We are planning a clean exit in two years and need to add a specialized financial role to prepare our books for due diligence. Should we create a full-time CFO seat on our Accountability Chart now, or how do we structure this accountability temporarily using external resources?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When preparing for a clean exit, having bulletproof financials is non-negotiable. However, hiring a full-time, high-salaried CFO immediately might not be the smartest use of your capital, especially if you do not have thirty hours of strategic financial work for them to do every week. You can solve this elegantly using your Accountability Chart.

First, map out the strategic finance seat on your chart. Define the five key roles for this seat, which should include due diligence preparation, financial modeling, and tax strategy. This ensures you have defined the exact accountability the business needs, regardless of who fills it.

Next, look at how to fill this seat. You do not need a full-time internal W-2 employee to occupy a seat on your Accountability Chart. You can place the name of an outsourced, fractional CFO firm into that seat. The fractional lead will own that seat and be fully accountable for those five roles. They must GWC™ the seat just like any internal employee, and they should attend your quarterly meetings when strategic financial planning is on the table.

This approach gives you institutional-grade expertise to prepare your books for a clean exit at a fraction of the cost. It keeps your overhead low, which maximizes your valuation, while ensuring that prospective buyers see a clean, highly professional financial function on your Accountability Chart.