The Harper CFO Group Book a consultation

The Harper CFO Group A Partner in Building What's Next

Fractional CFO / COO advisory

Fractional CFO advisory for consulting firms.

The Harper CFO Group helps founder-led technology consulting and software development firms replace financial blind spots with practical forecasts, operating cadence, and decision-ready reporting.

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Best fit
Founder-led consulting and software firms
Operating range
$1M-$10M+ revenue, 5-50 team members
First focus
Cash, margin, pricing, utilization, and hiring capacity

Services / engagement tiers

Choose the level of finance leadership the firm needs now.

Each engagement is built for a real operating stage: clean up visibility, install a working management system, or keep strategic finance at the leadership table.

Blueprint Diagnostic

Get the financial house in order.

A focused assessment for firms that have the revenue, but not the visibility. We identify where cash, margin, pricing, and capacity are slipping out of view.

  • Financial visibility review across cash, close, AR, and reporting
  • Client, project, and service-line margin readout
  • Practical 30 / 60 / 90-day finance action plan
Fixed-scope assessment Start with Blueprint
Framework Most common

Turn the numbers into an operating rhythm.

We build and install the weekly and monthly cadence that lets leadership see the firm clearly and make the next decision with confidence.

  • 13-week cash forecast and rolling operating model
  • KPI dashboard for utilization, margin, pipeline, AR, and cash
  • Monthly leadership pack and partner meeting cadence
3-6 month buildout Build the Framework
Cornerstone Embedded

Add a CFO seat without the full-time hire.

Ongoing fractional CFO and COO partnership for firms that need senior finance leadership in the room for pricing, hiring, capital, and growth calls.

  • Monthly close oversight, board reporting, and forecast review
  • Pricing, compensation, hiring capacity, and capital planning
  • Executive support through growth, debt, equity, or transaction events
Ongoing advisory retainer Discuss Cornerstone
  • Profitability is unclear by client or service line.The P&L says the firm made money. It does not show which engagements carried the month and which ones quietly consumed capacity.
  • Cash planning is reactive.Milestone billing, late AR, contractor payments, and hiring plans all hit the same bank balance without a reliable 13-week view.
  • Pricing decisions rely on habit.Rates, retainers, scope changes, and partner exceptions accumulate until margin moves for reasons nobody can see in time.
  • Leadership meetings lack a financial operating rhythm.The same questions return every week because the firm has reports, but not a decision process around the reports.

Why us / differentiation

Finance leadership built for the consulting operating model.

The Harper CFO Group is not a bookkeeping layer or a generic monthly report. We work where consulting-firm economics are actually decided: utilization, scope, margin, pricing, cash, and partner alignment.

We know the levers that move consulting margins.

Utilization, realization, bench, write-downs, change orders, partner draws, and contractor mix are treated as operating decisions, not accounting footnotes.

We turn reporting into weekly management.

The work does not stop at a dashboard. We install the meeting rhythm, ownership, and follow-through that make the numbers useful before decisions are already made.

We bring enterprise discipline without enterprise drag.

Forecasting, controls, and board-level thinking are scaled to the size of the firm. Useful structure, clean decisions, and no unnecessary bureaucracy.

We sit beside the founder and partner table.

The best finance work changes how leadership talks about capacity, hiring, cash, and growth. We make those conversations clearer and more concrete.

Founder of The Harper CFO Group

About / bio

An operator's view of finance, built for firms in motion.

Clear numbers are useful. Clear operating decisions are the point.

The Harper CFO Group was built for founder-led consulting and software firms that have outgrown informal finance, but do not need a full-time CFO yet. The work combines strategic finance, operating discipline, and practical implementation.

The firm brings enterprise banking, technology finance, and consulting-company operating experience to the middle ground where most founders need help: forecast the cash, protect margin, price the work, plan hiring, and keep leadership aligned.

Technology focusConsulting, software development, and service-led firms
Operator lensForecasts, cadence, controls, and execution support
Founder fitBuilt for leaders who need clearer decisions, not more noise

How we work

A practical process from visibility to operating cadence.

We start with what the firm already has, clean up the picture, and build a finance rhythm that leadership can actually use week to week.

Step 01

Diagnose

Review the financials, contracts, AR, delivery model, pricing, utilization, and current reporting. Find what matters and what is missing.

Step 02

Build

Create the forecast, dashboard, reporting pack, and operating cadence around cash, margin, pipeline, and capacity.

Step 03

Run

Use the new rhythm in leadership meetings. Move from hindsight reporting to live decisions about hiring, scope, pricing, and cash.

Step 04

Review

Tighten the model as the firm changes. Keep the structure useful, current, and tied to the next stage of growth.

Start with a clear look

Let's look at the numbers behind the firm.

A short consultation is enough to understand where visibility is breaking down and which engagement tier is the right next step.

Book a consultation Compare engagement tiers