Virtual CFO Support: Budget Tracking, Cash Flow Monitoring and Board Reports#
Some businesses outgrow their bookkeeper before they need a full-time finance lead. The books are current, but nobody is comparing them to a plan, watching the cash balance week to week, or preparing the pack the board asks for. That gap is what virtual CFO support covers. It is also easy to oversell, so this article is plain about what it includes and what it does not.
The scope, stated plainly#
Virtual CFO support from us is part-time financial oversight built on the client's QuickBooks Online data. It covers:
- Budget preparation and budget-versus-actual tracking.
- Cash flow monitoring and reporting.
- KPI dashboard design and upkeep.
- Board and investor reporting packages.
- Financial statement review and commentary.
- A recurring call to walk through the numbers.
It does not cover:
- Fundraising strategy.
- Deal negotiation or deal structuring.
- Full financial leadership or acting as the company's CFO.
If a business needs those, they sit with the owner, the board, or an adviser you choose. We can supply the numbers that support those conversations. We do not run them.
Budget build and monthly variance tracking#
A budget is a set of expected figures by account, usually by month. We build it against the existing chart of accounts in QuickBooks Online so that actual results can be set beside it without remapping.
The inputs come from you: expected revenue, planned hiring, known commitments, one-off items. We turn them into a monthly budget and agree it with the owner before it is used.
Each month the variance report shows budget, actual, and the difference in amount and percent for every line. The useful part is the commentary. A variance of 8,000 on marketing means little until someone writes down that a campaign was brought forward from next quarter.
Illustrative variance table (round numbers only):
| Line | Budget | Actual | Variance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | 120,000 | 112,000 | (8,000) |
| Cost of sales | 48,000 | 47,000 | 1,000 |
| Payroll | 40,000 | 41,500 | (1,500) |
| Marketing | 6,000 | 14,000 | (8,000) |
| Result after these lines | 26,000 | 9,500 | (16,500) |
Here the story is two lines: revenue came in under plan and marketing came in over. What to do about it is the owner's decision.
Cash flow monitoring#
Profit and cash are different things. A business can be profitable and still run short because customers pay late. Monitoring cash means reading the cash position from the reconciled books and looking at what is already known to be coming in and going out.
A simple short-term roll-forward uses known items only: the opening cash balance, open customer invoices by due date, open supplier bills by due date, and recurring payments such as payroll and rent. It does not guess at new sales. Our service covers budgets, cash flow monitoring and reporting, not financial modeling, so this view is a monitoring tool, not a projection of the business.
Illustrative four-week roll-forward (round numbers only):
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opening cash | 90,000 | 84,000 | 70,000 | 73,000 |
| Customer receipts due | 20,000 | 10,000 | 25,000 | 15,000 |
| Supplier bills due | (14,000) | (6,000) | (7,000) | (9,000) |
| Payroll and rent | (12,000) | (18,000) | (15,000) | (18,000) |
| Closing cash | 84,000 | 70,000 | 73,000 | 61,000 |
The month ends 29,000 lower than it started. The monitoring point is that receipts depend on invoices being paid on time, so the receivables aging is checked each week against what the table assumes. Cash runway, defined as the cash balance divided by average monthly net burn, is shown alongside.
Board-ready reporting pack#
A board or investor pack is the management pack with a layer on top. It typically includes:
- Profit and loss with comparatives.
- Balance sheet and cash flow statement.
- Budget versus actual with commentary.
- Cash position and runway.
- A one-page KPI summary.
- A list of open items the board should know about.
What the board wants to see differs. A lender may want one set of measures and a grant funder another. We build to the format asked for and keep definitions stable from one period to the next.
Cadence#
The agreed schedule is usually monthly or quarterly, set during onboarding. A typical monthly rhythm looks like this:
| Step | Timing |
|---|---|
| Books closed and reconciled | After month end |
| Reports prepared and reviewed by a Chartered Accountant | After close |
| Review call with the owner or your firm | After the pack is issued |
| Cash position checked between calls | As agreed |
The pack depends on a closed month. If the bookkeeping is behind, the reports are delayed until the books are current.
What stays with the owner or the accounting firm#
- Setting the budget targets and approving the budget.
- Deciding what to do about a variance or a cash shortfall.
- Talking to the board, lenders, investors and the client.
- Tax advice, tax returns and tax positions.
- Any fundraising, negotiation or strategic decision.
Where you are an accounting firm offering this to your own clients, the firm owns the client relationship and the advice. Our team prepares the pack and the commentary, a Chartered Accountant reviews it, and your reviewer signs off before it goes to the client.
What to send#
- Access to the QuickBooks Online file as an accountant user.
- Any existing budget or plan, in whatever form it exists.
- Board or lender reporting requirements and the format they expect.
- The list of known upcoming commitments: loan repayments, large purchases, payment terms.
- The name of the person who will join the review call.
What comes back#
- A budget agreed with the owner, and monthly or quarterly budget-versus-actual reports.
- Cash flow reports and a KPI dashboard.
- A board-ready package on the agreed schedule.
- Commentary on notable movements and a list of questions for you.
- A recurring review call.
Review checks before it goes to the board#
| Check | What to look for |
|---|---|
| Ties to the books | Actual figures agree to the closed QuickBooks Online file |
| Budget version | The budget shown is the one the owner approved |
| Cash | Opening cash equals the reconciled bank balance |
| Commentary | Each large variance has a reason or is marked as a question |
| Scope | Nothing in the pack reads as fundraising, deal or legal advice |
Frequently asked questions#
Is this a full-time CFO replacement? No. It is part-time oversight: budgeting, cash flow monitoring and reporting. It is not full financial leadership.
Do you help with fundraising or investor negotiations? No. We can supply the financial reports an investor asks for, but fundraising strategy and deal structuring are outside this service.
How often do we meet? Typically monthly or quarterly, depending on what is agreed during setup.
Can this be combined with monthly bookkeeping? Yes. It is often combined with monthly bookkeeping or financial reporting, since the reports depend on clean books.
See the virtual CFO support service and the page for accounting and CPA firms.
