Questions, answered before the first call.

Everything we get asked

• What does a fractional CFO actually do?

  A fractional CFO owns the finance function of your company for the days a month it needs one. That means the forecast, the cash position, pricing and margin, the monthly reporting, and the conversations with your bank, investors or a buyer. Your bookkeeper records what happened. Your CPA reports and files it. The CFO decides what should happen next and makes sure the money is there to do it.

• What does a fractional CFO cost in Vancouver?

  We price by engagement band, never by the hour. A Fractional Executive seat runs $25K to $60K per month depending on company size and days required. An Advisory Retainer runs $8K to $25K per month for companies that already have a controller. Defined projects run as a Workshop of two to four weeks at $30K to $80K or a 90-Day Sprint at $80K to $250K. A Strategy Session is $499 for 90 minutes.

• How is this different from my bookkeeper or my CPA?

  Your bookkeeper records transactions and keeps the ledger current. Your CPA prepares year-end statements, files tax and handles any assurance work. Neither is paid to run the finance function week to week, build the forecast or sit with you when a pricing, hiring or borrowing decision is made. We do that part, and we work alongside both of them. We are not accountants or auditors and we do not replace them.

• How quickly will we see results?

  The diagnosis comes back within the first month and usually changes how you see the business immediately. Cash improvements from invoicing sooner, taking deposits and collecting faster show up within the first quarter. Margin improvements from repricing take a quarter to flow through. Systems and reporting changes show at the first close after they are built. We tell you in the first week which of these applies to you.

• What do we need to share with you?

  Your last two to three years of financial statements and tax filings, your current year management reports, bank statements, aged receivables and payables, and access to your accounting software. For pricing and margin work, sales by product and customer and payroll by role. For funding or exit work, every loan and shareholder agreement. We send a short list before we start so nothing is a surprise.

• Is our financial information confidential?

  Yes. We sign a non-disclosure agreement on request before we see anything. Your data stays in your systems. We do not share client information between engagements, we do not put your financial data into tools that do not meet your confidentiality requirements, and we do not name clients in our materials without written permission. Contact is direct, by phone, text or email, with Ali.

• Which accounting and finance software do you work with?

  Most BC companies between $500K and $30M run QuickBooks Online or Xero, with a Canadian payroll product, a bills and expenses tool, and a field service, job costing, inventory or CRM product beside them. We work in what you have and recommend a change only where a tool genuinely cannot do its job. We do not resell software and we only recommend what we would run ourselves.

• How does Ali work with clients?

  Ali leads every engagement personally and brings in the finance, data, systems and marketing specialists on his team by function as the work requires. He founded his first company in 2007, has founded eight companies, holds an MBA in technology management and takes fractional CMO and CTO seats himself where the scope calls for them. You deal with him directly, by phone, text and email, with replies within one business day.

• Where do you work?

  We are based in Vancouver, British Columbia, and British Columbia is our primary market. We work on site across Metro Vancouver, the Fraser Valley, Vancouver Island, the Okanagan and the Interior, and by video and phone with clients in every province of Canada. Consultations are by video, phone or in person in Vancouver.

• Do you give tax, legal or investment advice?

  No. Tax and assurance work stays with your CPA, legal matters with your lawyer and anything involving securities with a registered adviser. We prepare the numbers they rely on and we work alongside them. We never advise on the purchase or sale of securities and we are not a broker or dealer.

• What size of company do you work with?

  Owners of BC companies between roughly $500K and $30M in revenue, across trades, construction, professional services, healthcare, retail and e-commerce, technology, franchise, distribution, hospitality, manufacturing, automotive, property management and education. Startups preparing to raise are a separate practice with its own starting point, the Startup Advisory session at $349.

• Can you help us prepare to sell the business?

  Yes. The exit-ready financials work cleans the books, normalises earnings and prepares the finance side of due diligence, ideally two to three years before a sale. When you are ready, BizSell.ca, Ali's brokerage, provides a formal valuation at $3,500 flat and runs the sale process. A Business Acquisition session at $399 is the right first conversation.

• Do you work with companies that have investors or a board?

  Yes. Investor and lender reporting, covenant tracking and board packs are a standing part of the fractional CFO seat, and we attend board and lender meetings with you. For founders raising a first or second round, the funding readiness and finance for startups work prepares the metrics, the model and the data room.

• What is the first step?

  Call or text (604) 632-4959 or email ali@sedighi.ca and describe the decision you are facing. Ali replies within one business day. Most engagements start with a Strategy Session of 90 minutes at $499, by video, phone or in person in Vancouver, which ends with a written view of where cash and margin are leaking and what to do first.