The fractional CFO's first 90 days with a new client, block by block

What should a fractional CFO do in the first 90 days?

Work in three blocks. Days 1-30 are for access, cash visibility and a map of every system; days 31-60 for a dependable month-end close and a reporting pack the owner actually reads; days 61-90 for the forecast, the board and lender rhythm, and a records depth snapshot that shows what the company's history is worth beyond the ledger.

Sequencing matters more for a fractional CFO than for a full-time hire. You may be in the business a day or two a week, so every visit needs a defined output, and the owner will judge the engagement by what changes in the first quarter. The plan below is built around documents and meetings you can put in the calendar on day one.

Days 1-30: access, cash and a map of the systems

The first month is for seeing everything and breaking nothing. Hold off on redesigning processes until you know which numbers people rely on.

1. Get access confirmed in writing. View or admin rights to bank portals, payroll, the accounting system, AP and expense tools, the CRM and the shared drive where finance documents live. Note which payments need two approvers.
2. Request the core document set. Three years of financial statements and tax returns, the credit agreement and recent covenant certificates, the cap table, leases, insurance policies, the largest customer and vendor contracts, and any open audit, tax or legal matters.
3. Meet the people who hold the history. The owner, the controller or bookkeeper, the outside CPA, the payroll administrator and whoever manages IT or the MSP relationship.
4. Start a 13-week cash forecast. A rough version shows value in week two. Keep receipts that are not yet contracted out of the base case, as the guide to modeling a one-time receipt in a 13-week forecast explains.
5. Build the systems map. List every system that produces or stores a number you will report, who administers it and how far back its history goes.

A shortcut for the systems map: export twelve months of AP and company card transactions and filter for software vendors. Subscription spend is often the most complete list of systems a company has, including tools nobody in finance knew about.

Days 31-60: a dependable close and a reporting pack

Month two turns access into rhythm. Agree a close calendar with the controller and hold it for two cycles before tightening it.

This calendar is illustrative; set the days around the client's transaction volume and staff. The pack should fit on a few pages the owner reads before the monthly review, and the monthly financial review meeting agenda shows one way to run that meeting.

Days 61-90: forecast, board rhythm and a records depth snapshot

The last block sets the cadence for the rest of the engagement: a rolling forecast refreshed monthly, a covenant tracker if there is debt, a timeline for board or advisory packs, and the budget calendar for the coming fiscal year.

It is also the moment for a records depth snapshot. By day 90 you know the systems, the headcount history and the owner well enough to answer a question nobody has asked yet: how much documented operating history does this company hold, and could it have value of its own? Some companies license that history to AI developers, who need records of real work, such as tickets with their resolutions, approvals and deal histories with outcomes, to train and test AI agents. You can answer the question from metadata alone, without opening a single confidential record.

The day-90 depth snapshot

Answer each item from what you already hold. If any item is a clear no, note the result and move on.

• Peak headcount: payroll history shows 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), even if the company is smaller today. The explainer on counting full-time employees at peak shows how to check it.
• History: several years of documented operations, ideally with archives from retired systems still retrievable.
• Breadth: the systems map shows many connected tools across email, chat, CRM, finance, support, engineering and operations; strong companies often run 10-15 or more.
• Outcomes: the records show what happened next, such as tickets closed or escalated, quotes won or lost, approvals granted or refused.
• Rights: the company created most of the records itself. The Copyright Office's circular on works made for hire explains that work employees prepare within the scope of their jobs belongs to the employer, while a contractor's work generally does not unless rights were assigned in writing or a signed agreement covers one of the statutory categories, so note how much history came from contractors.
• Sponsor: the owner, CEO or another authorized executive would consider it. Whether you could act for the company is a separate question, covered in whether a fractional CFO can sign a data license.

This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice.

Which clients in a fractional book tend to pass

From the CFO seat you see the signals that matter before anyone else does.

B2B software, IT services, professional services, engineering, logistics and distribution clients tend to show the strongest signals. Companies whose records mainly belong to their own clients, such as agencies and outsourcers, usually do not.

When to raise it with the owner

Not in the first month. Raise it after you have delivered a clean close and a pack the owner trusts, when the conversation has already turned to next year.

How the introduction works from here

Your part is short and never involves the records themselves.

1. You register, then send the owner your referral link, which opens sourcex.si/apply with your code attached, or submit the company through the referral form.
2. SourceX talks with the owner to confirm size, history, breadth of data and rights.
3. The company builds a data inventory of its systems, date ranges and what can be exported.
4. SourceX and the company agree price and terms; nothing binds the company until it signs.
5. AI labs and data buyers review the opportunity; when a deal closes, data is delivered under redaction rules agreed in advance and the company is paid.

What to say at the day-90 review

The disclosure in the last line is not optional. The guidance on fractional CFO referral fees and conflicts of interest covers how to document it.

How rewards work for a fractional CFO

Partners earn 25% of the eligible platform fees SourceX actually collects from the referred company's licensing deals, capped at $100,000 per referred company, and the reward is payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee. It comes out of SourceX's fee, never the client's proceeds, and no reward is guaranteed. Read your engagement letter for clauses on outside compensation before you register.

When to leave it alone

• The client is in a cash squeeze; the forecast and the lender conversation come first.
• Payroll history never reached 50 full-time employees, or contractors did most of the work.
• The records mostly belong to the client's own customers, or are consumer or patient data.
• Old systems were cancelled without exports and the archive is gone.
• The owner has said they will not consider an exclusive license.

Next step

Put the depth snapshot on the day-90 agenda for every new client. When one passes, register as a partner and run the company fit checker with the owner before you introduce them; the fractional CFO referral page covers the wider opportunity.