First, it was advisory.
Then, it was CAS (Client Advisory Services.)
Now, it’s CFO (or fractional CFO) services. And, as was the case with “advisory” and “CAS,” “CFO services” are something you’re being told you should be offering, but no one is saying exactly what that means.
Until now.
11 CFO Services Financial Professionals Should Offer
Offering CFO services is the easiest way to break free from the compliance trap, survive the AI takeover, and earn more money without working more hours. But what are “CFO services”?
Some “experts” would have you believe it takes a special degree to offer CFO services. Others would have you think that offering these services is complicated and requires expensive software and dashboards.
Although it does take a certain amount of education and skill to provide CFO services, and even though software and dashboards can make the CFO role easier, CFO services don’t have to be complex to be impactful. You just need to know what to do and when to do it. Chances are, you’re already doing some of these; you just need to reframe them so your clients see the value of the guidance you’re providing.
Here are 11 CFO services financial professionals should offer to their clients in 2025:- Financial Performance Reviews – A comprehensive financial review of the last 12 months. This is generally done as part of the new client onboarding process and then as an ongoing part of your client conversations, using a rolling 12 month lookback to assess the company’s financial performance.
- Goal Setting – Helping clients set high level financial goals for their businesses, then having ongoing conversations about financial, team, personal, and professional goals.
- Cashflow Forecasting and Management – This includes predicting future cashflow in the business, helping with cash management, and providing metrics-driven decision making support to your clients.
- Key Metrics – This can include customized dashboards based on your clients’ goals, but the key is to point back to those goals and track the progress against them.
- Performance Indicators – Compare your clients’ performance to similar businesses performance AND their goal metrics.
- Financial Reporting and Insights – This includes monthly management financial reports, quarterly financial performance reviews, and key insights and recommendations. (See, we told you you’re already doing some of these things!)
- Profit Improvement Strategies – Don’t overthink this! Profit improvement strategies include revenue growth opportunity analysis, cost reduction strategies, and pricing optimization. And it’s easily tracked by measuring the cash flow generated by the business.
- Budgeting and Financial Planning – Show your clients how to prepare an annual budget, then use the numbers they provide (with your assistance) to track their progress.
- Capital and Funding Advice – Help your clients determine what funding they might need, what their options are, how to know whether the risk is worth the payoff, and then connect them to referral partners for funding.
- Leadership and Team Support – Provide financial leadership coaching, team training and development, and facilitate financial meetings.
- Financial Technology Recommendations – Guide your clients using your expertise about financial technology so they can make the best choice for their business needs.
Whew. That was a lot. But did you notice that some of these services are simply about raising awareness and then making a connection to a strategic partner?
Also, there’s nothing saying every financial professional has to offer every service. In fact, we recommend starting with three or four, and then you can add more services as your confidence grows.
The point is to use these strategic conversations to show your clients you are more than a “number cruncher” and that you can provide them with the guidance they need to steer their businesses forward.
As a thank you for reading this article, we want to offer you our Profit First Professionals CFO Playbook. This Playbook outlines the CFO Services listed above and shows you how our member firms deliver these services.
One important note: The links to the Resources in this playbook are for Profit First Professionals members only. If you’re curious about becoming a PFP and gaining access to these resources – plus all the other benefits PFPs enjoy! – you can apply for membership here.
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