Fractional Controller

What does a fractional controller do?

A fractional controller owns the accuracy of your financial reporting and the controls around it, a few days a month instead of full-time. In practice that means reviewing the monthly close, building the reports you run the business on, forecasting cash, and making sure the people who handle money follow the same rules every time.

It suits a business with real complexity and no finance lead: several entities, a growing payroll, lenders asking for reporting, or an owner who still signs every cheque because nobody else can say whether the numbers are right.

What does Abbotsford Bookkeeping include in a fractional controller engagement?

• A review of each monthly close before the statements reach you
• Margin reporting by product, contract, truck or farm unit, whichever matters to you
• A rolling 13-week cash forecast and a yearly budget you can compare against
• Written controls for approvals, payments and month-end, and a check that they are followed
• Lender and investor reporting, including covenant calculations, prepared on schedule
• A monthly meeting to go through the numbers and the decisions in front of you

Which software do you use for controller work?

The same ledger as the bookkeeping, QuickBooks Online or Xero, plus spreadsheets for forecasts and budgets that you keep and can open yourself. Where a business has outgrown its reporting tools we suggest options, but we do not sell software or take referral fees.

How is a fractional controller different from a bookkeeper or a CFO?

A bookkeeper records what happened, a controller makes sure the records are right and builds the reporting, and a CFO sets financial strategy and raises money. Many Abbotsford owner-operators need the middle role long before the third.

What is not included in fractional controller work?

Tax planning, audits and reviews, business valuations, and raising money. Those belong with your CPA, your lender or a corporate finance adviser. We prepare the information they need and stay on the calls when it helps.

What does a fractional controller cost in Abbotsford?

Controller engagements usually sit in our Bespoke tier, $1,250 to $2,000 a month CAD, and are often combined with monthly bookkeeping in one fee. What moves the price is the number of entities, how much reporting lenders or partners expect, and how many days a month the work needs. We scope it after a 20-minute call and a look at your last few months of statements.

When does a growing Abbotsford processor or manufacturer need a controller?

Usually when margins start to surprise the owner. A food processor paying growers on settlement terms, holding cold-storage inventory and running seasonal shifts can show healthy sales and still run short of cash. A machine shop quoting fixed-price aerospace or industrial work needs to know, job by job, whether the last bid made money before it sends the next one.

Signs it is time:

• Year-end inventory or work-in-progress adjustments are large and unexpected
• Your lender has started asking for monthly or quarterly reporting
• You have opened a second company, location or production line
• Nobody apart from you can explain last month's gross margin

A good fit if

• You run a processor, manufacturer, fleet or family group with several moving parts
• A lender, partner or family member expects regular, reliable reporting
• You want senior oversight without adding a full-time salary

Probably not the right fit if

• You need a CFO to raise money or negotiate a sale
• Your books are simple enough that monthly bookkeeping already answers your questions
• You want tax planning rather than reporting and controls