Short answer: A fractional CFO gives an established business senior financial leadership for a fixed monthly fee instead of a full-time salary. If you are comparing fractional CFO Dallas options, start with what you actually need: most businesses under a few million dollars in revenue need controller-level work first (a reliable month-end close and reviewed financials), with CFO-level forecasting and strategy layered on top. LUCI Financial Solutions, a Dallas–Fort Worth firm led by LaTara Scott, MBA, delivers both from one team: bookkeeping and controller support in the monthly tiers, CFO-level advisory in the Scale tier or as a standalone engagement, with one fixed monthly fee quoted after a discovery call.
What a fractional CFO Dallas engagement includes each month
The job is not bookkeeping and it is not tax. A fractional CFO works from books that are already closed and reviewed, and spends the month on the questions those books raise. In a typical engagement the work falls into four buckets.
- Cash flow forecasting. A rolling view of cash for the next quarter and the next year: what is coming in, what is going out, when the balance gets tight, and what to do about it before it does.
- Scenario planning. What happens to profit and cash if you hire two people in March, raise prices eight percent, open a second location, or lose your largest client. Each scenario is modeled, not guessed.
- Pricing and margin analysis. Which services, clients, locations or entities make money and which quietly do not. For a law firm that means margin by practice area; for a dental group it means margin by location after management fees.
- A monthly strategy meeting. The CFO walks the owner through the financial narrative, the KPI dashboard and the decisions on the table, then coordinates with the CPA, banker and other advisors so everyone works from the same numbers.
In our Scale tier, that is the list: a dedicated CFO-level partner in major decisions, monthly strategy meetings, senior accountant review with a monthly financial narrative, cash flow forecasting and scenario planning, pricing and margin analysis, revenue and profit planning, a KPI dashboard, and coordination with your CPA and other advisors. The full scope is on our fractional CFO services in Dallas page.
Controller or CFO: how to tell which one you need first
This is the question most owners skip, and it decides whether the money is well spent. A controller owns the accuracy of the numbers. A CFO owns what you do with them. A forecast built on a balance sheet nobody has reconciled is expensive fiction, so the controller layer comes first.
You need controller-level support if:
- Your month-end close finishes late or not at all, and you cannot say with confidence that the balance sheet is right.
- Nobody reviews the bookkeeper’s work before you see it.
- Your CPA sends a long list of adjusting entries every spring.
- You run more than one entity and the intercompany balances never quite tie.
You are ready for CFO-level work if the items above are handled and:
- You are deciding on a hire, a location, a loan, a large piece of equipment or a pricing change, and you want numbers behind the decision.
- Cash is unpredictable even though the business is profitable on paper. (Our guide to why a profitable business can be short on cash explains the usual causes.)
- You are preparing for a sale, a partner buyout or outside financing, and the bank or buyer will ask for forecasts.
- Revenue is growing faster than your understanding of where the profit comes from.
For most Dallas service businesses under a few million dollars in revenue, the honest answer is controller first, CFO work as the decisions call for it. That is why LaTara’s main focus today is controller-level work: owning the close, reviewing the team’s output and delivering financials an owner can rely on. Our outsourced controller services page shows what that looks like month to month, and our guide to the difference between a bookkeeper, a controller and a fractional CFO goes deeper on the three roles.
Full-time CFO, fractional CFO or controller support: side by side
| Question | Full-time CFO hire | Fractional CFO | Controller support |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you get | One senior executive on payroll, five days a week | Senior financial leadership for an agreed set of deliverables and meetings each month | Ownership of the month-end close, reviewed financials and reporting |
| Best fit | Larger companies with daily strategic finance needs, several departments or outside investors | Established businesses that need forecasting, pricing and decision support, but not every day | Businesses that have outgrown a bookkeeper and need numbers they can trust |
| Who closes the books | Usually a separate controller and accounting staff the CFO manages | A bookkeeping and controller team, ideally at the same firm as the CFO | This is the core of the service |
| Commitment | Employment: salary, benefits, recruiting, management | Fixed monthly fee; at LUCI, a three-month initial term, then month to month | Fixed monthly fee, same terms |
| If it is not working | A long, costly replacement search | Scope adjusts, or the engagement ends after the initial term | Same |
| Where it sits at LUCI | Not offered | Scale tier, or standalone advisory | Growth and Scale tiers |
What drives the cost of a fractional CFO
We will not quote a market rate here, because the honest range is wide and depends on who does the work and how much of it there is. What we can tell you is what moves the fee. The same factors apply whoever you hire.
Hours and meeting cadence
A monthly strategy meeting with a reviewed narrative is one level of effort. Weekly cash calls during a turnaround or a financing are another. Decide how often you need a CFO in the room, and the price follows.
Forecasting complexity
A single-location consulting firm with twelve retainer clients forecasts easily. A contractor with retainage, progress billing and job costing, or a practice with insurance receivables that pay 45 days late, does not. Scenario planning adds a layer on top of the base forecast.
Number of entities
Every additional LLC or practice entity means another set of books to consolidate, intercompany balances to reconcile and management fees to allocate before the forecast means anything. Owners of multi-entity groups should expect that to show up in the fee; our multi-entity accounting page explains why.
The state of the books
If the close is late or the balance sheet has never been reconciled, CFO work cannot start until that is fixed. At LUCI that happens in onboarding, which typically takes two to four weeks, or, where significant cleanup is needed, in a separate fixed-fee proposal before the monthly engagement begins.
Transaction volume, payroll and reporting needs
These drive the bookkeeping and controller layer underneath the CFO work. More accounts, more payroll complexity and more custom reporting mean more hours before anyone gets to strategy.
How LUCI prices fractional CFO work in Dallas
Every engagement starts with a discovery call. We look at your QuickBooks file, your entities, your reporting needs and the decisions in front of you, then send a fixed-fee proposal: one monthly number, no hourly surprises, with the one-time onboarding fee scoped in the same document. The initial commitment is three months, then month to month.
There are two ways in:
- The Scale tier. Bookkeeping, senior review, controller-level reporting and CFO-level advisory from one team. The right fit when you want the whole finance function handled and a strategy meeting every month.
- Standalone fractional CFO advisory. If you already have a bookkeeper or in-house accountant producing a clean close, we can engage on the CFO layer alone: forecasting, scenario planning, pricing analysis and the monthly meeting.
Not sure which? The $597 Financial Review & Assessment is a 60-minute review of your QuickBooks file that ends with a prioritized action plan. It usually settles the controller-or-CFO question in the first half hour.
How to read the plan table: start in the row that matches the questions you are asking today. If you mostly need accurate monthly statements, that is Core. If you want trends, budgets and a quarterly conversation, that is Growth. If you are weighing hires, prices, a second location or financing, that is the Scale tier, where the fractional CFO work lives.
Why bookkeeping and CFO work belong with the same team
Dallas owners often ask who offers bookkeeping and fractional CFO together, and the question matters for a practical reason. When the CFO and the bookkeeper work for different firms, every meeting starts with an argument about whether the numbers are right. When the person building your forecast also reviewed the close, the meeting starts with the decision.
That is how we are built. LaTara Scott, MBA, our founder and CEO, has more than 25 years in accounting, bookkeeping and financial operations leadership; Erin Marchbanks, our senior accountant, has 15 years in month-end close and financial reporting; Katrina Lochocki, CPA, our tax strategist, reviews the team’s work for clients with integrated tax services. You can read more on LaTara’s founder profile. We work virtually on secure cloud systems, serve clients across DFW and nationwide, and every set of financials gets a senior review before you see it.
Fractional CFO support in Plano, Frisco and across Dallas–Fort Worth
LUCI works with owners throughout the metroplex: Dallas neighborhoods such as Preston Hollow and Uptown, Plano, Frisco, Richardson, Irving and Fort Worth. Because the team works virtually on secure cloud systems, the monthly close, the reporting package and the strategy meetings are the same wherever the business sits, with meetings held by scheduled video or phone. Owners in Collin County often start with the books; our pages on bookkeeping in Plano and bookkeeping in Frisco cover that layer.
Whatever the location, the most requested piece of CFO-level work is the same: knowing which week cash gets tight before it happens. Our guide to building a 13-week cash flow forecast shows how that works, and the fractional CFO services in Dallas page lays out what the Scale tier includes.
Frequently asked questions
What does a fractional CFO do each month?
A fractional CFO maintains your cash flow forecast, models the scenarios you are weighing, analyzes pricing and margins by service or entity, and meets with you monthly to walk through the financial narrative and KPI dashboard. The CFO also coordinates with your CPA, banker and other advisors so that everyone works from the same numbers.
How do I know whether I need a controller or a CFO?
If your month-end close is late, nobody reviews the books, or your CPA sends a pile of adjusting entries each spring, you need a controller first. If the close is reliable and you are facing decisions about hiring, pricing, financing, expansion or a sale, you are ready for CFO-level work. For most businesses under a few million dollars in revenue, controller support is the foundation.
What drives the cost of fractional CFO services?
The main drivers are how many hours and meetings you need each month, how complex the forecasting is, how many entities have to be consolidated, and the condition of the books when you start. Transaction volume, payroll and reporting needs set the cost of the bookkeeping and controller layer underneath.
Who in Dallas offers bookkeeping and fractional CFO together?
LUCI Financial Solutions does, from one Dallas–Fort Worth team. Our Core and Growth tiers cover bookkeeping, reconciliations and reviewed financials, and the Scale tier adds a CFO-level partner, monthly strategy meetings, forecasting and scenario planning. Fractional CFO advisory is also available on its own.
What are the alternatives to hiring a full-time controller or CFO in Dallas?
The two main alternatives are outsourced controller services, which give you a reliable close and reviewed financials for a monthly fee, and a fractional CFO, which adds forecasting and decision support for the hours you need rather than a full-time salary. Many businesses combine the two through one firm.
Can I hire LUCI for fractional CFO work without moving my bookkeeping?
Yes. Fractional CFO advisory is available as a standalone engagement if your existing bookkeeper or in-house accountant produces a clean, timely close. If the close is not reliable, we will recommend fixing that first, because a forecast built on unreconciled books is not worth paying for.
Do you provide fractional CFO services in Plano and Frisco?
Yes. LUCI Financial Solutions serves businesses in Plano, Frisco and across Dallas–Fort Worth. The team works virtually on secure cloud systems, so the monthly close, reporting and strategy meetings by video or phone work the same anywhere in the metroplex.
Talk through the controller-or-CFO question with us
Tell us about your business, your entities and the decisions you are facing, and we will come back with a clear recommendation and a fixed monthly fee. Schedule a consultation with LUCI Financial Solutions, or start with the $597 Financial Review if you would rather see the action plan first.
