Fractional executive search

A Chief Financial Officer, for exactly as long as the numbers demand

Senior financial leadership embedded in your business: cash flow under control, the board well informed, and a funding round properly prepared. A fractional Chief Financial Officer (CFO) from our collective brings vetted senior finance leadership, matched to your stage and sector.

350+Vetted leaders
30–60%Vs full time
2–3 weeksTo embed
A fractional CFO at work in a Tokyo business setting
Proven leadership

Our fractional CFOs have owned the numbers at

Goldman Sachs
HSBC
PwC
KPMG
Deloitte
EY
JPMorgan
Standard Chartered
When it matters

When a chief financial officer is the right call

A fractional CFO earns their place at a specific moment. You usually know which one you are in.

01

When a funding round is coming

Investor-ready model, clean data room, and a narrative that survives diligence. The CFO runs the process alongside you.

02

When cash flow has become the constraint

A rolling forecast you trust, collections that hold, and the runway clarity to make the next decision with confidence.

03

When the board needs more than bookkeeping

Management accounts, KPIs and reporting that turn the monthly close into a basis for decisions, not a backward glance.

04

When compliance is outpacing the team

Corporate tax, statutory filings and transfer pricing handled properly, with the controls a growing business needs in place.

Is it the right fit?

Where a fractional CFO fits, and where it does not

Best for

  • A funding round where the model and data room have to survive diligence
  • Cash flow that has become the constraint on every other decision
  • A board that needs real management accounts, not just bookkeeping
  • Corporate tax, controls and reporting outpacing the finance team
  • A capable but junior finance function that needs senior oversight

Not for

  • Basic bookkeeping or routine transactional accounting
  • A one-off tax return with no wider finance need
  • Businesses not yet ready to share the numbers openly
  • A junior finance hire to process the day-to-day
What the CFO owns

Financial leadership, measured on outcomes

A fractional CFO does not advise from the sidelines. They take the finance function and the decisions inside it.

Cash flow and working capital

Forecasting, collections and supplier terms managed so liquidity stops being the thing that keeps you up at night.

Funding and investor readiness

Model, deck and diligence pack built to raise, then the round run end to end.

Reporting and board cadence

A timely monthly close, clear KPIs and reporting the board can actually act on.

Tax, controls and compliance

Corporate tax and statutory filings handled, segregation of duties enforced, and risk kept on the register.

The model

Senior leadership, on terms that fit the business

Business to business, scaled to the engagement, and free of the cost and liability that come with a permanent hire. One leader embeds, with the whole collective behind them.

1 monthNotice, either way
B2BCompany-to-company engagement
30–60%Less than a full-time hire, on our engagements
A senior leadership team in a Tokyo boardroom
The comparison

A fractional CFO, a full-time hire, or a consultant

Three ways to bring in financial leadership. They are not the same.

Fractional

Full-time hire

Consultant or agency

Commitment
Fractional

Business to business, scaled to the engagement, one month’s notice.

Full-time hire

Salary, benefits, insurance and severance exposure.

Consultant or agency

A scoped project or retainer, with a defined end.

Cost
Fractional

Our engagements typically run 30 to 60% less than a full-time hire.

Full-time hire

A senior package whether the workload justifies it or not.

Consultant or agency

Day rates or project fees that add up fast for anything ongoing.

Time to impact
Fractional

Embedded within weeks, with the collective behind them.

Full-time hire

A search, a notice period, then onboarding before any output.

Consultant or agency

Fast to start, but external and rarely embedded in the business.

Accountability
Fractional

Owns the finance function and the decisions in it.

Full-time hire

Owns the function, but as a permanent fixed cost.

Consultant or agency

Advises or delivers a defined scope, then hands back; the work stays with you.

Best for
Fractional

A finance leadership gap that needs an owner, not just a report.

Full-time hire

Permanent, full-load finance capacity you can keep busy.

Consultant or agency

A defined advisory or delivery project with a clear finish line.

How it works

From the brief to the match, in weeks

Tell us where you need leadership and we handle the rest. The guided brief takes a couple of minutes and makes the first conversation more useful.

01

Tell us the moment

Share where you need leadership and what good looks like.

02

A conversation

We talk through the brief and sharpen the requirement together.

03

The match

We search our collective of 350+ curated executives for the closest fit.

04

Deployment

You choose, and your leader embeds within weeks to make an immediate impact.

Common questions

The questions founders ask first

A fractional Chief Financial Officer is a senior operator who takes the numbers off the founder desk: cash forecasting that looks forward, reporting a board or a lender will accept, and a finance function that scales past the person who built it, embedded in your business for part of the week rather than all of it. Tokyo businesses use one because the requirement is real and the full-time appointment is not yet justified: a permanent executive appointment in Japan is close to irreversible: dismissal without just cause is extremely difficult, so a mishire is carried for years rather than corrected.

Our engagements typically run 30 to 60% less than a comparable full-time appointment, because you buy the share of time the work needs rather than a full salary and its overheads. There is no recruitment fee, no benefits burden and no severance exposure, and the engagement scales up or down on one month notice.

Typically two to three weeks from the first conversation to an embedded executive. We start from a curated collective rather than an open search, which is what compresses the timeline. The pace after that depends on how quickly you can brief us and meet the short list.

A komon advises. A fractional executive holds the decisions in their domain and is accountable for the outcome, with the support and governance of the collective around the engagement. The contractual form is familiar, a gyomu itaku services agreement between two companies. What changes is the search that finds the person and what they are answerable for once they are in the seat.

Yes. We match on language as seriously as on sector: an operator who cannot run a meeting in Japanese cannot run your business, and one who cannot brief an overseas board in English cannot help a company that reports to one. Where you need both, we say so at the brief stage rather than discovering it in month two.

Related

Where a fractional CFO makes the difference

The moments this role is most often brought in for. See how the engagement works for each.

Explore the practices

One role, or a blended leadership setup

Many engagements start with one executive and grow, and some reach the board, where we place non-executive directors from the same collective. See the full range of C-suite practices and specialised appointments, or tell us the moment and we will help you choose.

Get started

Tell us what is putting pressure on finance.

Cash flow, a raise, reporting gaps or margin. Outline it in the guided brief and we will scope the right level of CFO support and where the fastest wins are.

Scope my CFO requirement