Insights
Field notes from
the CFO seat.
Practical thinking on finance, operations, exits, and AI for owner-led and PE-backed companies. No theory, no jargon, just what we have learned doing the work.
Field notes, by topic
The CFO Seat
What a CFO actually does, when to hire one, and the metrics that should run the business.
Operating CFO Playbook
The annual budget you build is obsolete by March
Six weeks of negotiation produce a spreadsheet that is obsolete by March. Build a driver-based plan, a rolling reforecast, and a cash bridge.
September 28, 2026Fractional CFO
Fractional CFO vs controller vs bookkeeper: who you need
Hiring the wrong finance role wastes a year. What a fractional CFO, controller, and bookkeeper each do, what each costs, and which gap you have.
September 3, 2026Tax & planning
100% bonus depreciation is permanent. The operator's move
The 2025 tax law made first-year expensing permanent. What changes for fleet and plant decisions, and the trap of letting the tax tail wag the dog.
August 17, 2026Fractional CFO
What a fractional CFO costs in Atlanta, and when it pays
Fractional CFO pricing in Atlanta for $5M to $100M companies, and the math on when the fee returns a multiple of itself.
July 30, 2026Operating CFO Playbook
Your business is probably run by an unnamed bottleneck
Most businesses have one or two constraints that pace the whole system. Name it before you assign blame. Part three of the Operating CFO Playbook.
July 6, 2026Operating CFO Playbook
Efficiency without effectiveness speeds the wrong work
Companies chase efficiency, automating work that doesn't move enterprise value. Do the right work first. Part two of the Operating CFO Playbook.
July 2, 2026Operating CFO Playbook
Throughput is where operations and finance actually meet
Profit hides in the fixed-cost base you already own. Push the right volume through it before you add cost. Part one of the Operating CFO Playbook.
June 29, 2026Finance leadership
Five signs you've outgrown your bookkeeper
A bookkeeper keeps the records straight. A growing company needs someone to read the story those records tell. Five signs you've crossed that line.
June 26, 2026Fractional CFO
How much does a fractional CFO cost?
A plain-English breakdown of fractional CFO pricing models, what drives the number up or down, and how to know whether the spend will pay for itself.
June 24, 2026Margin & Profit Visibility
Where the real money is won and lost, and the margin most owners never see.
Operating CFO
The money in your own contracts you are not billing
Escalators and surcharges you already negotiated often go unbilled. Margin with no price increase and no new sale, just billing discipline.
July 20, 2026Operating CFO
The unprofitable customers hiding in your average margin
Most owners know their overall margin and almost none know it by customer. Build it and an expensive pattern shows up at the bottom of the book.
July 16, 2026Operating CFO Playbook
Revenue is vanity until you understand its quality
Volume covers sins for a while, then the wrong revenue mix shows up in cash and EBITDA. Part four of the Operating CFO Playbook.
July 9, 2026Operating CFO
The 1% price increase most owners never take
Price is the strongest profit lever a business has and the one owners touch least. A 1% price move beats cutting cost or chasing volume.
June 28, 2026Cash & Working Capital
Seeing cash before it surprises you, and freeing the cash trapped in the business.
Cash flow
Inventory carrying cost: what a dollar costs per year
Inventory looks free on the balance sheet and costs 18 to 25 cents per dollar per year to hold. The math, and the decision most owners defer.
October 5, 2026Cash flow
Build your 13-week cash forecast in one afternoon
A free 13-week cash forecast template, the disbursement lines owners forget, and the four-step discipline that makes it accurate inside a month.
August 6, 2026Operating CFO Playbook
Cash problems usually start before the invoice is sent
Cash problems look financial. Many start with late tickets, slow approvals, and weak collections. Working capital is an operating metric.
July 13, 2026Cash flow
What a 13-week cash flow forecast actually catches
The 13-week cash flow forecast is the most useful tool in an operator's kit. Here is what it surfaces that a P&L never will, and why the timeframe matters.
June 27, 2026Exit Value & Owner-Dependence
Getting the business ready, and worth more, for a sale or transition.
Exit readiness
What an LOI actually commits a buyer to (almost nothing)
The letter of intent binds you to exclusivity and binds the buyer to very little. How the re-trade works, and what protects the price.
October 8, 2026Exit readiness
Atlanta succession timeline: 5, 3, and 1 year out
Metro Atlanta is full of owner-led businesses with founders past 55 and no written succession plan. The honest timeline, 5, 3, and 1 year out.
September 21, 2026Private equity
The first 100 days after a PE deal, an operating checklist
The value-creation clock starts at close. The operating and finance moves in the first 100 days that set the hold period's trajectory.
September 7, 2026Exit readiness
What is a quality of earnings report? An owner's guide
Every serious buyer runs a QoE before closing, and it re-cuts your EBITDA line by line. What the report covers, what it finds, and how to pass it.
August 27, 2026Exit readiness
Owner-dependence: the discount buyers never itemize
If the business needs you daily, a buyer is buying a job they cannot fill. How owner-dependence gets priced, and the 12-month plan to remove it.
August 20, 2026Exit readiness
What is exit readiness? The 18-month clock owners miss
Exit readiness means the business survives a buyer's scrutiny and commands full price. What it covers, and why the clock starts 18 to 36 months out.
July 23, 2026Industry Operator Notes
Operator-level finance for waste, manufacturing, logistics, and field services.
Industry note
Deadhead: the empty miles quietly eating freight margin
A lane quoted at $2.35 per loaded mile with a 90-mile empty reposition is really a $1.85 lane. How to measure and cut deadhead miles.
October 1, 2026Operating CFO
Cut the constraint, not the headcount
When margins slip, the reflex is a labor cut, because labor is the biggest line the P&L can see. Find the bottleneck before firing anyone.
September 24, 2026Industry note
Detroit Tier 2 suppliers and the concentration trap
When two OEM programs are 70% of revenue, the business runs well right up until it doesn't. How to price and cut customer concentration risk.
September 14, 2026Tax & planning
Government grant accounting for manufacturers, ASU 2025-10
FASB's ASU 2025-10 tells US businesses how to book government grants. What it means for manufacturers with incentive money on the balance sheet.
August 31, 2026Industry note
Route density: the number that runs your route margin
Two route operators with identical trucks and rates can be ten margin points apart on stops per mile. How route density works, and how to manage it.
August 24, 2026Industry note
Service center economics when the index sets your price
Metals service centers earn money three ways and lose it in the spread. How operators manage toll fees, index exposure, and yield when prices swing.
August 3, 2026AI on the P&L
AI held to the same standard as any other investment: a measurable result on the P&L.
AI advisory
Most AI pilots fail because nobody owns the number
The 95% AI pilot failure rate gets blamed on models and vendors. The autopsy usually shows something simpler. No single person owned the outcome.
September 17, 2026AI advisory
An AI policy your team will actually follow
Your people are already using AI, permission or not. A one-page policy for mid-market companies. What to allow, what to forbid, how to enforce it.
September 10, 2026AI advisory
AI on the P&L: what to measure before you buy anything
95% of corporate AI pilots show no measurable return. The five numbers to establish before a pilot, and the discipline that makes the spend pay.
August 13, 2026