FAQ
Plain answers.
The questions owners ask before the first call, answered the way we'd answer them on the call.
What is a fractional CFO?
A fractional CFO is a senior finance leader your business shares with a few others instead of hiring full time. You get the work a CFO actually does: cash and revenue forecasts, budgets, pricing and hiring decisions, lender and investor conversations, for a fraction of the cost of a full-time executive. Most owner-led businesses need that judgment well before they can justify the salary.
What does Wayfinder Partners actually do?
Two things, separately or together: bookkeeping (clean monthly books in QuickBooks Online, payroll through Gusto) and fractional CFO leadership (forecasts, planning, and a standing monthly decision meeting). What makes us different is where we start: every engagement begins with where you want the business to end up, and the services are chosen to serve that route. The Navigator Method explains how.
Who do you work with?
Owner-led businesses with roughly $1 million to $20 million in revenue, across industries. We're based in Traverse City, Michigan and work remote-first with owner-led businesses anywhere in the US.
Is your team based in the United States?
Yes, entirely. Everyone who touches your engagement works from the United States, led from our home port in Traverse City, Michigan. We have real respect for the excellent finance professionals working around the world, but we’ve made a deliberate choice to keep every engagement fully US-based. Your team works your hours, knows the banking, tax, and compliance landscape you operate in, and is directly reachable when something can’t wait, so you always know exactly who is looking after your numbers, and where.
Do I need bookkeeping or a CFO?
It depends on the question keeping you up at night. If it's "are my numbers even right?", that's bookkeeping. If it's "can I afford this hire?" or "why is there no cash when we're profitable?", that's CFO work. Many clients need both, run by one team so nothing gets lost in the handoff. If you're not sure, the first call sorts it out, or take the Financial Health Checkup, which takes about three minutes.
What is the Navigator Method?
Our four-move approach, in a deliberate order: lead with the destination (what do you actually want?), understand the constraints (what's most likely to stop you?), build the route (a financial roadmap with the decisions in order), and navigate together (ongoing monthly leadership). The order matters: the destination comes before any talk of services. Full method here.
How does an engagement start?
With a free 20-minute Waypoint Session: your navigator takes your bearings, walks you through how we read a business like yours, and leaves you with a clear next heading. From there, a short assessment of your current position, then a route report showing what we'd do and in what order. Each stage earns the next, and you can stop at any point and keep everything we've built together.
What do your services cost?
It depends on the engagement: bookkeeping and CFO work are monthly engagements scoped to your business's size and complexity, and planning projects are fixed-scope with a defined deliverable. You'll have a clear number before you commit to anything. That's part of what the Waypoint Session is for.
Do you replace my tax accountant?
No. Tax preparation and filing stay with your tax professional. We handle the operational side (clean monthly books, forecasting, and planning) and coordinate with your tax preparer so they get better records and you get fewer surprises in April.
What are the free planning tools?
Five working tools, free on our Resources page: the Financial Health Checkup (find your starting point in 8 questions), the Growth Planning Workbook (a one-page 12-month growth plan), the Profit Engine Diagnostic (your profit waterfall, break-even, and levers), the Cash Confidence Planner (a 13-week cash forecast), and the Exit Readiness Checklist (score the business through a buyer's eyes). They're the same tools we use inside engagements.
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