CFOs today aren’t just in charge of closing the books; they’re expected to scale their companies for growth and deliver expert insights that drive the business forward. But they all face a common challenge: operational bottlenecks.
Encountering setbacks when closing books or communicating with different teams can hold up strategic decisions, leading to costly delays. In fact, the average finance team takes more than seven business days to close the books at the end of every month. So, while CFOs know exactly where they need to take the business, they’re often stuck untangling the day-to-day instead of focusing on growing the business.
Because of this, it’s no wonder that more finance leaders are turning to outsourced finance operations to meet demands and stay ahead. Today, we’ll discuss how you can benefit from outsourced finance operations and why you should partner with Scrubbed for your finance needs.
The Finance Operations in a CFO-led Model
- Financial reporting
- Payroll and compliance
- Budgeting
- Tax preparation
- Bookkeeping
- Managing accounts payable and receivable
What Functions Can Be Outsourced in Finance?
Many finance functions are ideal for outsourcing, especially those that are routine, rules-based, and require high consistency. This allows CFOs to focus on client-facing work while ensuring the operational engine runs smoothly behind the scenes.
These include:
- Monthly closing: Delivering timely and accurate month-end financial packages.
- Bookkeeping: Recording daily transactions, categorizing expenses, and maintaining up-to-date ledgers to ensure books are clean and organized.
- Cash forecasting: Maintaining updated cash forecasts to enable informed decisions on spend, runway, and investment.
- Accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR): Managing vendor payments and customer collections efficiently.
- Tax preparation: Preparing organized financial documentation and maintaining clean books to support accurate tax filings and audit readiness.
- Financial analysis: Creating budget models, scenario planning frameworks, and management reports to support client decision-making and board-level discussions.
Outsourcing these tasks helps maintain clean financial records without the cost of additional in-house hires. It also ensures that these processes are handled by specialists who are familiar with the business’ financial hygiene best practices.
How Scrubbed Lightens CFO Workloads
At Scrubbed, we lighten CFO workloads by working behind the scenes so you can focus on board meetings, investor updates, and growth strategies.
We work seamlessly behind the scenes aligning with your communication preferences, whether it be weekly calls, quick huddles or email, so it’s easy to get what you need. We understand that CFOs are often on the move or client-face, so we make it a point to adjust to your pace and ensure that our team is ready in the background to keep operations moving.
How Scrubbed Supports Recurring Reporting Cycles
Scrubbed supports monthly, quarterly, and even weekly reporting cycles based on the client’s needs. Whether it’s board packages or internal management reports, we ensure that your financial data is always accurate and timely, so you can keep important stakeholders informed.
On average, we deliver reports within 3 to 5 days after month-end, and sometimes faster for smaller clients who need quick visibility. Every report goes through a layered review process, from the preparer, reviewer, and final checker to ensure complete accuracy and consistency.
How We Help CFOs Scale with Multiple Clients
At Scrubbed, we help CFOs scale by taking care of the day-to-day routine tasks so they can focus on managing client relationships and driving strategies.
From bookkeeping to monthly close, we handle the details and set up efficient, repeatable workflows to make it easier to manage multiple clients without starting from scratch every time. Each account also has a dedicated team, so CFOs don’t need to coordinate every detail themselves.
What Makes Scrubbed a Reliable Ops Partner?
What makes Scrubbed a reliable operations partner is that we consistently meet deadlines and deliver accurate reports that clients can trust. Clients tell us we’re consistent and easy to work with, even during hectic periods, because they know we can get things done right.
We’re proactive and responsive, able to flag issues early and suggestion solutions so our clients always know what’s happening and what steps they need to take. Meanwhile, our structured processes and expert teams help our clients scale their operations without any backend headaches. Lastly, our flexibility means we can quickly adjust if your needs or priorities change.
Can We Support Different Client Tech Stacks?
We work with a wide range of tools and systems and can adapt quickly to every client’s setup.
Some of the tools we’re most experienced in include:
- QuickBooks
- NetSuite
- Sage Intacct
- Xero
- Bill.com
- Expensify
- Gusto
- Shopify
- ADP
We also invest in internal training with in-house SMEs and provide structured resources to ensure our teams can ramp up confidently. Onboarding to a new tool usually takes 1 to 2 weeks, but this timeline is often shorter for tools that are similar to what we already use.
How Fast Can We Onboard New Clients for CFOs?
At Scrubbed, we onboard new clients for CFOs quickly and with structure. From day one, we gather your SOPs, financials, and system access to better understand your current workflows. When that’s done, our team documents the processes, sets clear timelines, and then gets to work right away.
This way, by the time we’re fully onboarded and operational, you’ll have a clear view of the timelines, deliverables, and people responsible for each part of the process.
The ROI of Outsourcing Financial Ops
The return on investment for outsourcing finance operations is straightforward: reduced costs, faster reporting, cleaner data, and expanded capacity for fractional CFOs to serve clients effectively.
Let’s discuss these in further detail:
- Cost-efficiency: CFOs avoid the overhead of hiring and managing full-time operational staff while accessing the skills and technology needed to maintain financial hygiene.
- Faster reporting: With a structured outsourced team, monthly closes and reporting packages can be completed days or even weeks sooner, ensuring clients and stakeholders get actionable data promptly.
- Better data quality: Reduced manual errors, cleaner reconciliations, and real-time visibility into financials strengthen the foundation for strategic decisions.
- Capacity expansion: Fractional CFOs can take on more clients without being buried under operational tasks, enabling higher-value work such as fundraising preparation and strategic planning.
- Reduced rework: Clean, consistent data reduces the time spent fixing errors before board meetings or investor updates.
How We Align with a CFO's Strategic Goals
We align with a CFO’s strategic goals by taking care of the day-to-day finance tasks, so you can focus on growth and strategy. Our team prepares clean, reliable reports that help CFOs make fast and informed decisions without getting lost in the details.
For instance, one CFO was able to focus on fundraising and business expansion while we handled the monthly close and audit prep in the background, keeping operations smooth without any added stress.
Scrubbed Is the Power Behind Your Strategy
Fractional and part-time CFOs deliver their best work when backed by a detail-oriented, responsive finance operations team handling the day-to-day heavy lifting. At Scrubbed, we take care of bookkeeping, reconciliations, reporting packages, and financial hygiene, so CFOs can stay focused on strategy, growth, and client relationships.
Whether you’re managing cash flow projections, preparing for a board meeting, or supporting clients through fundraising, you can do so confidently, knowing your numbers are accurate and your back office is handled.
