What does a fractional CFO do for an e-commerce brand?

You’ve got your accounting in order, your books are easy to read and professional, and you’re ready to take your profits to the next level.

At Seller Accountant, we provide two main services: bookkeeping and a fractional CFO service. And while we find many clients are interested in CFO services, they’re not entirely sure what that role looks like for their e-commerce business.

Tyler explains what his role looks like as a fractional CFO to clients at Seller Accountant.

The first thing you can expect from a fractional CFO is an assessment of what shape your business is in right now. Your CFO will carefully comb through all past and current performance, using metrics like year over year growth, ad spend percentage, and post advertising gross. This will give you as a business owner a solid starting point from which to measure future performance.

Your CFO will then analyze the data in the context of their significant industry knowledge. Without something to compare them to, these numbers don’t mean much. The CFO will be able to advise you on whether any changes you see month-to-month are normal, unusually good, or cause for concern in light of the industry as a whole.

An important part of the CFO-business owner relationship is understanding the goals of the owner and creating a plan of action for those goals. As a business owner, you should have an idea of where you want your business to be by a certain deadline: by the end of the quarter, by the start of the new year, by 2025.

The CFO will work with you to determine whether your goals are realistic for the timeline you’ve set and how to break them down into actionable steps. Together, you will identify lead measures your operations team can put into place to point your business in the right direction. These could be things like setting a limit on your monthly ad spending, sourcing your product from a new vendor, or hiring an outsourced firm to do your accounting.

Once you’ve got a solid set of goals in place, you’ll be able to check in on an ongoing basis with your CFO, and they will analyze your business’s performance in relation to your goals. That way, you can course correct as needed and determine next steps in light of whether or not you’re on track to meet your objectives.