Fractional CFO

Overview

This remote fractional role strengthens financial leadership, discipline, and strategic thinking across an established South African specialist reporting and communications agency. The engagement supports the executive committee and project leads with sound commercial management.

Hours required will vary according to monthly cadences. The role is delivered as an independent contractor engagement.

Responsibilities

• Guide monthly operational financial rigour, including establishment and maintenance of internal controls and accounting integrity.
• Bring transparency to project profitability and cash flow visibility through analysis and standardized reporting.
• Review, clean up, and redesign finance processes and systems, leaving behind simple, documented procedures the business can sustain independently.

Core Deliverables and Project Outcomes

Month-End Review & Ledger Sign-Off

• Complete monthly close in Xero, including verified draft financial statements.
• Provide sign-off for the monthly close.
• Reconcile bank, debtor, creditor, VAT, and payroll accounts, including supplier statement reconciliations against the creditors ledger.
• Submit reconciled Xero ledger and the approved monthly closing pack by the agreed monthly deadline.

Project & Time Tracking Alignment

• Reconcile time-tracking and billing data between Productive and Xero to ensure ledger integrity and appropriate revenue recognition.
• Ensure there is no unexplained variance between billable hours recorded in Productive and invoiced amounts reflected in Xero.

Financial Forecasting & Executive KPI Pack

• Maintain dynamic income and cash flow forecast models.
• Provide monthly variance explanations against forecasts and prior periods.
• Compile standardized financial KPI packs for executive leadership.
• Deliver and present the monthly executive report pack to leadership.

Quarterly Profitability & Recovery Reviews

• Conduct quarterly reviews of project, client, and team profitability using timesheet and billing data.
• Identify under-recoveries and recommend corrective commercial actions.
• Present quarterly profitability insights to executive leadership.

Commercial Scenario Planning & Rate Modelling

• Evaluate utilisation models, capacity assumptions, rate cards, and annual fee escalations.
• Incorporate base, downside, and upside financial scenarios.
• Validate scenario models delivered ahead of annual commercial reviews and bid submissions.

Tax & Annual Planning Support

• Plan provisional tax, VAT, and financial year-end processes in collaboration with the registered tax practitioner and external auditor or independent reviewer.
• Develop the annual budget model.
• Finalise audit and tax schedules together with an approved annual budget model.

Proposal & Commercial Bid Risk Assessments

• Review major client proposals and tenders, assessing costing frameworks, margin thresholds, and cash flow timing before submission.
• Sign off commercial risk assessments attached to major proposals.

B-BBEE Verification Management

• Manage the annual B-BBEE verification process.
• Attend planning workshops, coordinate financial evidence with consultants, and assess commercial impacts on scorecard ratings.
• Ensure financial evidence is submitted within required timelines, resulting in the issue of the B-BBEE certificate.

Finance Systems Architecture & Process Documentation

• Redesign and optimize finance systems.
• Establish banking approval controls and delegation-of-authority limits.
• Align Xero configurations.
• Document standard operating procedures.
• Publish delegation-of-authority matrices, operational checklists, and updated Xero account mapping.

Bookkeeper Quality Oversight

• Provide oversight and mentoring to the internal bookkeeper.
• Ensure accuracy, compliance, and adherence to financial processes without undertaking transactional processing.
• Complete regular workflow reviews with documented feedback and measurable reduction in processing errors.

Requirements

Essential Requirements

• Proven track record of hands-on finance leadership, preferably within a professional services environment.
• Proficiency in Xero.
• Willingness to learn Productive, or proven experience using comparable project and time tracking platforms.
• Solid practical knowledge of South African VAT, provisional tax, and payroll compliance frameworks.
• Working understanding of the B-BBEE scorecard, ownership, procurement calculations, and verification procedures.
• Demonstrated background in restructuring, cleaning up, and documenting financial systems and internal controls (particularly segregation of duties).
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, with the ability to explain financial data clearly to non-finance stakeholders.
• Independent, professional approach with confidence to provide constructive challenge to executive leadership.
• South Africa-based with a dedicated remote setup to participate in scheduled executive check-ins.

Desirable Requirements

• Professional accounting designation such as CA(SA) or CIMA, or equivalent proven senior finance experience (formal designation is not a mandatory requirement).
• Prior experience interfacing with JSE-listed corporate clients, extended payment cycles, and multi-currency transactions.
• Experience coaching non-financial managers on margin awareness, pricing, and cash flow drivers.

Required Software Skills

• Xero

Compensation & Benefits

Employment Type

• Fractional (Independent Contractor)

Work Arrangement

• Remote

Benefits

• Collaborative, specialist environment focused on sustainability and governance communications.
• Fractional flexibility with clear delegation of authority and advisory access.