Scaling Your Finance Function: When to Hire a Fractional Finance Team

Scrubbed

Scaling Your Finance Function: When to Hire a Fractional Finance Team

At A Glance
As noted at the CFO Leadership Conference, volume often outpaces structure, quietly straining finance execution. To scale capacity, growing companies can integrate partner-led finance teams anchored by an internal liaison. By taking responsibility for this daily execution, these professionals restore predictable reporting and give leaders their focus back.

For many middle-market companies, there is a distinct moment when the finance function shifts from supporting the business to struggling to keep up. Transaction volume increases. Deadlines tighten. The close starts taking longer, and reviews feel rushed. Internal teams spend more time fixing issues than moving forward.

During our afternoon panel at the CFO Leadership Conference in Boston, How CFOs Use Fractional Talent to Scale the Finance Function, Triangle Coffee founder and Fractional CFO Ottavio Siani, Scrubbed’s CFO Aira Pineda, and Accounting Director Arian David unpacked a critical reality for growing organizations. Building a finance organization that can flex with the business requires deliberate structural choices.

Here is a closer look at how to architect that structure by integrating partner-led finance teams.

When to Hire: The 160-Hour Threshold

Prompted by Arian to define the trigger point for bringing on fractional help, Scrubbed CFO Aira Pineda highlighted a practical threshold: evaluating whether a role truly demands a full-time, 160-hour-per-month commitment.

This evaluation is a cornerstone strategy for companies navigating new growth stages. Fast-moving projects often require immediate, specialized execution. "Sometimes I need a project very quickly done, and I need someone experienced already," Aira explained. "I don't want to go through the headache [of hiring full-time]. A fractional team just makes it faster for me."

Partner-led finance teams offer a cost-effective alternative to full-time hiring, providing the exact capacity needed without the overhead of onboarding. They take responsibility for the work behind your numbers, allowing the internal team to focus on strategic growth.

Full-Time vs. Fractional Finance Team Comparison

Feature	Full-Time Finance Hire	Fractional Finance Team
Capacity Commitment Onboarding & Ramp Time Billing Model Specialization	160+ hours/month (Fixed) 60–90 days Annual Salary + Benefits + Equity Generalist execution	Flexible / Scalable capacity Immediate deployment Flat Monthly Retainer Multi-disciplinary experts
Best Used For	Continuous daily operations	Fast growth, specialized projects, scaling

The Architecture of Integration: The "Bridge" Person

A fractional finance team cannot work effectively in isolation.
Fractional CFO Ottavio Siani, who systematically leverages these exact structures across multiple ventures to scale his own executive leadership, identified a critical requirement for successful integration: designating an internal "bridge" person.

This full-time employee acts as the primary point of contact between the company and the fractional team. They do not need deep accounting expertise. Their value lies in providing internal context and answering day-to-day questions while the company operates.

When communication paths and responsibilities are clearly defined, fractional professionals can operate as an extension of the internal finance function rather than as a disconnected outside vendor.

Best Practices for Integrating a Fractional Finance Team

A fractional finance function only succeeds when it is treated as an integrated part of the business.

The Standard of Accuracy: Accuracy is a non-negotiable requirement. As Aira noted during the panel discussion, "We work with numbers, and accuracy matters. If we end up, as a CFO, presenting a wrong number to our board... that is grounds for termination."
Match the Billing Model to the Engagement: While hourly billing is common for initial testing, Ottavio strongly advocated for flat-fee models to maintain strategic alignment. "The problem with hourly billing is the company ends up being pretty precious with your time, and you'll often be held out of important meetings," Ottavio noted. "Retainer-based [billing] leads to a much healthier relationship."
Demand Verified Data Controls (SOC 2): Handing over financial workflows requires absolute trust. Middle market businesses must partner with CPA firms that maintain rigorous, verified controls, such as a SOC 2 audit, to guarantee data security.

Scaling with Technology and Distributed Talent

A fractional model also allows companies to broaden the talent pool available to the finance function.

Distributed teams can provide access to specialized skills, additional coverage, and capacity that adjusts as the business changes. However, location alone does not determine whether the model will work.Quality depends on how the team is managed, how communication is structured, how the work is reviewed, and whether the provider understands the company’s accounting requirements and operating environment.

Technology can further expand the team’s capacity.

During the panel, Aira described analytics teams using AI-assisted tools to write Python code and process data more efficiently than manual Excel workflows would allow. The value is not simply that the technology moves faster. It reduces repetitive work, so finance professionals can spend more time reviewing outputs, investigating exceptions, and applying judgment.

Technology can accelerate the work. Accountability remains human.

Building the Right Finance Structure

Fractional support works best when it solves a defined structural need. The company must still establish internal ownership. Responsibilities must be clear. Workflows must be documented. Review standards must be understood by both teams. When those elements are in place, a fractional finance team can help the business:

Add capacity without immediately adding permanent headcount.
Access specialized expertise.
Support periods of rapid growth or transition.
Make the close and reporting process more predictable.
Reduce pressure on internal finance leaders.
Create a stronger foundation for future hiring.

The objective is not to outsource responsibility. It is to build a finance function with the right capacity, expertise, and structure for the company’s current stage of growth.

About the Panelists

Arian David | Accounting Director, Scrubbed Arian serves as the Accounting Director for Retail and Distribution at Scrubbed. She brings over 12 years of specialized execution experience managing complex accounting operations across the distribution, e-commerce, and retail sectors.

Aira Pineda | CFO, Scrubbed Aira directs financial strategy and operations as the Chief Financial Officer at Scrubbed. She brings over a decade of hands-on experience operating as a fractional CFO for small to medium-sized enterprises.

Ottavio Siani | Fractional CFO & Founder, Triangle Coffee Ottavio is the founder of Triangle Coffee, a multi-location café business operating in Boston and Washington, D.C. As an active fractional CFO, he advises a portfolio of clients, including Hon, CN Naturals, and Port of Mocha, on building and restructuring finance teams.

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