Frequently Asked Questions

A fractional CFO is a financial executive who works with your business on a part-time or project basis. You get the same financial leadership a full-time CFO delivers to a large company, without the full-time cost.

Owner-operators of businesses from sub-$1M up to $10M in revenue. Clients include established businesses, growing companies ready to scale, and owners who want more than basic accounting. They want disciplined strategy, better decisions, and an experienced finance partner for the long run.

A bookkeeper records what happened. A CPA files your taxes. Neither one tells you whether you can afford to hire, when to raise capital, or where your business is leaking money. Stratovus does. You get forward-looking financial strategy, direct access to Dan, and a personally vetted network of accounting, tax, and legal professionals supporting him behind the scenes.

New clients pay a one-time $450 onboarding fee, billed once at the start of their first engagement. It covers the initial assessment of your financial records, system setup, and the work required to get your engagement structured and running. It applies to both Stratovus Advisory and Stratovus CFO.

Each Stratovus Advisory engagement carries a fixed fee, scoped and agreed before work begins. Stratovus CFO is priced by tier, based on the complexity of your business and the level of support it needs. New clients also pay a one-time $450 onboarding fee. Pricing is confirmed after your free consultation.

No. Stratovus CFO is month to month with no minimum, and can be cancelled with 30 days’ notice. Stratovus Advisory is a fixed fee for a defined scope, with no ongoing commitment.

Stratovus Advisory covers one defined need at a time: Finance Reset, Business Efficiency Diagnostic, 3-Statement & Pro Forma Model, Scenario Model, Capital Raise Support, and Valuation & Exit Preparation. Stratovus CFO covers accounting oversight, tax readiness, and financial planning and strategy on an ongoing monthly basis. Both are supported by a personally vetted network of accounting, tax, and legal professionals when the work requires it.

Most new clients can begin within 7 to 10 days after their free consultation and a review of their needs. If your situation is time-sensitive, let us know and we’ll structure the timeline around it.

Financial records, accounting software access, and relevant business documents. We walk you through exactly what’s needed during onboarding through our secure client portal, so the lift on your end stays minimal.

Most clients meet monthly, with more frequent check-ins depending on their service tier and what’s happening in the business. Outside of scheduled meetings, Dan is directly accessible for check-ins, planning sessions, and urgent issues.

Stratovus Advisory is a one-time, fixed-fee engagement built around one defined outcome: Finance Reset, Business Efficiency Diagnostic, 3-Statement & Pro Forma Model, Scenario Model, Capital Raise Support, or Valuation & Exit Preparation. Scope, timeline, and fee are agreed before work begins.

Option 1: Online intake form. Fill out the short form; we’ll reply within one business day with follow-up questions or a calendar link if needed.

Option 2: Free 30-minute consultation. Book a slot and walk us through the same details live.

Choose whichever fits your schedule.

Every Stratovus Advisory engagement carries a fixed fee, scoped and agreed before work begins. After your free consultation, we define the scope and deliverables and confirm the price. New clients pay a one-time $450 onboarding fee at the start of their first engagement. Scoped work is billed at the fixed fee, not hourly.

Most Stratovus Advisory engagements complete within 90 days. Timeline depends on the scope of work and how quickly we can access the information we need. The schedule is agreed before work begins.

You receive the completed deliverable, a summary of findings, and a close-out review with Dan to walk through the results and define the right next step for your business.

If your books are behind, your tax setup hasn’t been assessed, or you have no reliable cash forecast, the Finance Reset is where you start. It’s a one-time, fixed-fee Stratovus Advisory engagement that rebuilds your records, assesses your tax setup and recommends changes, and builds a 13-week cash forecast and financial scorecard on your actual numbers.

No. The Finance Reset puts your accounting, tax setup, and cash planning on solid footing. Stratovus CFO keeps all three running, month to month.

Stratovus CFO is Stratovus’s ongoing financial leadership service. It covers the three core areas every growing business depends on most: Accounting Oversight and Reporting, Tax Readiness, and Financial Planning and Strategy, delivered through one consistent relationship.

Stratovus CFO covers three service areas: Accounting Oversight and Reporting, Tax Readiness, and Financial Planning and Strategy. The level of support within each service is determined by your tier and scoped during your initial assessment.

Essentials is for businesses building their financial foundation. Growth is for businesses that have momentum and need a CFO actively involved in where it goes. Enterprise is for businesses where the complexity of the operation or the decisions ahead requires full CFO engagement.

Your tier is set during your free consultation. It reflects the complexity of your business, not its size. Revenue is one factor, but complexity, financial gaps, and the decisions ahead carry more weight.

Stratovus CFO is delivered as one engagement, built on the framework that accounting, tax, and planning inform each other and work best together. What changes is the depth of support each area needs. If your books are already current, Accounting Oversight starts light. If your filings are in order, Tax Readiness does too. Your initial assessment sets that scope, so you pay for the attention your business needs in each area, but all three stay connected because a decision in one almost always affects the other two.

If you need help with one specific decision or problem, a Stratovus Advisory engagement may be the right place to start.

Yes. As your business grows or your needs change, your tier can be adjusted.

No. Stratovus works alongside your existing bookkeeper or accountant, not in place of them. We provide the CFO-level strategy and oversight your current team isn’t structured to deliver. If gaps exist in your current accounting setup, we’ll identify them and help you address them. Our role is financial leadership, not day-to-day bookkeeping.

We work with all major small business accounting platforms, including QuickBooks Online, Xero, and Sage. If you use other software, let us know. Most systems can be integrated into our workflow.

No. Stratovus does not prepare or file tax returns. During the year we assess your tax position and recommend changes, bringing in our tax partner when the work calls for it. You take those recommendations to your own tax preparer, who prepares and files your return.

Yes. The entity structure you operate under affects your taxes, your liability, and your ability to raise capital or sell. Stratovus models the financial and tax impact of each option and recommends a structure based on your goals. Your attorney handles the legal side, and your tax preparer handles the filings.

Can you see where your cash will be in 90 days? Do you know which parts of your business are actually profitable? Are you making hiring, pricing, and growth decisions with real numbers behind them? That’s what Financial Planning and Strategy delivers. A financial plan built around where your business is today and where you’re taking it, with forecasting, profitability analysis, and strategic guidance on the decisions in front of you.

For most businesses up to $10M, yes for the leadership side. Stratovus provides the CFO function and oversees the accounting work your bookkeeper or accountant performs.

That’s a good problem to have, and we plan for it. If your business grows to the point where a full-time CFO or finance team makes sense, Stratovus helps you structure that transition, define the role, and get the right person in place. You won’t be starting from scratch because the financial foundation will already be built.

Client files are stored in Microsoft 365 Business Premium with E5 security and in SuiteDash, our client portal. Both require multi-factor sign-in and encrypt data in transit and at rest.

Payments run through Stripe. Your banking and payment credentials go directly into Stripe. Stratovus never sees or stores them.

We never sell your financial information. We share it only with the service providers and vetted professionals who help us do the work, under written confidentiality and data security terms. Every engagement includes a mutual NDA at discovery and confidentiality terms in the Master Service Agreement.