Hiring a fractional CFO to support board meetings

Tell a prospective CFO what the board needs to decide, then agree the financial work supporting those decisions. A hiring plan needs a different analysis from a financing proposal or an acquisition discussion. Ask which material the CFO will prepare, which records the accounting team must supply and which questions management must resolve before the pack is circulated.

Provide the meeting calendar and the actual distribution deadline. Include time for the chief executive to review the draft and for finance to correct errors. A retainer that covers attendance but leaves preparation unspecified can produce a capable presenter with an incomplete pack. Put both activities in the proposed scope.

Ask the candidate to describe how they would present a period that has not finished closing. The answer should identify provisional figures, unresolved balances and the decisions those uncertainties affect. Agree who can release the pack and how a later correction reaches everyone who received the original version.

Historical financial statements, operational metrics and forecasts require different explanations. The SEC's financial-statement guide distinguishes balances at a point in time, performance over a period and cash movements. A board pack should preserve those distinctions. Ask the CFO to make each table's period, currency and measurement basis clear instead of forcing unlike figures into one trend.

A candidate can demonstrate this approach using a redacted or fictional sample clearly described as such. Do not request another client's confidential records. Look for an explanation of how a number was checked and what remains uncertain; polished slides alone do not show that work.

Specify the preparation session, attendance time and route for questions between circulation and the meeting. Clarify whether the CFO presents, answers questions or supports the chief executive. If a substitute may attend, agree how that person will be briefed and whether the substitution requires approval.

Ask how urgent revisions and additional committee meetings are charged. Define a reasonable way to approve extra work when an unexpected financing or transaction changes the agenda. Avoid a promise of unlimited availability that does not identify the person responsible, the response window or the capacity reserved for the business.

The engagement should distinguish analysis and advice from management and board approvals. A CFO may explain financial consequences or prepare a decision paper, while the company's authorized decision makers remain responsible for the action. Any authority to sign, commit funds or communicate a formal decision needs separate, clear authorization.

Legal requirements for a particular board depend on its jurisdiction, governing documents and circumstances. Have counsel address those requirements where needed. A finance-services proposal should not quietly imply that attendance provides legal advice, an audit opinion or assurance over the accounts.

Agree whether the CFO maintains a financial action list after the meeting. Each item should identify the requested analysis, responsible person, due date and decision it will support. The list should distinguish a request for more information from an approved commitment to spend or change operations.

At the next meeting, review those items alongside current results. Keep the circulated pack, any correction and the approved assumptions accessible to the company under the engagement terms. This makes the service easier to evaluate: management can see which questions were resolved, which decisions changed and which work remains outstanding.