Services

CFO advisory for owner-run businesses

The questions that come after the books are clean: what to charge, what you can afford, and whether the thing you are about to do makes sense.

Book a free consultation All services

Latonia Farris-Jenkins, Certified Public Bookkeeper and IRS Enrolled Agent, in Oakbrook Terrace, Illinois

What this is

Clean books are the input, not the output

Once the record is accurate it becomes useful. You can see which work is actually profitable, what the business costs to run in a quiet month, and whether the price you set three years ago still makes sense.

CFO advisory is a regular conversation about those questions with someone who reads your numbers every month, rather than a consultant meeting your business for the first time.

What you get

Pricing and margin reviewed against what jobs actually cost

Cash flow forecasting, so hiring and purchases are timed properly

Budgets you can measure the year against

Reporting built for the decisions you actually make

Break-even and scenario work before a major commitment

A standing conversation rather than a one-off report

Who it is for

The decisions this is for

Hiring the next person

Whether the business can carry the cost, and what has to be true for it to pay for itself.

Raising prices

What the increase is worth, which customers it affects, and what margin you are actually working on now.

Taking on a second location or a large contract

What it ties up in cash before it returns anything, and what happens if it starts slower than planned.

How it works

Scoped and priced before anything starts

The first call is free and takes about twenty minutes. Latonia looks at your file and your last filed return, then comes back with a written scope and a fixed price. You decide from there. No hourly meter, and no charge for the conversation.

Start here

Book twenty minutes

Pick a time that suits you. Bring your questions and the honest state of your books.

See available times

Questions

About cFO advisory

Do I need to be a bookkeeping client for this?

In practice yes, or close to it. Advice is only as good as the figures underneath it, and advising from a file that is months behind is guesswork.

How often do we meet?

Monthly or quarterly depending on what is going on. Businesses in a stable year usually want quarterly. Businesses mid-decision want monthly.

Is this different from an accountant giving advice?

The difference is continuity. Latonia sees the numbers every month, so a conversation starts from what has actually happened rather than from you explaining the business again.

Service area

Where Farris Fair works

Based in Oakbrook Terrace and working across the western suburbs and into Chicago. Most work is done remotely, so distance rarely matters, but there is an office if you would rather sit down together.