Practical finance and accounting guidance for business owners who need to understand their numbers, hire the right help, and make better financial decisions. Each guide is written by the GetaFractional Editorial team--practitioners who have worked inside growing businesses, not consultants summarizing textbooks.
Browse by the finance problem you are trying to solve: cleaning up your books, understanding which finance role you need, preparing for a loan or sale, or diagnosing why cash is tight despite solid revenue.
Cleaning up your books
- QuickBooks Is a Mess: What Finance Help Do You Need?
- Your Bookkeeper Quit or Messed Up: The Cleanup Decision Path
- I Don't Trust My Numbers: What That Usually Means and How to Fix It
- Payroll Taxes Not Filed: What Finance Help Do You Need Now?
- I Just Got an IRS Notice About Underpaid Payroll Taxes: Who Do I Call First?
- IRS Audit Notice and My Accountant Just Quit: Who Do I Call First?
- What a Cleanup Bookkeeper Does
- QuickBooks vs Bookkeeper: Why Software Does Not Do Everything
- Behind on Books and Almost Missed Payroll: What That Cash Scare Actually Means
- Catch-Up Bookkeeping: What Months of Behind Books Actually Cost to Fix
- 1099 vs W-2: How to Tell If You Misclassified a Worker
- You Are Taking Owner Draws Instead of Payroll, and It Is Building an IRS Problem
- QuickBooks Cleanup: What Actually Gets Fixed Inside the File
- Vendor Spend Analysis: Finding the Expenses Worth a Second Look
- Behind on Sales Tax Filings: What to Do When the State Notice Arrives
Which finance role you need
- Bookkeeper, Accountant, Controller, or CFO: Which One Do You Need?
- Bookkeeper vs Controller vs CFO: The Owner Decision Path
- Bookkeeper vs CPA: Which One Do You Need First?
- Controller vs Fractional CFO: When Strategy Has to Wait
- Generic Bookkeeper vs Construction Bookkeeper
- Local Bookkeeper vs Marketplace Freelancer
- Outsourced CFO Services: What You Get, What It Costs, and When to Hire
- Part-Time CFO: Do You Need One Yet, or Is a Controller Enough?
- Your Books Are Current But You Still Can't Make Decisions
- What Outsourced CFO Help Actually Costs (And When You Are Overpaying For It)
- Outsourced Finance Team: What You Get and What It Costs
- Fractional Bookkeeper: When Part-Time Bookkeeping Is Enough, and When It Is Not
Preparing for a loan or sale
- Are Your Books Ready to Sell Your Business?
- Financial Statements for an SBA Loan: What Help to Hire First
- Accountant vs Controller for SBA Loan Financials
- What a Transaction CPA Does: Quality-of-Earnings Prep for a Sale
- SBA Form 413: How to Complete the Personal Financial Statement
- SBA Loan Rejected Because Your Financials Are Trash: What the Lender Actually Saw
- Customer Concentration and Revenue Quality: Is Your Growth Actually Safe?
- Leasing Equipment vs Buying: Should You Buy It at All?
Cash and profit diagnostics
- Profitable but No Cash: Is This Bookkeeping, Controller, or CFO Work?
- Gross Margin Analysis for Small Business: Why It Dropped and What to Check First
- Budget vs Actual Variance That Matters (and the Kind That Doesn't)
- Job Costing Help for Contractors: Bookkeeper, Controller, or CFO?
- My P&L Says I'm Profitable. So Why Don't I Have Any Cash?
- My Crew Is Always Busy But I'm Not Profitable. Where's the Money Going?
- Construction Accounting: A Small-Business Owner's Guide
- Construction Job Costing: Why Your Jobs Look Profitable Until the Final Invoice
- Growing Too Fast and Out of Cash: Why Growth Is Eating Your Bank Balance
- Profitable on Paper but My Bank Account Is Empty: The Three Things That Usually Caused It
- Employee Cost Calculator: Can You Afford Another Employee?
- How Much Should I Pay Myself? Owner Pay Calculator
- Can I Afford to Deliver This Contract? Large Contract Cash Calculator
- What Do These Payment Terms Cost Me? Payment Terms Cost Calculator
- Customers Owe You Money and the Account Is Empty
- QuickBooks for Contractors: What It Handles and Who Sets It Up