Every business aspires to create sustainable financial success.
Whether project-based or a permanent solution, hiring a CFO Advisor can be your best asset to achieve this goal.
Here we explore what CFO Advisors do and how they can help companies reach and exceed financial and operational goals.
The Role of a CFO Advisor
CFO Advisors can channel their financial and operational expertise into a strategic role to create success for a company and its stakeholders.
What a CFO Advisor can do
A CFO Advisor can:
- Prepare detailed financial and management reports
- Work with auditors
- Assist with tax planning
- Recommend policies around controls and payroll
- Conduct budgeting and forecasting
- Participate in mergers and acquisitions
- Suggest resolutions to compliance issues
Specifically, CFO Advisors can perform a number of essential tasks.
If necessary, a CFO Advisor will act as a right hand and sounding board for the chief executive officer (CEO) to help the business grow.
This relationship can relieve the CEO of the burden of managing relationships with investors, lenders, and key partners.
CFO Advisors help nurture relationships with sources of capital and ensure timely collection of revenue.
Because business is more data-driven than ever, CFO Advisors provide analysis of this data and offer key insights.
They assess your processes and operations, suggest improvements and help implement changes.
When CFO Advisory Services Are Needed
When Are CFO Advisory Services Needed
During Rapid Growth
When a business is experiencing rapid growth, this is an important indicator that a CFO Advisor is needed.
An expansion of automated systems, and additional capital and financing is necessary for growth.
With the potential for increased complexity, a CFO Advisor is well suited to handle rapid revenue growth.
They will handle the interpretation of the investment and technology and the terms of acquiring capital.
CFO Advisors can analyze the current financial position, market trends to implement the best strategies, and improve cash flow and profits of the company in order for the company to grow more quickly.
CFO Advisors are an important resource for companies experiencing rapid growth.
As a Change Specialist
With a future that is more unpredictable than ever, you need an expert to turn to.
Shifting market dynamics, new leadership models and disruptive technology require an ability to adapt.
This is why a CFO Advisor is often referred to as a change specialist.
CFO Advisors can help identify new opportunities so that they can transform the company’s products and markets.
These opportunities also assist them in capitalizing and planning for future growth as well as creating and effectively communicating the corporate growth plan.
Mergers and Acquisitions
A team is needed to evaluate a company’s potential merger and/or acquisition.
In many instances, this task will be outsourced to a firm that will also perform the financial and regulatory due diligence.
The reports prepared by this firm can be reviewed and interpreted by the CFO Advisor who will tailor the terms according to the findings.
In turn, the CFO Advisor will communicate these findings to a potential investor or lender and be prepared and anticipate any questions.
This will help speed up the process of any merger or acquisition.
It will also alleviate other members of the company from the burden of having to deal with this complex financial procedure.
Evaluating Profitability
When your company’s profit margins are not at a desirable level and you are not sure why, a CFO Advisor can be invaluable.
This resource can improve profitability by controlling costs, improving productivity, and analyzing pricing strategies.
Better decisions can be made across the company when it has a better understanding of its profitability.
Having a CFO Advisor can keep the necessary players informed with past and current financial reports.
More Complex Tax Planning
Upholding a company’s tax obligations is of the utmost importance.
Preparing and disclosing accurate financial results weighs heavily on a company’s integrity.
If it is becoming difficult to perform these tasks, it is time to consider hiring a CFO Advisor.
Tax rules and regulations can become complex and convoluted.
A CFO Advisor will act as an advisor and assist you in interpreting and following them.
They can provide these services:
- Interpret changes in tax law and which ones apply to your company
- Analyze tax benefits of different transactions within the company
- Improve tax positions
- Develop and preserve assets
- Provide guidance for financial overlaps
Financial Model – Strategic Planning
All businesses need a good financial model that represents their strategy.
Strategic planning requires an investment in people and technology to support business processes such as budgeting, forecasting, and long-term planning.
Strategic planning support across the business
Having an effective CFO Advisor can support this process by balancing their role of strategist across the business.
Businesses can benefit from having a CFO Advisor help them with their strategic planning by bringing a high-level perspective to the organization’s finance and accounting needs.
They can ensure that the financial constraints surrounding the strategy are realistic and not too risky.
A CFO Advisor is at the center of developing any good strategic plan.
CFO Advisors will work with others within the company to communicate business performance and issues to those who need to know.
They help in facilitating discussion and decision making amongst the company ranks to ensure efficiency and keep them motivated.
To that end, because the CFO Advisor is more knowledgeable about the company’s finances, it can outline the details of a strategic plan, test it, review its viability, and advise on potential changes to it.
If necessary, they are usually skilled enough to take over the planning all together if it proves to be too complex.
This will relieve other members of the company from having this workload so they can focus on the other necessary aspects of the business.
Visibility of Future Cash Flows
If your business’s capital is not growing and you need someone to take charge of it, you may need a CFO Advisor.
Determining the specific investment strategy and the asset classes (equities, bonds, or cash) is something that a CFO Advisor can determine.
Forecasting and payment discipline
A CFO Advisor can help execute an accurate forecast, evaluate your terms, segment your customers, suppliers, and inventory, and set up and enforce a payment discipline.
Understanding Margins
In order to make the proper operating adjustments, you have to be able to understand your company’s margins.
From gross profit margin to net margin, there are a lot of details and calculations involved when determining these figures.
It can become quite complicated and tedious if you are not familiar with the process.
Having a CFO Advisor at your side can help ease the pain and stress of being able to figure out and understand your company’s margins.
Detailed Financial Data
If the company is lacking detailed financial data, it may be time to look into hiring a CFO Advisor.
This information is critical in making sound business decisions.
If you do not have this information, you may be making decisions partially based upon intuition and gut.
Not being aware of industry, economic or regulatory changes could drastically affect your business.
This lack of information could also prevent you from being able to generate accurate financial reports required by bankers, suppliers, shareholders, investors, and partners.
A CFO Advisor provides the company with the detailed financial data it needs to avoid these detrimental situations.
Consider CFO Advisory Services
CFO Advisors are valued for their experience in mergers and acquisitions, independent thinking, their external networks, and strategic insight.
Many of them have already served in or with professional service firms such as investment banking, consulting, or private equity for a large portion of their career.
Here at Bowers
Here at Bowers, we have been providing financial services since 1978.
We may be the strategic partner you need to move your business forward!
Give us a call if you would like to discuss our CFO Advisory services in further detail.
FAQs About CFO Advisory Services
CFO advisory services go beyond accounting support—they help business owners turn financial data into smarter decisions. From forecasting cash flow and improving margins to guiding growth, tax strategy, and major transactions, a CFO Advisor brings strategic finance leadership that scales with your needs. If you’re facing rapid change or simply want clearer visibility into performance, CFO advisory support can help you move forward with confidence.
What is a CFO Advisor?
A CFO Advisor is a senior finance leader who helps guide strategy, financial performance, and decision-making—without necessarily hiring a full-time CFO.
What’s the difference between a CFO Advisor and a controller?
A controller typically focuses on accurate accounting, close, and reporting. A CFO Advisor focuses on forward-looking strategy—forecasting, cash planning, profitability improvement, capital strategy, and high-level decision support.
Do I need a CFO Advisor if I already have a CPA firm?
Often, yes. A CPA firm may handle compliance work (tax, audit, financial statements), while a CFO Advisor helps you use financial data to run the business—turning reporting into decisions.
When should a business consider CFO advisory services?
Common triggers include rapid growth, cash flow strain, pricing or margin pressure, lender/investor needs, complex tax planning, system/process upgrades, leadership transitions, or M&A activity.
Can a CFO Advisor help with cash flow problems?
Yes. They can build or refine cash flow forecasts, tighten AR/AP discipline, evaluate terms, identify working-capital opportunities, and create a plan for steadier cash visibility.
What does a CFO Advisor do during rapid growth?
They help make growth financially sustainable—modeling scenarios, planning capital needs, improving forecasting, strengthening reporting, and helping leadership prioritize investments in people, systems, and inventory.
How can a CFO Advisor improve profitability?
By analyzing margins, pricing, costs, and productivity—then building a plan to improve results (often by product/service line, customer segment, or job/project type).
Can a CFO Advisor support mergers and acquisitions?
Yes. They can help prepare your financials for due diligence, interpret diligence findings, evaluate deal terms, model outcomes, and communicate clearly with lenders/investors during the process.
What information should we have ready to start?
Typically: recent financial statements, a budget (if you have one), AR/AP aging, debt schedules, payroll or labor data, tax filings, and any current forecasts or KPIs you track.
Is CFO advisory project-based or ongoing?
Either. Many companies start with a project (forecast rebuild, profitability review, KPI dashboard, strategic plan) and then transition to ongoing monthly support.
How do CFO Advisors work with owners and leadership teams?
They act as a strategic partner—helping translate financial data into clear options, tradeoffs, and next steps, and supporting leadership meetings with reporting, analysis, and accountability.