Hire a fractional CFO to help select your next finance employee

A founder may know that the next finance employee needs to improve the close without knowing how to evaluate a candidate's accounting judgment. A fractional CFO can help translate the work into a role, assess relevant evidence and explain tradeoffs among candidates. Define that assignment before asking the CFO to sit in on a few interviews.

Start with the work the new employee must own in the first several months. Identify the records they will receive, the decisions they may make and the support available from existing staff and external advisers. A role described only as finance manager can attract candidates prepared for very different responsibilities.

Ask the CFO to distinguish skills needed on arrival from skills the company can teach. The distinction affects both the candidate pool and the onboarding plan. Do not write a specification that quietly combines a bookkeeper, technical accounting specialist, systems administrator and strategic adviser into one ordinary role.

Specify whether the CFO will analyze the role, write technical assessment criteria, review applications, conduct interviews, design a work sample or compare finalists. Identify the recruiter or company colleague responsible for scheduling, candidate communication, compensation discussions and the employment process.

Reserve the hiring decision for the company's authorized decision maker. The CFO should provide a reasoned recommendation with limitations, not an unexplained yes or no. If the CFO will supervise or coach the successful candidate, disclose that continuing role so the company can assess the proposed relationship.

Ask how many candidates and interview rounds are included in the fee. Agree the price or approval route for additional rounds, a changed role or a reopened search. A selection assignment can expand substantially if the company changes its expectations after meeting applicants.

Set the deliverables: a role brief, assessment questions, evidence notes, finalist comparison and onboarding priorities. Those records make the service useful even if the company decides that none of the current candidates fits the job.

The U.S. Office of Personnel Management describes structured interviews built around predetermined questions and common rating standards. Its approach offers a practical reference for organizing the CFO's assessment. The company should use its own approved hiring process and ask questions tied to the actual work.

For a close-focused role, the CFO might ask a candidate to explain a past unresolved reconciliation, how they investigated it and what evidence they left for review. For a planning role, the question might concern a forecast assumption that changed after new information arrived. Ask for the person's own actions and the result.

Agree what a strong answer would demonstrate before the interviews. Useful evidence can include tracing a balance to source records, recognizing uncertainty and explaining an appropriate escalation. Avoid treating confident delivery or familiarity with the interviewer's preferred terminology as a substitute for the required skill.

Allow sensible follow-up questions while keeping the core comparison consistent. The CFO should record why an answer matters to the role. A short factual note is more useful than a label such as impressive or not a culture fit without an explanation.

If a practical exercise is useful, use synthetic or appropriately de-identified records and a task proportionate to the hiring stage. Explain the time expectation, permitted tools and output in advance. Avoid using the assessment to obtain unpaid production work for the company.

Choose a task that reveals the skill in question. A candidate expected to review reconciliations could examine a short example with one missing explanation. Ask what they would accept, what they would investigate and what they would tell the preparer. The exercise should not become a quiz on obscure software shortcuts.

Have the CFO prepare the expected findings and note where more than one defensible approach is possible. The company needs to understand whether a difference is an error, a reasonable judgment or a question the sample cannot resolve.

Ask the candidate to explain the handover they would leave. Finance work is collaborative, and a correct calculation with no usable record can be difficult for another person to maintain. Assess the work against the agreed role rather than an imagined perfect employee.

The CFO's finalist memo should compare candidates against the same requirements and identify the evidence behind each conclusion. Separate demonstrated capability from an impression or an unverified claim. Where evidence is missing, propose a focused follow-up rather than filling the gap with confidence.

For example, one candidate may show strong reconciliation work but limited experience presenting to managers. Another may explain forecasts well while needing more supervision on accounting review. The company's immediate workload and available support determine which tradeoff is acceptable.

Include the supervision and development each candidate would need. A lower salary is not automatically a lower-cost choice if the company lacks the time or expertise to provide the necessary support. Likewise, an experienced candidate may not be the best fit for a role dominated by tasks they do not want to perform.

Ask the CFO to identify any material limit in the assessment. A few interviews cannot guarantee future performance. The recommendation should explain what was observed and what remains to be established through references, the company's hiring process and actual work.

After the company chooses a candidate, use the assessment to define initial responsibilities, review arrangements and learning priorities. Avoid discarding useful evidence once the offer is accepted. The first assignments should match the role the company actually evaluated.

Agree whether the CFO will help with the first close, review a defined set of workpapers or coach the new employee. Price that work separately if it was not included in selection. State when the employee will assume responsibility and who judges readiness.

Retain the hiring records through the company's approved process and restrict access appropriately. The completed engagement should leave a clearer role and a defensible decision record, along with practical support for the person who joins.