A closed set of books
Bank, vendor, customer and inter‑company reconciliations completed, provisions booked, and the trial balance signed off by a reviewer — not left open until audit.
Cloud CFO — the finance function you rent until you can build it.
A qualified finance head, working to a fixed monthly rhythm, for the price of a mid‑level hire. Books closed on a deadline, numbers you can read, and a forecast that tells you what next quarter looks like before it arrives.
The gap
Between a book‑keeper and a CFO there is a very expensive silence.
A book‑keeper records what already happened. A CFO tells you what to do next. Most growing businesses in India sit between the two for years — accurate enough to file returns, blind enough to be surprised by their own cash position.
The symptoms are familiar: books that close six weeks late, a bank balance that is the only real management report, receivables nobody is chasing, and a profit figure that appears once a year at audit time and is never explained.
- You know turnover, but not which product or branch actually earns.
- Cash decisions are made from the bank app, not a forecast.
- Nobody is accountable for closing the month on a fixed date.
The retainer
What lands on your desk, every month.
Cloud CFO is deliberately unromantic. It is the same set of outputs, on the same dates, so you can build decisions around them.
MIS with commentary
Profit and loss, balance sheet and key ratios, plus a written note explaining what moved this month and why. Two pages you can actually act on.
Rolling cash forecast
A twelve‑week view of inflows and outflows, updated monthly, so a shortfall is a planning question in week two rather than a crisis in week ten.
Budget vs actual
Variance against the plan, by cost centre or division, with the three lines that explain most of the gap flagged rather than left for you to find.
Controls & compliance status
A one‑page status of every statutory filing, plus any control weakness we noticed while closing — approvals bypassed, limits exceeded, documents missing.
A scheduled review
A fixed monthly call or meeting with the partner to go through the pack and agree what changes. The numbers are only useful if a decision follows them.
The monthly cycle
Four weeks, same shape each time.
W1
Collect
Bank statements, invoices and payroll data pulled in through a shared folder. Chasing documents is our job, not yours.
W2
Close
Entries posted, reconciliations completed, provisions and accruals booked, and the trial balance reviewed and locked.
W3
Report
MIS pack, variance analysis and the refreshed cash forecast are prepared and sent ahead of the review.
W4
Decide
Review meeting, agreed actions written down, and the next month’s priorities set. Then it repeats.
Honest fit
When it works — and when it does not.
A good fit if…
- You have an accountant recording transactions but nobody interpreting them.
- Turnover is growing faster than your visibility over cash.
- You are preparing for a bank facility, an investor or a partner buy‑in.
- You run more than one entity, branch or product line and cannot see them separately.
- You want a fixed monthly cost instead of a senior salary and its overheads.
Probably not, if…
- You need someone physically present in the office every day.
- Your transaction volume is small enough that a quarterly review is sufficient.
- You already employ a qualified finance controller with the mandate to decide.
- The real problem is a one‑time clean‑up — that is a separate, cheaper assignment.
If it is not a fit, we will tell you at the scoping call and suggest what would actually help instead.
Scope
Written into the engagement letter.
Nothing here is implied. The retainer letter lists the deliverables, the dates they are due, who prepares them and who reviews them — and what sits outside the retainer and is billed separately.
- Monthly MIS with commentary, not just reports
- Cash-flow forecasting and working-capital control
- Budgeting, variance analysis and unit economics
- Cost centre and profitability reviews
- Board and investor reporting packs
- Finance process design and internal controls
- Coordination with your auditors, bankers and legal advisors
- Support for bank facility renewals and stock statements
- Onboarding and review of your in‑house accounts team