Fractional CFO · Singapore
Fractional CFO services in Singapore for Series A and growth-stage founders
Senior, ICAI-led finance leadership embedded into your operating cadence — board-grade reporting, FP&A, runway and burn discipline, fundraising readiness, and India corridor finance. Without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire.
Who this is for
Series A founder, 12–18 months to next round
You've raised your seed, you're scaling revenue, and your next round demands board-grade reporting, a defensible model, and clean unit economics. You need a CFO sitting in your operating cadence — not a bookkeeper or a consulting deck.
Growth-stage CEO, 30–150 headcount
Your finance function has outgrown the founding team. You need someone senior to own FP&A, treasury, and board reporting — but a $250K full-time hire is premature. A fractional CFO with the seniority of a Series B veteran is the right bridge.
Singapore HQ with India operations
You're running a Singapore parent and an Indian subsidiary. You need integrated finance — transfer pricing, intercompany flows, repatriation, consolidated reporting — handled by a team with deep cross-border tax and FEMA fluency, not two disconnected accountants.
Pre-Series B, preparing for diligence
Your next round will trigger structured diligence. You need a CFO who has been through it before — to clean the data room, harden the model, sit in investor calls, and remove the diligence surprises that cost valuation.
What you get
- Board-grade monthly reporting pack — KPIs, P&L, cash, cohort and unit economics
- Driver-based 3-statement model with rolling 18-month forecast and scenario layers
- Runway, burn, and cash-conversion discipline with weekly cash flagging
- Fundraising readiness — model, narrative, data room, and diligence-ready financials
- Cap table, ESOP, and SAFE/CN waterfall maintenance with dilution scenarios
- Treasury, banking, and FX hedging policy for SGD–USD–INR exposure
- India corridor finance — transfer pricing, intercompany, GST, and repatriation oversight
- On-call partner support: investor calls, board prep, and ad-hoc strategic finance
How an engagement runs
- 01
Diagnostic & cadence design
Week 1–2We audit your current finance stack, reporting, model, and data room. Output: a 90-day plan with cadence, deliverables, and ownership boundaries between us, your in-house team, and any existing accountants.
- 02
Reporting & model rebuild
Week 2–6We rebuild the monthly board pack, 3-statement model, and KPI dashboard to investor-grade. You walk into the next board meeting with a pack that reads like a Series B operator's, not a founder's spreadsheet.
- 03
Operating rhythm
MonthlyEmbedded into your cadence: weekly finance check-in, monthly board pack, quarterly forecast refresh, and live support on hiring, pricing, and burn decisions as they come up.
- 04
Fundraising readiness
On triggerWhen the next round is on, we turn into raise-mode: sharpen the model, build the diligence pack, prep the data room, and sit in investor calls alongside the founder. Most clients raise within 6 months of CFO engagement.
- 05
Cross-border integration
OngoingIf you have an Indian subsidiary or are about to, we own the cross-border finance overlay — transfer pricing, intercompany, FEMA, and consolidated reporting — without you needing a separate India advisor.
Sectors we serve
Selected engagements
B2B SaaS founder hit Series B-ready reporting in 90 days and closed a USD $14M round.
Embedded fractional CFO rebuilt the model, board pack, and data room. Investor diligence cleared without a single material finding. Founder kept 100% of operating focus on revenue.
Read engagementFrom concept to $2M ARR with finance operating discipline from day one.
Founding-stage finance setup, KPI architecture, and pricing model design — the scaffolding a Series A board expects to see when they look under the hood.
Read engagementUS SaaS company stood up Singapore + India finance under a single advisory team.
Singapore parent, Indian subsidiary, GST live, intercompany flows structured — handed off to a fractional CFO for steady-state operations and ongoing board reporting.
Read engagementEngagement structure & indicative fees
All engagements are scoped to outcomes, not hours. Fees are indicative and finalized after a 30-minute scoping call.
Embedded Fractional CFO
Senior, principal-led CFO support embedded into your operating cadence. Board pack, FP&A, runway, fundraising readiness, and on-call advisory. Indicative scoping covers 4–8 days of partner attention per month.
Strategic Sprint
Fixed-scope sprint to rebuild the model, board pack, and data room — typically used to prepare for a fundraise, board reset, or M&A conversation. Often the entry point before a longer fractional CFO retainer.
Most founders start with a 30-minute scoping call to size the mandate. Fees are scoped to outcomes, not hours, and finalized after we've reviewed your current finance stack and forecast. Pricing shown is indicative for Series A and growth-stage Singapore companies.
Series A Readiness Checklist
Series A Readiness Checklist
The 60-point checklist our fractional CFOs run before a founder walks into Series A diligence. Covers model, metrics, data room, cap table, governance, and the specific items investors flag in 9 out of 10 first reviews.
- Board pack and KPI architecture investors expect to see
- Driver-based 3-statement model — what good looks like
- Data room structure with the 14 documents diligence always asks for
- Cap table, SAFE/CN, and ESOP cleanliness checks pre-raise
Comparison
Choosing your finance partner at Series A
How a Nirji fractional CFO compares to hiring full-time, retaining a Big 4 advisor, or relying on a Singapore accounting firm.
| Full-time CFO hire | Big 4 advisor | Local accounting firm | Nirji Fractional CFO | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indicative annual cost | SGD $250K – $400K + equity | USD $200K+ project | SGD $30K – $80K | SGD $96K – $240K / year |
| Time to operational | 3 – 6 months | 8 – 12 weeks | Immediate | 2 weeks |
| Series B / diligence experience | Variable | |||
| Board-grade reporting | ||||
| India / cross-border tax fluency | Rare | Siloed across teams | ||
| Principal-led (no junior handoff) | — | Always | ||
| Sits in investor calls | Sometimes | |||
| Scalable to full-time when ready | — |
Comparison reflects typical Series A and growth-stage Singapore engagements. Full-time CFO compensation excludes equity grants. Big 4 fees vary materially by firm and scope; figures are indicative only.
Further reading
The 2026 Founder's Playbook: Raising Capital in a High-Conviction Market
ReadHow to Prepare for Investor Due Diligence
ReadKey Metrics Every Startup Must Track: A Founder's Dashboard
ReadCap Table Management for Founders
ReadVenture Debt as a Strategic Alternative for High-Growth Companies
ReadThe Fractional Executive Trend: COOs and CFOs in Scaling Startups
ReadIndia vs Singapore for Startups: Choosing the Right Base
ReadCommon Mistakes in Startup Fundraising: What Founders Get Wrong
ReadFrequently Asked Questions
We're 6–9 months from Series A. When should we bring in a fractional CFO?
The ideal window is 6 to 9 months before you plan to open the round. That gives one full quarter to rebuild the model, board pack, and KPI architecture, a second quarter to run a clean close cycle that investors can audit, and a third quarter to prep the data room and rehearse the diligence narrative. Founders who engage 8 weeks before the raise can still close, but they typically leave 5–15% of valuation on the table from avoidable diligence findings.
Which Series A metrics do investors actually probe — and which do they ignore?
Investors at Series A pressure-test net revenue retention, gross margin trajectory, CAC payback, magic number / burn multiple, logo and revenue cohorts, and pipeline conversion by stage. They largely ignore vanity metrics — total signups, GMV without take-rate, ARR without contraction visibility, and any blended CAC that hides paid vs organic. We rebuild your reporting around the metrics that survive a partner meeting and remove the ones that invite follow-up questions you don't want.
How does a fractional CFO actually reduce dilution at Series A?
Three levers. First, a defensible model and clean cohort data shifts the negotiation from 'trust us' to 'here's the math' — typically a 5–15% valuation uplift at term sheet. Second, a tight data room and pre-empted diligence findings prevents the late-stage re-pricing that kills 10–20% off headline terms. Third, runway clarity removes the desperation discount: founders raising from 18 months of runway negotiate very differently from founders raising from 6 months. We work all three.
Can you sit on the term sheet negotiation and review the SAFE / SHA / liquidation terms?
Yes. We review the term sheet, run dilution and waterfall scenarios across the proposed pre-money, ESOP top-up, and any prior SAFEs or convertibles, and flag the non-economic terms that quietly cost founders later — liquidation preference stacking, anti-dilution mechanics, board composition, protective provisions, and pay-to-play. We work alongside your corporate lawyer; we own the financial and dilution analysis, they own the legal drafting.
What's the difference between a fractional CFO and an outsourced accountant in Singapore?
An outsourced accountant in Singapore handles bookkeeping, statutory accounts, GST, and corporate secretarial work — they keep the books clean and compliant. A fractional CFO sits one level up: building the board pack, owning FP&A and the operating model, running treasury and capital strategy, and being in the room when the founder makes hiring, pricing, and fundraising decisions. Most Series A companies need both, with the fractional CFO supervising the accounting team rather than replacing it.
What does a Series A board pack actually look like — and how is it different from what we send investors today?
A Series A board pack is a 12–18 page document with a one-page CEO summary, KPI dashboard against plan, monthly P&L with variance commentary, cash and runway view, cohort and retention charts, hiring plan vs actuals, top 3 strategic decisions needing board input, and forward-looking risks. Most pre-Series A founders send an investor update email plus a few charts — that works for seed but signals immaturity at Series A. We rebuild the pack to the standard your incoming Series A board will expect from month one.
What happens to the engagement after we close Series A?
Most clients extend through the 6–12 months immediately post-raise — that's when board cadence formalizes, hiring accelerates, and the new investors expect institutional-grade reporting. We then either continue as embedded fractional CFO into Series B prep, or run the search and onboarding for your full-time CFO and hand off cleanly. Either path is supported; we don't lock founders into the fractional model past the point it makes sense.
How many days a month does a fractional CFO actually work with us?
Indicative scoping is 4 to 8 days of partner attention per month for a Series A or growth-stage company, plus on-call availability for investor calls, board prep, and ad-hoc decisions. We don't bill hourly — the retainer covers an outcome (board pack delivered, model maintained, runway tracked, raise supported), and we calibrate intensity to what the business actually needs that month.
When does it make sense to hire a full-time CFO instead?
Typically post-Series B, around USD $10M+ ARR or 100+ headcount, or when the business is preparing for an IPO, large M&A, or a multi-jurisdiction restructuring. Until then, a senior fractional CFO usually delivers more value than a junior full-time hire — and we explicitly support the transition when you're ready, including hiring and onboarding the full-time successor.
Can you handle our Singapore + India operations under one engagement?
Yes — this is one of the most common reasons founders choose Nirji. We are ICAI-qualified, headquartered in Singapore with deep India presence, and integrate transfer pricing, FEMA, intercompany flows, and consolidated reporting under a single team. You don't need a separate India accountant or a separate cross-border tax advisor for routine operations.
What does the typical engagement timeline look like?
Most fractional CFO retainers run 6 to 24 months. The first 6 weeks are diagnostic and reporting rebuild; from month 2 we're in operating cadence with monthly board packs and quarterly forecast refreshes. Many clients extend through their next funding round and into the post-raise scaling period before transitioning to a full-time hire.
Will you sit in investor calls and board meetings?
Yes. Sitting in investor calls and pre-briefing the board is core to the engagement, not an extra. For investor diligence specifically, we lead the financial diligence response, manage the data room, and handle investor questions on the model and metrics so the founder can stay focused on the strategic and product narrative.
Do you also help with the fundraise itself?
We handle the financial readiness side end-to-end — model, narrative, data room, diligence response, and term-sheet review. We don't run a placement-agent function or take success fees on capital raised; that keeps incentives clean. When you need investor introductions, we make warm introductions from our network where relevant, but the placement work itself sits outside the CFO mandate.
How do you compare to a Big 4 firm for finance advisory?
Big 4 firms are excellent for one-off transaction work — IPO readiness, large-cap M&A, complex restructuring. They are usually a poor fit for embedded fractional CFO support: senior partners rarely sit in your weekly cadence, the work is delivered through junior teams, and the fee structure assumes project scopes much larger than a Series A founder needs. Our model is principal-led delivery at fractional pricing.
What if we already have an accountant or a finance manager?
Most of our engagements run alongside an existing in-house finance manager or external accountant — we don't replace them. We define ownership boundaries clearly during the diagnostic: typically the finance manager owns the close, the accountant owns statutory and tax, and we own FP&A, board reporting, capital, and strategic finance. Done well, this stack scales the founder's finance function for years without major restructuring.
How much does a fractional CFO cost in Singapore?
Indicative pricing for a Series A or growth-stage Singapore company is SGD $8K – $20K per month, depending on complexity, cross-border footprint, and intensity. A 6-week Strategic Sprint to rebuild the model, board pack, and data room is USD $35K – $75K. Final fees are scoped to outcomes, not hours, and confirmed after a 30-minute scoping call.
How quickly can you start?
Two weeks from scoping call to engagement kickoff is typical. The diagnostic and 90-day plan is delivered in the first two weeks, with the first board-grade reporting pack ready by the end of week 6. For founders raising in the next 6 months, we prioritize fundraising readiness work in parallel.
Are you regulated to provide financial advice?
We provide finance and CFO advisory services — strategic finance, FP&A, board reporting, fundraising readiness, and cross-border structuring. We do not provide regulated financial advice under MAS, do not solicit or place capital as a regulated activity, and do not provide audit opinions. Where regulated work is needed (audit, capital placement, securities advice), we coordinate with appropriately licensed partners.
Explore related
Ready to scope an engagement?
Fractional CFO, India corridor structuring, FDD, or finance transformation — start with a 30-minute scoping call.
Request a Finance Advisory Scoping CallFractional CFO ROI & Dilution Calculator
Adjust the inputs to model how a Series A-experienced fractional CFO can lift your valuation, reduce dilution, and pay for itself many times over. Numbers are directional — final outcomes depend on round dynamics.
Uplift band reflects observed Nirji engagements (5% at 8-week prep → 15% at 9-month prep). Calculator is for directional planning only.