Bringing peace and clarity to your financial world
Why You Need Us
Large firms may refuse to do certain jobs if they don’t fall within their pricing model.If it's important to you, it's important to us.
The McBride CFO difference
What Sets Us Apart
Many fractional CFO firms sell you a senior name and hand the work to junior staff. At McBride CFO, our founder, Susan McBride, is hands-on in every engagement, dedicated to your business or household and available when you need her. Years of working in family offices taught her the discretion and confidentiality that private financial matters deserve, and every client receives that same care. We cover the full range, from day-to-day operational accounting all the way up to CFO-level strategy, so you never have to juggle separate firms, and no job is too small. Pricing is straightforward, set to your needs in a written agreement with no long-term contract. And because we are experts at putting AI to work, routine tasks take far less manual effort and time, which keeps your costs down and gets you answers faster.
Real world examples for businesses
Margins
Record sales hid a slow leak in margins
The problem
Revenue was up 24% and gross profit dollars were rising, so every monthly report looked fine. Yet the owner couldn't see why there wasn't more cash in the bank.
What we found
Two years of quarterly results, side by side, showed gross margin slipping from 38.2% to 33.4%, never more than a point at a time. Three suppliers had added small price increases and fuel surcharges as separate line items, while sales staff quoted from a two-year-old price list.
The result
An updated price list, surcharges passed through to customers and two supplier contracts rebid. Margin recovered by 3.5 points.
Gross margin by quarter. No single quarter fell more than a point.
4.8 ptsmargin lost, quietly
$430Kyearly cost on $9M in sales
$300Krecovered each year
Cash Flow
A cash crunch spotted in week 7, before it hit payroll
The problem
The business was profitable and the bank balance looked healthy. Nobody was watching cash week by week.
What we found
A rolling 13-week cash forecast showed a slow-paying customer, a quarterly loan payment and an inventory order all landing in the same three weeks, pushing cash below the owner's $300,000 minimum in week seven.
The result
With two months' warning, the company pulled a large receivable forward and drew on its credit line on its own schedule. Payroll never noticed.
13-week ending cash. The dashed line is the $300K minimum cash floor.
Week 7shortfall spotted
8 weeksof warning
$0missed payroll or late fees
Signs your business may need a CFO
Profitable, and still short on cash
When the P&L and the bank balance disagree, the gap is usually receivables, inventory or debt service nobody watches weekly.
The books close late, if at all
Month-end takes three weeks, and decisions get made on last quarter's numbers.
A lender is asking hard questions
A loan renewal, acquisition or capital raise needs a forecast and a clean story.
A retired couple felt they were living modestly and assumed their investments would last well into their nineties. Their accounts were spread across two banks, three credit cards and two brokerage firms, and no one was adding it all up.
What we found
Once every account was reconciled, everyday spending was close to their estimate. The surprise was the "once in a while" costs: a new roof, a car, travel and help for their grown children. Each felt like a one-time event, but together they came every year and added more than a third to annual spending.
The result
A budget with a set yearly allowance for big-ticket items, a clear rule for gifts to family and a quarterly runway check. Their projected runway went from about 9 years back to more than 12.
35%of spending hidden in "one-time" costs
9 yearsprojected runway before
12+ yearsafter the new plan
Catch-Up
Two years of records, organized before the tax deadline
The problem
After a family loss, a client inherited responsibility for a parent's finances on top of her own. Statements piled up, and her CPA needed organized records within six weeks.
What we found
Missing statements, duplicate transfers between accounts and several charitable gifts and medical expenses that had never been recorded.
The result
Every account reconciled, a clean year-end package delivered to the CPA on time, and deductions documented that would otherwise have been missed.
2 yearsof records brought current
6 weeksfrom first call to CPA package
On timeno extension needed
Signs your household may need a personal CFO
You're not sure how long the money will last
Savings, investments and Social Security add up to a number, but no one has run the projection.
Tax season is a scramble
Statements are scattered, and your accountant keeps asking for documents you can't find.
You're managing a parent's finances
Someone else's accounts, bills and paperwork on top of your own, with no clear system.
