Fractional CFO
You have numbers. You need confidence.
Senior financial leadership for CEOs who need to make serious decisions with confidence, without the cost or commitment of a full-time CFO.
For owner-managed businesses with £3m–£50m turnover in growth, transactional, or turnaround scenarios.
The finance function has not kept pace with the business.
You are not running a small business anymore. You have customers, staff, suppliers, revenue, reputation, responsibility, and future value at stake. But if the numbers still do not help you make better decisions, there is a gap. And most CEOs feel that gap before they can name it.
"I get the accounts, but I still do not know what decision to make."
The management accounts arrive. Revenue, costs, profit, debtors, creditors and cash are all there. But the commercial answer is still not clear.
"We are profitable, so why are we always tight for cash?"
Payroll comes around. VAT lands. A customer pays late. A supplier wants paid early. Suddenly the business is under pressure again.
"We are bigger, but I am not sure we are better."
More customers. More people. More meetings. More complexity. Revenue is rising, but profit and cash are not improving the way they should.
"Everything still ends up on my desk."
Pricing, hiring, cash, costs, forecasts, bank requests, board questions and performance issues still come back to you for the final call.
You feel exposed, isolated, and frustrated.
Not because you cannot lead. Because the business is now asking bigger financial questions than the current finance function is equipped to answer.
Exposed
You are making serious decisions without enough financial certainty underneath them.
Isolated
Everyone brings you parts of the problem, but nobody is helping you see the whole financial picture.
Frustrated
The same conversations keep coming back: cash, margin, forecasts, cost control, performance and value.
Not just better reports. Better decisions.
At £3m–£50m turnover, weak financial leadership is no longer a minor inconvenience. It affects cash, margin, growth, funding, exit value, and the pressure sitting on the CEO.
Fractional CFO support that helps you lead with confidence.
I provide senior financial leadership for owner-managed businesses that need more than basic finance support, but do not need the cost or commitment of a full-time CFO.
My role is to help you understand what is really happening in the business, where money is being made or lost, where cash pressure is building, and which decisions matter most. I do not simply report the numbers. I help you lead from them.
Cash & Working Capital
Forward-looking cash control, debtor discipline, supplier visibility and working capital management.
Reporting & Forecasting
Clear management information, sharper board packs, reliable forecasts and scenario planning.
Margin & Performance
Profitability analysis by customer, product, project, location, team or service line.
Strategic Decision Support
Financial leadership for growth, turnaround, capital raising, acquisitions, exit preparation and board-level decisions.
Different situations. Same requirement: financial leadership.
Whether the business is growing, preparing for a transaction, or under pressure, the CEO needs a clearer financial picture and stronger commercial discipline.
Growth
The business is performing, the opportunity is there, and it is the right time to put proper financial discipline around the next stage.
- Cleaner KPIs before the business becomes more complex
- Better visibility on cash, margin and performance
- Understanding where growth is creating value
- A stronger reporting rhythm with the management team
- Scaling properly rather than just getting busier
Transactional
You are raising capital, preparing for exit, considering acquisitions, or entering a period where the business needs to stand up to scrutiny.
- Numbers that are clean, credible and explainable
- Forecasts that can stand up to challenge
- Working capital, margins and normalised performance understood
- Proper financial preparation before investors or buyers get involved
- Confidence that everything is above board before the process moves forward
Turnaround
The business is struggling, pressure is building, and you need experienced financial leadership to come in, find the truth, and support the decisions that matter.
- Cash is tight or unpredictable
- Margins are slipping and the causes are not clear enough
- Costs have drifted and need challenging properly
- The forecast keeps moving and confidence is low
- Stabilise the business and restore control
From financial reality to confident leadership.
The work starts with clarity, moves into rhythm, and then supports the decisions that shape performance, cash, growth and value.
01
Diagnose the Financial Reality
We get underneath the numbers across cash, margin, profitability, forecasting, reporting, controls, working capital and decision-making. You will know what is working, what is exposed, and what needs to change first.
02
Build the CFO Rhythm
We create the reporting, forecasting, cash discipline, KPI structure and decision cadence needed to run the business properly. The right information reaches the right people at the right time.
03
Lead with Confidence
We use the numbers to support the serious decisions in front of you, growth, margin improvement, funding, turnaround, acquisition, or exit. You are no longer carrying the financial weight alone.
I know what this looks like from the inside.
Michael G Ferguson
I am an ACCA-qualified finance leader with 17+ years' experience across corporate finance, M&A advisory, investment banking, business turnaround, and operational finance leadership.
I have worked inside businesses when performance had to improve, cash had to be protected, deals had to be assessed, and management teams needed clear numbers to make serious decisions. That means the advice is not theoretical. It comes from the sharp end of financial leadership.
Most importantly, I understand that CEOs do not need someone who simply explains what happened last month. They need someone who helps them decide what happens next.
17+ Years in Finance Leadership
Across corporate finance, operational finance, transformation, turnaround and transaction environments.
ACCA-Qualified
Commercial finance expertise grounded in professional discipline, reporting rigour and financial control.
Turnaround & Performance
Experience working where cash, margin, cost control and management decisions needed to improve quickly.
M&A & Transaction Perspective
Corporate finance and transaction experience that helps businesses prepare for scrutiny, funding, acquisition and sale.
You stop carrying the financial weight alone.
The pressure does not disappear. But you are no longer the only person making sense of cash, margin, forecasts, pricing, costs, funding and performance.
Decisions stop sitting only with you
You have senior financial leadership beside you to challenge assumptions, pressure-test options and support the final call.
Cash stops being managed by surprise
You get better forward visibility, stronger working capital discipline and earlier warning when pressure is building.
Growth starts creating value, not noise
You understand what is profitable, what is consuming cash, and what decisions will make the business stronger.
The business may keep moving. But value keeps leaking.
Weak financial leadership does not just create frustration. It costs money. The risks compound quietly, until they cannot be ignored.
Serious decisions keep being made from unclear numbers
Hiring, pricing, funding, cost control, customer decisions and exit planning carry more risk when the financial picture is not sharp enough.
You remain the financial shock absorber
Every major financial and commercial issue continues to land on your desk for interpretation, challenge and final decision.
Value keeps leaking from the business
Margins drift. Cash tightens. Forecasts lose credibility. Growth becomes harder to control. The business becomes less attractive under scrutiny.
This is for CEOs of serious owner-managed businesses.
For businesses with £3m–£50m turnover that need stronger financial leadership without hiring a full-time CFO.
You are growing, but want better control over cash, margin and performance.
You are preparing for sale, succession, acquisition, investment or funding.
You are under pressure and need to know what to fix first.
You have finance support, but not true CFO-level leadership.
You are tired of carrying the financial weight of the business alone.
You want decisions made from clarity, not instinct and incomplete information.
A straightforward conversation about your business.
If your financial decisions are now too important to carry alone, get in touch.
We will have a clear discussion about where the business stands, where confidence is missing, and what level of financial leadership is required to move forward properly.
01
No theatre
No over-produced process. Just a serious conversation about the business and the decisions in front of you.
02
No hard sell
If fractional CFO support is not the right fit, I will say so.
03
No generic finance review
The conversation is about your business, your numbers, and what needs to happen next.
Kelvin Lane Advisory
Senior financial leadership for owner-managed businesses.
Growth · Transactional · Turnaround