Virtual CFO services for Irish businesses
The point where bookkeeping and a year-end set of accounts stop being enough, but a full-time finance director is not justified. Monthly numbers you can run the business on, and someone senior to interpret them with you.
In short
A virtual CFO gives a business senior financial leadership on a part-time, fixed-fee basis: monthly management accounts, rolling cash flow forecasting, budgeting, KPI reporting, board packs and funding preparation. It suits Irish companies roughly between €1m and €20m of turnover, where the decisions have outgrown the year-end accounts.
The point at which this becomes necessary
Statutory accounts are a historical record filed nine months after the fact. They are fine for compliance and useless for decisions. Most businesses hit a moment where that gap starts costing money, and it usually shows up the same way.
- You are profitable on paper and short of cash, and cannot say precisely why.
- You cannot tell which products, services or contracts actually make money.
- Pricing decisions are being made on instinct because nobody has the margin data.
- A bank or investor has asked for forecasts and you do not have a model to produce them from.
- You are hiring, and nobody has modelled whether the business can carry the payroll.
- Board or investor meetings run on a profit and loss printed from the accounting software.
A company can be profitable and insolvent at the same time. Cash flow is the thing that ends businesses, and it is the thing year-end accounts tell you least about.
What you get each month
- Management accounts within an agreed number of working days of month end, with commentary rather than just figures.
- A rolling 13-week cash flow, updated, so you can see the pinch points while there is still time to act on them.
- Performance against budget, with the variances explained.
- A KPI set agreed with you — the handful of numbers that actually drive your business, not a generic dashboard.
- A review call to talk through what the numbers mean and what to do about them.
Funding and lender work
Raising money, whether from a bank, Microfinance Ireland, an investor or a grant body, is largely a question of whether your numbers survive scrutiny. We prepare the financial model, the historical figures and the forecast, and deal with the lender or investor's questions directly.
Where an EIIS raise is in scope, the structuring needs to be right before investors commit rather than after, and the interaction with the company's existing share structure matters.
How this differs from an accountant
| Compliance accounting | Virtual CFO | |
|---|---|---|
| Looks | Backwards | Forwards |
| Output | Statutory accounts and tax returns | Management accounts, forecasts, board packs |
| Frequency | Annual | Monthly, with a call |
| Question answered | What did we earn and what do we owe? | What should we do next, and can we afford it? |
| Audience | Revenue and the CRO | You, your board, your lender |
The two are complementary, and we do both. Having them in one place means the tax position is built into the forecast rather than arriving as a surprise nine months later.
Who this suits
Broadly, Irish companies with turnover from around €1 million to €20 million: past the point where the owner can hold the numbers in their head, not yet at the point where a full-time finance director at a six-figure salary is justified.
It also suits businesses going through something specific — a funding round, a rapid hiring phase, an acquisition, a turnaround — where the need for senior financial input is real but temporary.
What it costs
A fixed monthly fee set by scope and the depth of reporting you need, agreed before you commit. It is a fraction of a full-time finance director's salary and, unlike a hire, it can be scaled up around a raise and back down afterwards.
Sources
Virtual CFO questions we get asked
- What does a virtual CFO actually do?
- Provides senior financial leadership part-time: monthly management accounts with commentary, rolling cash flow forecasting, budgeting, KPI reporting, board packs, and preparing the business and its numbers for lenders or investors.
- How is a virtual CFO different from my accountant?
- Compliance accounting looks backwards and reports to Revenue and the CRO. A virtual CFO looks forwards and reports to you, your board and your lender. We do both, which means the tax position is built into the forecast rather than arriving as a surprise.
- What size of business needs a virtual CFO?
- Broadly Irish companies between about €1 million and €20 million of turnover, or any business going through a funding round, a fast hiring phase or a turnaround where senior financial input is needed but a full-time hire is not justified.
- Can you help us raise funding?
- Yes. We build the financial model, prepare the historical figures and forecasts, assemble what the lender or investor asks for, and handle their questions directly. Where EIIS is in scope we advise on the structuring before investors commit.
- How quickly do we get management accounts?
- Within an agreed number of working days of month end, with commentary rather than just figures. The timetable is set at onboarding and it depends on your bookkeeping being current, which is why the two usually run together.
Read more on this
Corporation Tax
Corporation tax in Ireland
The 12.5% and 25% rates, what counts as trading, preliminary tax, and the close company surcharges that catch owner-managed businesses.
Tax Planning
R&D tax credits in Ireland
What qualifies as R&D under Irish law, the 35% rate, the three-instalment repayment, and the documentation that decides whether a claim survives review.
Starting Out
Starting a business in Ireland
The order in which the decisions actually have to be made, which ones are cheap to reverse, and where the state supports are worth the paperwork.
Get a fixed quote for virtual cfo
Tell us about your business and we will send a fixed-fee proposal within 48 hours.