Frequently asked questions

What exactly does Kaizen CFO do?

We run your entire finance function as an outsourced team — the day-to-day back office (bill pay, invoicing and collections, payroll, 1099s, vendor and expense management), the bookkeeping and monthly close, controller-level review, and fractional CFO strategy — plus project work like Quality of Earnings prep, M&A support, systems integration, and AI implementation.

How is pricing structured?

Flat monthly fees, scoped to transaction volume and entity count, and anchored to what the equivalent hire would cost you fully loaded. Bookkeeping and close start around 1% of monthly revenue with a $1,000/mo minimum; controller and CFO tiers scale from there. Project work (QoE, ERP, AI) is fixed fee. No hourly billing.

Is there a contract or lock-in?

No. Engagements are month-to-month with no long-term contract. The relationship is designed to earn its keep every month.

How do we get started?

Most engagements begin with the 1-2-3 CFO Reset, a 90-day on-ramp: Month 1 is cleanup, reconciliations, and your first real close; Month 2 adds KPIs and cash visibility; Month 3 sets up payroll and AP systems plus a forward forecast. It starts with a free 20-minute books assessment.

What software do you work on?

QuickBooks Online as the hub, plus Ramp for spend and Gusto for payroll, connected into one source of truth. Your data stays in your own systems — we work in your files, we don't move your books to a black box.

Can you work with our existing bookkeeper?

Yes. A controller review layer over a good in-house bookkeeper is one of the most common setups — they keep the daily work, we standardize the close and own the output quality. If the seat is empty, we simply replace the hire.

Is my financial data secure?

Your data stays in your own QuickBooks, Ramp, and Gusto. We work through scoped access, every change is traceable, and nothing about your books is used to train AI models.

Do you handle taxes?

We own the books, the monthly close, reporting, and the CFO function, and we keep everything diligence- and tax-ready. At filing time we work alongside your CPA or tax preparer rather than replacing them.

What areas do you serve?

We're based in Miami and serve Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach counties, and we work remotely with operating companies across the United States.

Who will we actually work with?

A CFA and FRM charterholder Managing Director is your point of contact, backed by a full team — so nothing depends on one person's calendar, and there's always senior review over the work.

My books are months (or years) behind. Can you catch them up?

Yes — that’s the normal starting point, not the exception. Month 1 of the Reset is dedicated to the backlog: categorization, reconciliations, and a first real close. Most catch-ups land inside the first 30–45 days.

Do I need to switch accounting software?

We work on QuickBooks Online. If you’re on desktop software or spreadsheets, migration is part of the setup; if you’re already on QBO, we work in your existing file and fix it in place.

What happens to my current bookkeeper?

Often they stay. If you have someone good, we standardize their close, add controller-level review over their work, and remove the volume that was drowning them. If the seat is empty, we simply replace the hire.

How do you price it — hourly?

No. Flat monthly, scoped to transaction volume and entity count — typically around 1% of monthly revenue with a $1,000/mo minimum. Hourly billing rewards slow work; flat pricing rewards the process improvement we’re named after.

Do you take over payment authority?

No — and that's deliberate. We prepare payment runs inside approval guardrails; the owner approves with one click. Segregation of duties is the point: the people who prepare payments are never the people who release them.

Can you do just AP, or just AR?

Yes — either side runs standalone. Most clients start with the side that hurts, which is usually collections, and add the other once the first rhythm is running.

How do you collect from customers without damaging the relationship?

A documented, polite dunning cadence beats sporadic angry calls every time. Consistency, monthly statements, and a payment link in every touch do most of the work — customers pay the vendor who invoices predictably and follows up professionally.

What systems do you use?

QuickBooks Online plus Ramp for spend management. Payments ride your existing bank rails — we prepare and track, we don't touch your money.

We already use ADP or Paychex — do we have to switch?

Not necessarily. We can run the GL side — the journal entries, clearing accounts, and job costing — on your existing provider. But Gusto is where we standardize, and for most companies under a few hundred employees the migration is painless and the platform is cheaper.

Can you handle multi-state or remote employees?

Yes. State registrations, state filings, and local taxes are part of the service — including the new-state setup when you hire your first remote employee somewhere you've never had payroll.

How does payroll tie into job costing?

We map labor to jobs and divisions at the payroll-entry level, so your P&L by job includes its real labor cost — not an allocation guess made at year-end. For service and project businesses, that's usually the difference between knowing your margins and estimating them.

What about our PEO?

If a PEO makes sense for benefits, we work alongside it. What we handle is how the PEO invoice lands in the books — split into wages, taxes, benefits, and fees rather than one opaque lump — which is exactly where most PEO clients lose visibility.

What's actually in the pack?

P&L (consolidated and by division), balance sheet, cash summary, KPI scorecard, budget vs. actual, AR/AP agings, and a one-page executive summary. The exact contents are scoped to your business in the first month — then held constant.

Can it be customized for my board or lender?

Yes. Board packs, lender covenant reporting, and investor updates are variants of the same engine — same underlying close, same numbers, formatted for the audience that has to act on them.

How fast after month-end do we see it?

With our close discipline, by the 10th, business-day-adjusted. Without clean books first, reporting is fiction — which is why this service usually pairs with our bookkeeping and monthly close.

Do you just send it, or walk us through it?

Every pack comes with a short review call focused on the three decisions the numbers are pointing at — not a page-by-page narration of what already happened.

What's the difference between the controller and CFO tiers?

Controller is accuracy and rhythm — the close, margins, and controls. CFO is forward-looking — the forecast, capital, and strategy. Most clients start at controller and add CFO as the decisions get bigger.

How many hours do we get?

We don't sell hours — we sell outcomes with defined deliverables and dates. The close lands by the 10th, the forecast refreshes on schedule, the board pack ships. How many hours that takes is our problem, not yours.

Can you work with our existing bookkeeper?

Yes. A controller review layer over a good in-house bookkeeper is one of the most common configurations — they keep the daily work, we standardize the close and own the output quality.

What if we grow into needing a full-time hire?

Then you should hire one — and we'll help you recruit, onboard, and hand off a documented finance function. Inheriting a standardized close and reporting rhythm is exactly what makes that hire succeed.

Which systems do you work with?

QuickBooks Online as the hub, plus Ramp, Gusto, and field-service/job platforms like Housecall Pro. Other tools are case-by-case — if it has an API or a clean export, it can usually join the stack.

Do we actually need an ERP?

Usually not at SMB scale. A connected QBO stack outperforms a half-implemented ERP at a fraction of the cost — and we'll tell you honestly when you've outgrown it.

What happens after the project?

You get full documentation and a trained owner. Many clients have us operate the stack monthly, but it's not required.

Will this disrupt operations during the build?

No. Feeds are built and verified in parallel with your current process, and cut over only when the numbers reconcile.

How is this different from the buyer's QoE?

The buyer's QoE is adversarial — it exists to justify price reductions. Ours is preparation, run to the same standard, so when their team arrives they find documentation instead of discounts.

When should we start?

Ideally 12–24 months before a process — clean closes accumulate into a track record. Ninety days is the practical minimum to build a defensible bridge and a few clean closes.

What's the actual deliverable?

An EBITDA bridge workbook, a narrative readiness memo, a prioritized fix-list, and a data-room file structure — plus the fixes themselves if we run the follow-on.

Will your adjustments hold up in diligence?

They're built to: every add-back is anchored to documents, not assertions. The bridge above survived lender diligence without a single reversion.

Are you a broker or investment banker?

No. We're the finance team that makes the deal survivable — we work alongside your banker, not in place of one, and we can introduce a banker from our network when you're ready to go to market.

When should we bring you in?

Before the LOI if possible. The best configuration is QoE prep first, then sell-side support through the process — but we've joined mid-diligence to stabilize deals too.

What does diligence actually ask for?

TTM financials tied to bank statements, revenue by customer, margin detail, payroll and tax compliance, contracts, add-back evidence, working-capital history — hundreds of items. We've seen the lists, and we pre-build the answers.

Do you work the buy side?

Yes, secondarily — diligence support and post-close finance integration for searchers and operators making acquisitions.

Is my financial data safe?

Connections use scoped keys (read-only unless you grant more), every action is audit-logged, data is passed through rather than stored, and your books are never used to train models.

What tools do you implement?

Claude and the modern AI stack, connected to QuickBooks Online, Ramp, and Gusto via our own API platform, plus rules engines for the deterministic work — the tool follows the workflow, not the other way around.

Do we need technical staff?

No. We build, document, and train, and can operate the stack monthly if you'd rather not own it.

What's a typical first project?

Automated categorization plus close checks is the most common; AR follow-up automation and report assembly are close behind — all three pay back in recovered hours within a quarter.