A new CFO's first 90 days, with a data asset inventory built in

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

Learn, fix, then set. The first 30 days are for understanding cash, the close, controls and people; days 31-60 for fixing the gaps that distort decisions; days 61-90 for setting the plan the CEO and board will hold you to. One extra step costs almost nothing: while you map systems for controls and cost, record how many years of history each one holds.

That systems map does double duty. It shows where finance data lives and which tools are redundant, and it shows whether the company sits on years of operational records that AI labs and data buyers license. A company running 10-15+ systems with 5-10+ years of history is a candidate; one with three tools and two years of data is not.

Fractional CFOs run the same plan on a compressed calendar across several clients, which turns the systems map into a repeatable deliverable. The referral program page for fractional CFOs explains how that model works.

The 30/60/90 plan at a glance

Days 1-30: learn the business and start the register

The first month is about listening and cash. Meet the CEO, board chair, auditor, lenders, controller and department heads; read the last two board packages, the credit agreement and the auditor's management letter; and build or validate a 13-week cash forecast.

The systems register starts now because you are already requesting access to everything. Pull three lists and merge them:

1. The AP vendor list, filtered to software, hosting and IT services
2. The single sign-on or identity provider app list
3. The IT provider's or MSP's asset register, including retired servers and archived tenants

For each system, record metadata only: name, function, business owner, administrator, renewal date and the first year of data. Building the register never requires opening mailboxes, reading chat threads or pulling customer files.

Days 31-60: fix the gaps and complete the register

Month two is where a CFO earns credibility: tighten the close, rebuild the forecast, launch a KPI pack and renegotiate the worst contracts. The register gains four columns while those contracts are on your desk:

• Years of history: how far back each system goes, including archives left over from earlier migrations
• Export route: whether someone can still export the data, and in what form
• Rights notes: customer contracts, contractor agreements or privacy notices that restrict how records can be used
• Retirement risk: any system due for replacement, consolidation or cancellation within the next year

If an ERP replacement or a tenant migration is on the roadmap, flag it now. Legacy systems are routinely retired with their history left behind, and the decision about what that history is worth has to come before the cutover.

Days 61-90: set the plan and present the data asset slide

By day 90 the board expects a budget, a capital plan and a short list of priorities. Add one slide to that package: the systems register summarized as a data asset view. The quarterly board meeting agenda shows where a recurring data asset update fits, and the strategic planning offsite agenda is the natural home for a longer discussion.

Rights and accounting questions you will be asked

The CEO will ask two things: who owns the records, and how a license would show up in the financials. On ownership, the register's rights notes are the starting point, and counsel reviews customer contracts, contractor agreements and privacy notices before any license is signed.

On accounting, the answer depends on the license terms. Under ASC 606, a license of intellectual property is assessed as either a right to use the IP as it exists when granted, recognized at a point in time, or a right to access it over the license period, recognized over time, as Deloitte's roadmap on identifying the nature of a license explains. FASB clarified that licensing guidance in ASU 2016-10, as the Journal of Accountancy reported. Take draft terms to your auditors before forecasting any revenue, and carry a license payment as non-recurring in the plan.

This is general information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Confirm with your own counsel, tax adviser or professional body before acting.

When to suggest a SourceX introduction

Three if-then rules cover most situations:

• If the company had 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), several years of documented operations, rights to its own records and a CEO or owner open to a license, suggest the introduction after the day-90 board meeting.
• If an ERP migration or system consolidation is scheduled, raise the history question before the legacy system is retired; the post-merger integration checklist applies the same logic after an acquisition.
• If a sale is under consideration, coordinate with the deal team first. Whether a seller can keep or license data in an asset sale is covered in excluded assets in an asset purchase agreement.

If none of these apply, file the register and revisit it in next year's planning cycle. The complete baseline is on the who qualifies page.

How the introduction works, and where the CFO stops

1. You introduce the company with your referral link or the referral form, passing on basic fit information only.
2. SourceX qualifies the company on size, history, data breadth and rights with its authorized sponsor.
3. The company completes a data inventory, and your systems register gives it a head start.
4. SourceX and the company agree one all-in price and the licensing terms; SourceX's fee is included, with no separate charges.
5. AI labs and data buyers review the opportunity.
6. The deal closes, the data is delivered under redaction rules agreed before any work began, and the company receives a one-time payment.
7. Your reward follows once SourceX has received its fee.

Your role ends at the introduction and the register. Confidential records stay inside the company; you do not export them, upload them or describe their contents to SourceX or anyone else.

What to say to the CEO

The introduction email builder turns this into an email the CEO approves before it goes out.

How rewards work for fractional CFOs

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. Rewards become payable only after the buyer pays and SourceX receives its fee, and no reward is guaranteed. The reward is a share of SourceX's fee and never reduces what the company receives.

If you are a CPA or work within a CPA firm, check your state board's rules, your firm's policies and any independence restrictions before you register, and disclose the arrangement to the client wherever your rules require it.

When the records step is not worth pursuing

Skip the licensing conversation, but keep the register, when the company never reached 50+ full-time employees at peak (contractors excluded), when most of its data belongs to clients it serves, when its records are mainly consumer or health data, or when key systems were cancelled without exports. The register still pays for itself in cost and controls work.

Next step

Start the systems register in week one and finish it by day 60. If the company fits, register as a partner and introduce it after the day-90 board meeting.