Fractional CFO software and tools for client budgeting and forecasting
Fractional CFO software lets one finance lead run the budget, the cash forecast and the monthly review for several companies without rebuilding a spreadsheet for each. Budgeter.ai connects read-only to each client's QuickBooks Online or Xero, drafts the budget from their actuals and refreshes budget vs actual, cash and runway after every close.
Read-only connections. Encrypted data. Cancel anytime.
Fictional client names and example figures.
Fractional CFO tools compared on price and scope
Each tool below is good at something. The question is which part of the engagement it takes off your plate.
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| Tool | Published price | Clients covered | Budget and forecast | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Spreadsheet per client | Your time | Any | Built and repaired by hand | One or two clients with simple books |
| Fathom Portfolio | $67 a month | Up to 100 companies | Reporting and KPIs, three-way forecasting needs Pro | Monthly reporting across many small clients |
| Fathom Pro | $450 a month | 25 companies, then $17 each | Budgets, scenarios, three-way cash flow | Reporting firms that add some forecasting |
| Reach Reporting | $149, $290 or $550 a month | 1, 10 or 25 connections | Three-way forecasts and multi-year plans | Report-heavy packs with custom layouts |
| PlanGuru | From $99 a month for one entity, as listed on Capterra | One entity per plan, consolidation costs more | Detailed budgets and forecasts, built by you | CFOs who like to build the model line by line |
| Budgeter.ai | $74 a month per client billed yearly, or $999 a month for 5 clients on Scale | 1 per Small Business plan, 5 on Scale, 25 on Enterprise | Budget drafted from the books, automatic reforecast, cash and runway, AI CFO questions | CFOs who sell budgets, cash forecasts and hiring decisions |
Competitor prices are the published list prices checked in October 2026 and can change.
If your engagement is mostly a monthly pack across twenty or forty small clients, a reporting tool is the cheaper answer and we would tell you so. Fathom and Reach Reporting are built to turn a closed month into charts and commentary at a low cost per company.
The work that clients pay a fractional CFO the most for usually sits elsewhere. Can we afford two hires in Q1? When does cash get tight if the largest customer pays in 60 days? What happens to margin if we raise prices 8 percent? Those answers need a budget, a cash forecast and a way to test changes, kept current every month.
That is where most of a fractional CFO's hours go, and most of it is rework. Export the profit and loss, paste it into the model, fix the broken links, roll the forecast forward, redo the charts. Multiply by every client and the first week of each month is gone.
Budgeter takes that loop over. The client's books stay the source of actuals, the budget is drafted from them, and the budget vs actual review, the cash forecast and runway refresh after each sync. Your time goes to the conversation with the owner instead of the spreadsheet.
What a fractional CFO gets for each client
Everything runs on the client's own books. There is no import template and no implementation project.
A budget drafted from the books
Next year is proposed by account and month from 12 to 24 months of the client's actuals, seasonality included. You start every engagement with a draft to challenge, not an empty grid.
Cash forecast and runway
A 13-week and a 12-month cash view built from the budget, bank balances and planned payroll, with the month cash runs out at current burn.
Budget vs actual with notes
After every close, each large variance comes with a short written explanation naming the accounts behind it. You review and edit instead of writing from scratch.
Versions that keep history
The approved budget stays fixed while you reforecast the rest of the year. Draft, approved and reforecast sit side by side for the board meeting.
Answers in plain English
Ask what a new hire, a price change or a lost customer does to cash and margin. The AI CFO answers from that client's numbers and shows its assumptions.
A client pack in one export
The board pack exports as PDF on Growth and up, and the model as XLSX or CSV. Clients can also log in as read-only viewers at no extra cost.
How to onboard a client in four steps
A new client is usually ready for the first review the same day you get access to their books.
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01
Connect the client books
Sign in to the client's QuickBooks Online or Xero from Budgeter with read-only access. Add the bank CSV, Gusto or Stripe if the client uses them. Nothing is ever written back.
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02
Approve a drafted budget
Budgeter drafts next year by account and month from 12 to 24 months of actuals. You adjust the lines you know better, group accounts into departments and approve the version.
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03
Run the monthly review
After each close the sync refreshes budget vs actual, the 13-week and 12-month cash forecast and runway. Large variances arrive with a written note on the accounts behind them.
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04
Send the client pack
Export the board pack as PDF, or the model as XLSX or CSV, and walk the owner through it. Owners can log in as read-only viewers instead of waiting for an email.
What Budgeter reads from each system is described on the QuickBooks budgeting software and Xero budgeting software pages. A client with several legal entities can be consolidated on Scale, with multi-currency.
A worked month for a fractional CFO with five clients
Take a hypothetical fractional CFO with five clients: a dental group and an HVAC contractor on QuickBooks Online, a design studio and a software startup on Xero, and a property manager that consolidates two entities. Each client pays a monthly retainer for a budget review, a cash forecast and one call.
With a spreadsheet per client, the first working days after close go to exports and repairs. In our example that runs to roughly two days a month across the five, before a single insight reaches a client.
In Budgeter, the September sync updates all five at once. The design studio shows marketing at 108 percent of budget and runway down to 7.4 months, so that call moves to the top of the week. The startup asks whether it can hire two engineers in January, and the answer comes back with the loaded monthly cost and the runway after the hires, which turns the call into a decision rather than a homework item.
The hiring question is covered in more detail on the headcount planning page, and the cash side on cash flow forecasting.
Who uses Budgeter as fractional CFO software
The common thread is selling forward-looking answers, not only a tidy report of last month.
If you are the in-house finance lead at a single startup, the FP&A software for startups page fits better.
- Solo fractional CFOs with three to ten retainers Put each client on its own plan billed to the client, or run up to five from one Scale account.
- CFO-as-a-service and outsourced accounting firms Add budgeting and cash forecasting to the bookkeeping you already deliver, priced as a monthly advisory tier.
- CPA firms building an advisory practice Turn year-end client relationships into monthly planning work without hiring a modeling specialist.
- Part-time controllers at growing companies Keep the budget and runway current between visits, and answer the owner's questions with numbers from the books.
- Advisors to companies preparing for a raise or a loan Show a budget, a 12-month cash forecast and scenarios a lender or investor can follow.
Which plan fits a fractional CFO practice
Prices are public. Start today without a sales call and cancel anytime.
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| Plan | Monthly | Billed yearly, per month | Clients | What it adds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Small Business | $149 | $74 | 1 company per plan, often billed to the client | Budget, budget vs actual, cash forecast, 5 scenarios, 3 editors |
| Growth | $599 | $299 | 1 company | Spend limits, headcount and revenue planning, board pack, 25 scenarios |
| Scale | $1,999 | $999 | Client workspaces for up to 5 companies | Consolidation, multi-currency, department approvals, audit log, 30 editors |
| Enterprise | $4,999 | $2,499 | Up to 25 entities | SSO, SCIM, custom roles, uptime SLA, unlimited editors |
The full limits are on the pricing page. If you are comparing planning suites more broadly, the FP&A software overview explains how the budget, forecast and scenarios fit together.
Questions fractional CFOs ask before they switch
Connections are read-only and encrypted. Client data is never used to train public models, and each client's numbers stay in their own workspace.
What software do fractional CFOs use?
Most fractional CFOs pair the client's accounting system, usually QuickBooks Online or Xero, with a planning tool for budgets and cash forecasts and a reporting layer for the monthly pack. Common choices are Fathom or Reach Reporting for reporting, PlanGuru or Jirav for planning, and spreadsheets for everything in between. Budgeter covers the budget, the forecast and the pack in one place.
What is the best software for a fractional CFO?
It depends on what you sell. If the engagement is mostly monthly reporting across many clients, Fathom or Reach Reporting is cheaper per client. If you sell budgets, cash forecasts, hiring plans and what-if answers, pick a tool that drafts the budget from the books and reforecasts on its own. That second case is what Budgeter is built for.
Can I manage several clients from one account?
Yes. The Scale plan includes client workspaces for up to 5 companies, each with its own accounting connection, budget, forecast and board pack. Enterprise raises that to 25 entities. Many fractional CFOs instead put each client on its own Small Business plan, billed to the client, and join it as an editor.
Does Budgeter work with QuickBooks Online and Xero clients?
Yes, both. The connections are read-only. Budgeter reads the chart of accounts and the monthly profit and loss and never creates or edits invoices, bills, bank transactions or journals. A client on QuickBooks and another on Xero can sit side by side in the same account on Scale.
How much does fractional CFO software cost?
Reporting tools start low: Fathom Portfolio is $67 a month for up to 100 companies without forecasting, and Reach Reporting is $149 a month for one connection. Budgeter costs $74 a month per client billed yearly on Small Business, or $999 a month billed yearly on Scale for up to 5 client companies.
Can my clients see the budget without editing it?
Yes. Every plan includes unlimited read-only viewers, so the owner, a partner or an investor can open the budget, the cash forecast and the board pack at any time. Department owners can be given access to their own lines only, which keeps the monthly review short.
Related planning modules
- QuickBooks budgeting software Draft and track a budget from a QuickBooks Online client.
- Xero budgeting software The same workflow for clients that keep their books in Xero.
- Board reporting A monthly pack the client can read without a walkthrough.
- Forecasting software for accountants For CPA and bookkeeping firms that sell a monthly forecast review.
Check a client's runway before you connect their books
Enter a few numbers to see runway and the month cash runs out, then connect QuickBooks or Xero to get a drafted budget and a monthly review.
Forecasts and scenarios are estimates based on your data and assumptions, not financial, investment, tax or accounting advice.