Fractional CFO Services in IndiaYou are deciding blind. Hire a fractional CFO.
Today
- You cannot decide from what you get.
- Nobody has re-run the cash plan.
- And you are the finance function.
What you get
- A CFO who decides, not just reports.
- Cash forecast re-run every month.
- Month to month. No lock-in, no notice.
The partner on your first call is the one who does the work.
“The founders consider them as a part of the leadership team.”
30 minutes with a senior partner. A reply in under 2 hours on a working day.
The last three big calls were gut, not data
You made four or five decisions last month that you cannot take back. What to quote that customer. Whether to take the order. Who to put on the payroll. Whether to buy the machine now or wait. You made every one of them from a file somebody last updated in a different quarter, and you know it.
The bill for that never arrives as a line item, which is exactly why it has been running for years. It arrives as an order won at a price that never made money. A customer you have carried since before anyone checked whether they were worth carrying. Stock sitting in a warehouse because the plan said demand would come. A bank that wanted numbers you could not produce in time, so the facility went to somebody else. None of it is on any statement. All of it is being paid.
A fractional CFO puts senior judgment on those decisions before you make them, instead of explaining them to you afterwards. The same seniority a company hires full-time, engaged for the days you actually need it. Ready to stop guessing and start deciding on data?
“A level of financial acumen and strategy that I had previously been missing.”
Decisions made on gut, not data
Senior judgment in the room before you commit, instead of a post-mortem about it afterwards
A budget nobody actually uses
Budgets and forecasts built bottom-up, so the number you commit to is the number you can defend
Numbers that arrive too late to use
A monthly pack in the first week, with what changed and what to do about it on the first page
A gross margin you cannot break down
Margin and cash read order by order and customer by customer, so nothing hides in a blended number
An AI built your projections. Nobody can defend them.
The projections went out. Somewhere in the room a question gets asked about an assumption underneath them, and nobody on your side can answer it, because nobody on your side actually built it. An investor, a bank or a buyer will not tell you that this is what lost them. They go quiet, or they come back lower and give you a reason that is not the real one.
The forecast gets built bottom-up, from the assumptions you actually believe through to the profit line you have to defend - margins by product and by customer, working capital, the collection cycle, what happens under three different demand scenarios. The hard questions are answered before anyone asks them.
“An excellent job putting accounting, finance and compliance processes in place…”
You are not sure what your gross margin actually is
Ask three people in your company what you made on that job last month and you will get three answers. One of them is yours, and you are not certain of it either. So the decision waits, or it goes to whoever argues hardest in the room, and by the time the real number lands the money is spent and the quarter is already shaped.
From the day you outgrow spreadsheets: one set of numbers, owned by one senior person, arriving early enough to change what you do. Decisions stop being arguments.
“Kishore expertly guided us through streamlining our finance function…”
You check the bank balance before you approve anything
Payroll goes out because you checked the balance yourself the night before. Month end waits on you. The bank's email waits on you. A customer disputes an invoice and it sits four days because nobody else in the company can answer it. You do this on Sundays, after everyone has gone home. And the work only you can do - the customers, the plant, the people - is the work that keeps getting pushed to next week.
Hand the function over and it runs without you - accurate, on time, visible. You get your week back, and the business stops having a single point of failure with the founder's job title.
“KayOne helped us get organized and gave us real insight on funds flow…”
Your CA gives you last year. You are deciding next month.
One founder put it to us like this: "My finances are completely messed. I am not able to take decisions based on what my accountant gives me." That is not a criticism of the accountant. Closing the books, filing the returns and keeping you compliant is backward-looking work by design, and it is done well.
A fractional CFO is the senior judgment that sits above your accountant: which number to trust, when to raise, which bet to make, and how to walk into a board room ready. Not bookkeeping. Not filing.
“Decisions on time, with timely reporting and strategic inputs.”
Six jobs nobody in your company is doing
Not bookkeeping and not compliance - your accountant keeps those. This is the senior judgement a full-time CFO would bring, and in most founder-led companies it is not being done badly. It is not being done at all.
The cash number you quote is a guess
How many months of cash you actually have under the plan you are running, and what changes the day a big customer pays sixty days late.
Money you need arrives three months late
The numbers a bank, an investor or a buyer will ask for kept current, so the conversation can start next week instead of next quarter.
The board asks the question you dreaded
What goes in front of the board, what stays out, and how to answer the question that is really being asked.
One of your biggest customers loses you money
Which customers and which products actually make you money, which quietly cost you money, and what a price change would really do to profit.
The next senior hire is a guess
Whether you can genuinely afford them, and which line of spend has stopped earning its place in the plan.
Diligence finds what you did not
When an acquirer, investor or lender starts asking hard questions, someone who has sat through it before sits on your side.
Right now, you are the one doing all six jobs. On top of running the company.
A fractional CFO takes that layer off you - so judgement stops depending on whichever hour you found for it.
“Helped us in a smooth transition to the buyer, during our exit.”
We work with all the top accounting technologies
What you get in the first ninety days
You are not buying hours on one person's diary. The engagement opens with a diagnostic rather than an opinion, and everything after it is prioritised against what that diagnostic found. Here is what actually happens, in order.
Financial Health Check
- Runs as soon as the contract is signed, before anything gets changed
- Every area of your finance function scored out of 10, so a weak spot is a number and not an opinion
- It reads like a lab report, and that score becomes the baseline we are judged on
Priority Fix Plan
- Over the first few months your CFO works down the list with you, worst first
- The call that has been waiting on better numbers finally gets made, and made with them
- You watch the same scores move, so progress is never a matter of opinion
Ongoing CFO Support
- From then on, a standing weekly call on whatever the business is facing
- Cash, pricing, hiring, lenders, investors, the deal in front of you
- We think it through with you, and we challenge the answer when we disagree
More than 250 founders have already handed this over
- Fully understand the start-up ecosystem
- Closely working with the angel investor and VC community
- Team of Chartered Accountants, CPAs, and valuation specialists
- Industry agnostic - Have worked with a wide variety of industries
“The founders consider them as a part of the leadership team.”
You became your own CFO by default. Nobody chose that.
Handing it over is not delegation. It is putting the number in front of someone who has had to defend one before - and getting back the head space it was quietly taking.
Trusted by founder-led businesses and their investors
Most businesses don't have an accounting problem. They have a finance problem.
Reviews Tell Our Story
“KayOne Consulting and their team have done an excellent job in putting various accounting, finance, compliance processes, and MIS in place, and has helped us run the company more efficiently.”
Amit GandhiCEO, NovelVox
“KayOne helped us get organized and provided useful insights on funds flow and operational aspects. Their experience in finance and business strategy has been very helpful - they truly care about our success.”
Basant LohiaCo-Founder & CEO, Harbor365 · Industrial Manufacturing
“Thank you Kishore for the amazing work. Your feedback was excellent and the work was carried out to the desired standard.”
Pete FrielFounder, CharteredEducation
“Love how KayOne and team take the time to talk with us and explain every number, and the story behind it.”
Michael SueokaCEO, CurbStreet
“Excellent work as always. Professional, precise and very dependable. Priya and team were a pleasure to work with - their expertise, insights and professional advice helped us raise capital in a very short time.”
Danny YohannesCEO, Spinvi Consulting
“Kudos to the KayOne team for the exceptional turnaround time and comprehensive support in the diligence process. Delivering such a comprehensive due diligence pack within a week is not just commendable, but sets a clear point of departure for high-value collaboration.”
Gowtham SarveshCOO, Keiretsu Forum
“Kishore expertly guided us through the process of streamlining our finance function, which was a critical priority for us. Thanks to his deep understanding of financial operations, we were able to identify areas for improvement and implement processes that increased efficiency and accuracy.”
Mohamed FahmyCEO, IST Networks
“As a founder of a retail business, I can attest to the invaluable support that KayOne Consulting has provided to me. The team of finance experts brought a level of financial acumen and strategy that I had previously been missing.”
Danyal MalikFounder · Retail Business, United States
“KayOne helped us clean our books, and transition into a new accounting software, giving us visibility and helping us take strategic decisions. Their inputs on gross margins, working capital were very valuable and appreciated.”
Tony RodriguezCEO, Summerset Casual
“The level of clarity and structure brought to our due diligence process was transformative. From complex reconciliations to reporting, they handled the investor diligence with speed, authority, and precision. Thank you KayOne and team.”
Mahesh DharamCEO, Kandee Factory
“We thank you and your team for the detailed documentation and recommendations of our various processes across divisions. We believe your recommendations can fine tune our processes.”
VenkatasubramiamCOO, NPS
“KayOne was fantastic to work with. The team was always available, very knowledgeable and extremely professional.”
Deborah ScarpaCEO, DJS
“KayOne’s CFO services helped us streamline our finances. It helped take decisions on time, with timely reporting and strategic inputs.”
Kim GraylinInvestor, Movylo Inc.
“KayOne’s team helped us optimize capital, burn, and runway. It also helped us in a smooth transition to the buyer, during our exit.”
Dennis SidiCEO, Idis Technologies
“KayOne brings a true partnership approach to our organization, and the founders consider them as a part of the leadership team. We have totally entrusted our finance - not just accounting - woes to them.”
Subramanian ViswanathanCo-Founder & CEO, Disprz
Three ways to hire a fractional CFO
The same senior CFO in all three, at the level a company hires full-time at Rs 60-80 lakh a year. What changes is how far into the business the work goes.
Ideal for
For a founder who needs the numbers to become reliable before the next big call gets made.
What it covers
- A monthly close that lands on a date you can count on
- A reporting pack showing what changed and what to do about it
- Cash and runway you can quote without checking first
- Oversight of your CA and your own accounts team
Ideal for
For a founder making the calls on pricing, hiring and where the next rupee goes.
Everything in Core CFO, plus
- Margin read customer by customer and order by order
- Hiring and spend plans built before you commit to them
- Working capital, collections and the terms you give
- A standing weekly working session with your CFO
Ideal for
For a raise, a sale, or any process where an outsider is about to examine your numbers.
Everything in Growth CFO, plus
- The forecast and model an investor will actually test
- A data room built and diligence questions answered
- A read on the term sheet and the valuation before you sign
- Your CFO in the meeting with you, not briefing you before it
Not sure which one you need?
Most founders are not, until somebody reads the numbers properly. Bring us the call you are stuck on and we will tell you which depth the business actually needs - and if the answer is none of them, we will tell you that instead.
Talk to a Senior CFO “Helped us in a smooth transition to the buyer, during our exit.”
CEO, Idis Technologies
Two very different jobs. Most founders hire the wrong one.
Not a job posting. Your books are somebody else's job and they are being done. What is missing is somebody senior to take the decisions the books cannot make - and to be answerable for the answer. Past Rs 15 crore those calls get expensive, and most founders are still making them alone.
You need a financial co-founder
Judgment, not attendance
Nobody sits through your Monday review. You get the answer to the three or four calls a year that are hard to reverse.
Been on the other side
Raises, audits, diligence, exits. Whatever is about to happen to you has already happened to us.
Paid to disagree
An advisor who agrees with you is an expensive mirror. You hear the objection before you commit, not in the post-mortem.
Your number, defended
When a lender or an acquirer pushes on the forecast, the person answering is the person who built it.
Read against your equity
Every call weighed for what it does to your ownership and your options, not just this quarter's profit.
Still here in year four
Our average relationship runs past four years. Long enough that what we said in year one gets marked.
You need a good accountant
Turnover is under Rs 15 crore.
The need is filing - GST, TDS, ROC, the annual return.
You want the books kept accurately, not argued with.
All three are real needs, and a good accountant meets them for a fraction of what we cost. If that is you, we will say so in the first conversation instead of taking the engagement.
Which of the two do you need?
Tell us the decision that is stuck. A senior partner reads it personally and gives you an honest answer, including when the answer is an accountant.
“Their inputs on gross margins and working capital were very valuable.”
Fractional CFO: the questions founders actually ask
What is a fractional CFO?
A fractional CFO is an experienced chief financial officer who works with your company part-time, on a monthly retainer, instead of joining as a full-time hire. You get senior judgment on cash, pricing, fundraising and board reporting for a fraction of a full-time CFO salary. It is the same person and the same seniority - just sized to what a growing company actually needs. The engagement runs remotely across India, and in person as well if you are in Chennai, where we are based.
How is a fractional CFO different from my CA or accountant?
Your CA closes the books, files returns and keeps you compliant - that is backward-looking and essential. A fractional CFO is forward-looking: what the numbers mean, what to do next, how to fund it, and how to defend it in a board or investor conversation. Most of our clients keep their CA and add a fractional CFO above them. The two roles do not overlap.
When should a company hire a fractional CFO?
The usual triggers are: revenue is growing but cash feels tight, you are preparing to raise, an investor or board has started asking for numbers you cannot produce quickly, pricing decisions are being made on instinct, or the founder is still personally doing the finance work. If two or more of those are true, the cost of waiting is usually larger than the retainer.
What does it cost to hire a fractional CFO in India?
Fractional CFO engagements are monthly retainers scoped to the work, not hourly billing. The right number depends on stage, transaction volume and whether a fundraise or due diligence is in flight. We will give you an honest range on the first call, including telling you if you are too early to need one.
Is this a part-time CFO or an interim CFO?
Both models exist and we run both. A part-time or fractional CFO is an ongoing monthly relationship - our average is over four years. An interim CFO is a defined, full-intensity engagement covering a gap or a specific event such as a raise, an audit or a transaction. We will tell you which one your situation actually calls for.
Can I hire a CFO without making a full-time hire?
That is the whole point of the arrangement. You hire a CFO for the judgement and the accountability, not for the headcount: the same seniority you would recruit at, engaged on a monthly retainer instead of a salary. Whether you call it a fractional CFO, a virtual CFO or an interim CFO, the person in the room is the same, and the engagement runs month to month with no lock-in.
How quickly can we start?
A senior partner reads your enquiry personally and replies in under 2 hours on a working day, and sets up a call from there. That call is an honest read on fit - if we are not the right answer for you, we will say so. Engagements typically begin within two to three weeks of that conversation.
How do I hire a fractional CFO?
A conversation with a senior CFO. You describe what is breaking, we give an honest read on whether a fractional CFO is the right answer, and if it is we scope the engagement and start within two to three weeks. There is no lock-in and no notice period to negotiate later, because the engagement is month to month from the first day.
What is the difference between an interim CFO and a fractional CFO?
An interim CFO fills a role that already exists and is temporarily empty, usually full-time for a defined period. A fractional CFO is an ongoing arrangement at a few days a month, designed to continue for years rather than to end when a gap closes. Our average client relationship runs beyond four years, which is why most founders here end up with the fractional arrangement rather than the interim one.
Who you will be talking to
A senior partner reads every enquiry personally and replies in under 2 hours on a working day. You work with them directly, not with an analyst running a template.
Fractional CFO with 18+ years across finance strategy, M&A, fundraising and cross-border advisory. Has worked with 250+ founders.
Chartered Accountant and IBBI-registered Valuer with 10+ years. Leads valuation and transaction advisory. Previously audit at EY.