What does a fractional CFO do for a cannabis business?

We assign an experienced CFO who works with your business part time instead of as a full-time employee. The engagement typically covers monthly financial leadership, budgeting and forecasting, cash management, capital strategy, board and investor reporting, and a seat at the table on major financial decisions. You get CFO-level judgment without a full-time executive salary.

When the business has outgrown owner-managed finances but cannot yet justify a full-time CFO. Common triggers are a capital raise, a new license application or state expansion, merger or acquisition talks, fast growth that strains cash, performance problems that need financial diagnosis, or new investors who expect CFO-grade reporting.

Reviews monthly results with you, keeps the rolling cash forecast current, leads the budget cycle and oversees the monthly close with your bookkeeping team. The CFO also evaluates decisions your leadership team is weighing, prepares board and investor materials, and supports capital conversations.

A senior advisor from our team with long CFO and accounting experience who works with you directly. Beyond general CFO skills, the qualification that matters most is cannabis fluency: 280E, 471(c), state cannabis taxes, license-driven operating limits and how cannabis capital is raised. We name the CFO in your engagement proposal.

They work at different levels. A bookkeeper records transactions and produces monthly statements. A controller owns the accounting function, the close and internal controls. A CFO owns financial strategy, capital structure, investor relations and board reporting. You need all three functions, but not necessarily three full-time hires.

It depends on what the business is going through. A stable single-state operator with clean books may need a few hours a month for review, quarterly strategy sessions and questions as they come up. An operator in a capital raise, acquisition or multi-state expansion may need weekly meetings and active involvement in investor and deal work.

Yes. Fundraising strategy and conversations with banks and investors are part of the role. Most traditional lenders still do not serve cannabis, equity often comes from cannabis-focused funds, and terms can be tougher than in other industries. Your CFO prepares the model, projections and materials, and works with our Financing and Funding Buds teams on where to take them.

Yes. Sell-side preparation means cleaning up records so they survive buyer diligence, normalizing historical earnings to remove owner and one-time items, building a data room that presents the business clearly, and supporting valuation discussions. Your CFO works alongside our Mergers & Acquisitions team on the transaction.

At the structural level, not only in the books. That means considering how entity structure affects where 280E applies, how a 471(c) inventory method fits your gross receipts position, how cost allocation choices flow into federal tax, and how cash planning reflects your real after-tax economics. It also means planning around the 2026 change for state-licensed medical activity, which 280E no longer covers, while adult-use activity remains subject to it.

A monthly package with income statement, balance sheet, cash flow statement and written commentary against plan; a rolling 13-week cash forecast; variance analysis with explanations for material differences; KPI dashboards for your vertical; budget updates; and board or investor materials if you have outside stakeholders.

As the senior leader above it, not a replacement. The CFO sets priorities, reviews the close, approves reporting before it goes to owners or the board, leads strategic projects such as budgets and raises, and handles the questions your team cannot resolve alone. Your team keeps running day-to-day execution.

By the intensity, scope and length of the engagement. A steady monthly advisory role costs far less than an intensive period around a raise or acquisition, and either way you pay for the time the business needs rather than a full-time executive salary. We quote after the scoping conversation.

Yes. The CFO models the capital needed to enter, the expected ramp, the state's cannabis taxes on top of federal 280E where it applies, cash needs before revenue starts, and the return compared with other uses of the same capital. Our state tax guides cover the state-level rules.

Audit defense is led by our Tax Buds team. The CFO supports it by making sure records are organized and defensible, assessing the financial exposure, planning cash for a possible settlement, and keeping your internal stakeholders coordinated.

Yes, and many growing operators do. When the time comes, your fractional CFO can build out the internal finance team, define the role for the full-time hire and help with the search, so the transition does not leave a gap.

With a scoping conversation about your current finances, the priorities driving the need for a CFO, your existing finance team, and the expected intensity and length of the work. We then propose a scope with the services, time commitment, reporting deliverables, the named CFO and the fee. Work starts as soon as you approve it.