If you’ve ever stared at your cash flow forecast and thought, “I really should have someone more qualified looking at this,” you’re in good company. In 2025, fractional CFO services have become the default way for serious small businesses and CPA firms to get high-level finance help without hiring a full-time executive.
Blame it on interest rates, investor expectations, or just the fact that spreadsheets have quietly taken over the world – finance decisions suddenly matter more. A lot more. Owners who once got by with a bookkeeper and a once-a-year tax meeting now want runway planning, scenario analysis, and someone who’ll tell them, quite bluntly, which ideas are financially daft.
That’s where fractional CFOs slide in: part strategist, part translator, part professional worrier. You “rent” a senior finance brain a few days a month instead of putting one on payroll full-time.
Let’s start with the slightly unusual one on this list. Madras Accountancy isn’t a solo consultant-for-hire; it’s an offshore accounting firm with 160+ professionals, 60+ CPA partner firms, and a growing fractional CFO layer built on top of tax, audit, and client accounting services.
For CPA firms and corporations in the US and UK, Madras is effectively an extended back office. They can build tax workpaper factories, audit pods, CAAS teams – and then overlay a fractional CFO who actually understands the workflows underneath. That’s rare. Many CFO services are “deck and meeting” heavy, light on the underlying accounting engine.
Security is quietly a big deal here: SOC 2, GDPR alignment, ISO 27001 practices, virtual desktop infrastructure – the sort of language that calms risk committees and IT teams who’ve been burned before.
If you’re a solo Etsy seller looking for a casual chat about pricing, you’ll probably feel over-served. Madras is primarily B2B: CPA firms, in‑house finance teams, and owner-managed companies that want a proper monthly close, not just a bookkeeping app.
The CFO Centre is probably the name you’ve heard if you’ve ever Googled “part-time CFO UK”. With hundreds of CFOs across 18 countries, they sit firmly in the “big network” camp.
They match you with a CFO in your region and, ideally, your industry. That regional presence matters for UK SMEs who still like someone who can turn up in the boardroom occasionally rather than always appearing as a tiny rectangle on Zoom.
On the flip side, you’re paying for that bench and brand. Pricing sits comfortably above offshore alternatives, and they focus on strategic leadership – not the nuts-and-bolts back office.
fin-house pitches itself as “your in-house finance team”, which is refreshingly direct. They’re built for UK startups and scale-ups – especially those between Seed and Series B – that need proper SaaS metrics, investor reporting, and board-ready packs.
Typical packages give you 6–10 days a month of finance leadership. That’s enough for forecasting, fundraising support, and the slightly less glamorous job of telling founders their hiring plan doesn’t quite match their bank balance.
The reality, though? If you’re pre-revenue or barely covering payroll, their minimum fees will feel chunky. This is grown-up finance for companies that already have real momentum.
FD Capital lives somewhere between classic recruitment and fractional service. They source part-time, interim and fixed-term CFOs and FDs across the UK.
That’s wonderful if you want a specific person embedded in your leadership team – especially during transitions, exits, or restructurings. But you’re still responsible for the underlying systems, processes, and junior staff. They provide the person, not the platform.
Ignite Spot Accounting is a US firm that wraps bookkeeping, tax, and outsourced CFO support into one relationship for small businesses. One team, one set of logins, far fewer excuses for messy books.
They’re built with entrepreneurs in mind. If your goal is to grow a US-based business and you’d rather spend your evenings with your family than with your general ledger, they’re a reasonable fit – though usually pricier than pure offshore models.
Kruze Consulting is very much a “funded startup” shop: SaaS, ecommerce, venture-backed tech. They speak the language of monthly recurring revenue, churn, burn multiple, and “what on earth is our runway if that round closes two months late?”
They bring US GAAP, accrual accounting, and friendly slide decks for your board. If you run a traditional plumbing company, though, you might feel like you’ve wandered into the wrong movie.
Paro isn’t a firm so much as a vetted marketplace. Need a fractional CFO who has lived through distressed turnarounds, or someone who’s built FP&A models for hospitality? There’s probably a profile for that.
The trade-off is obvious: you get flexibility and niche expertise, but quality and style vary by person. You’re still responsible for tying that CFO into your tools and in‑house team.
Toptal built its name on elite freelance developers, then extended into finance. Their CFO network is geared towards high-stakes work – M&A, complex modelling, cross-border structuring.
Vetting is strict, which is reassuring when you’re making multi-million-dollar decisions. Prices reflect that. If your main worry is simply “are my books up to date?”, this is probably not the most economical starting point.
Bookkeeper360 starts with cloud bookkeeping (Xero/QuickBooks Online) and then layers on advisory and CFO support. Think dashboards, KPIs, and regular check‑ins rather than one big annual meeting.
They’re particularly useful for US small businesses that want to grow out of DIY spreadsheets but aren’t ready for an entire in‑house finance department.
Finsmart Accounting, based in India, offers a mix of accounting services and offshore staffing. For some businesses and CPA firms, they function as a quietly efficient back office: bookkeeping, payroll, management reporting, all humming away overnight.
As a pure strategic CFO solution, they’re not the first name to call. As a way to stretch your budget and still stay compliant, they’re far more compelling.
If you’re a US or UK CPA firm, or a growing business that needs both capacity and strategy, Madras Accountancy sits in an interesting spot: offshore pricing, BDO Alliance USA credibility, and a full tax/audit/CAAS engine beneath the CFO layer.
If you want someone at the end of the corridor, and you’re willing to pay for that, The CFO Centre or a UK provider like fin-house or FD Capital will feel more familiar. And if you’re a venture‑backed startup living in Google Sheets and pitch decks, Kruze or a marketplace like Paro may be more your speed.
Honestly, the right answer isn’t just “pick the biggest brand”. It’s: who will help you make better decisions this quarter, without blowing up your budget or drowning you in jargon? That’s the real test of a fractional CFO in 2025.
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December 9, 2025
A straight-talking overview of five small business tax prep options in 2025, including Madras Accountancy, TurboTax, H&R Block, TaxSlayer, and Bench’s books-plus-tax model.
December 9, 2025
An on-the-ground guide to the UK’s fractional CFO ecosystem – London and beyond – including The CFO Centre, fin-house, FD Capital, BKL, BSmart, and how Madras Accountancy fits into cross-border and hybrid models.
