need genuinely different instincts.
4. Start with a defined piece of work. A financial model, a board pack, a thirteen-week cash flow. You learn more from one delivered piece of work than from three interviews.
5. Work with a specialist recruitment partner. If you want to skip the sourcing and screening, working with Houston & Ko gives you access to pre-vetted fractional CFOs, placed within 7 days, under a single Swiss contract with no minimum commitment. Contact us today.