Most Italian SMEs hire their first CFO too late. The classic pattern: revenues grow past 5 million EUR, the accountant is overwhelmed, the founder is making strategic decisions on gut feel, and a full-time CFO is hired in a panic — usually overqualified for the immediate need and underqualified for what comes next.
A fractional CFO solves this problem with surgical precision. You buy 1, 2 or 3 days a week of a senior financial leader, on a rolling 6 to 12 month engagement, with a clear scope: install controls, design the management reporting, build the budgeting and forecasting muscle, and prepare the company for the next financial milestone — be it a fundraise, an acquisition, an international expansion or simply a generational handover.
The economics are compelling. A senior CFO in Italy costs 120 to 180K EUR per year fully loaded. A fractional CFO with the same calibre runs 30 to 60K EUR for the same scope, delivered in 9 to 12 months. For SMEs in the 3 to 25 million EUR revenue band, this is often the difference between professionalising the finance function and remaining stuck.
The right moment to hire one is rarely when the founder thinks. The signals are clear: management decisions are made without monthly P&L, cash flow is forecast on a napkin, the company is approaching an inflection point (M&A, funding, generational shift), or audit and tax issues are eating disproportionate management time.
The wrong way to use a fractional CFO is to treat them as a senior controller. The right way is to use them as the architect of a finance function that scales — including the eventual hiring of a full-time successor when the company genuinely outgrows the fractional model.
