Part-Time CFO

Yes, the two terms mean the same thing. A part-time (or fractional) CFO is a senior finance leader who works for you on a fixed cadence, typically 1 to 8 days a month. The role covers the strategy, governance, and reporting work a full-time CFO would do, sized for a company that does not yet need one full time. It is not a bookkeeper, a financial controller, or a tax advisor. It is the role that sits above all three.

Most startups are ready somewhere between Seed and Series A. Watch for these signals: less than 12 months of cash runway with no clear plan to extend it, a fundraise planned within 6 months, a month-end close that takes more than 10 working days, forecasts that miss by more than 20% month after month, or board and investor questions the founder cannot answer with confidence. With clean books in place, a part-time CFO starts by putting in a cash forecast, a reporting rhythm, and a KPI framework.

A full-time CFO of comparable seniority in Bangkok typically costs several million baht a year in total compensation, often with equity on top. A part-time engagement usually costs 20% to 35% of that for the same governance and strategy work, sized for a company that does not need a CFO five days a week. Most companies with THB 30 million to 500 million in revenue are better served by a part-time CFO until they pass about THB 500 million in revenue or become more complex: several entities, several countries, or a planned IPO.

A CFO adds value only on top of reliable, up-to-date books. If the monthly close does not finish within 10 working days, with accruals, provisions, and foreign exchange (FX) revaluation booked, most CFO hours go into cleaning data instead of analyzing it. If you already have an accounting provider, you can keep them. If not, most clients take the Plizz bookkeeping package, which starts at THB 14,900 a month.

No. A part-time CFO advises and prepares; your authorized director or signatory still signs. Plizz CFOs are not registered as the company's bookkeeper with the Department of Business Development (DBD), and they do not act as company directors. This boundary is deliberate and protects both you and Plizz. For the registered bookkeeper role, see our Bookkeeping service.

Plizz maps your local accounts, kept under Thai Financial Reporting Standards for Non-Publicly Accountable Entities (TFRS for NPAEs) or full TFRS, to the parent's IFRS or US GAAP chart of accounts. We run the monthly close to the group reporting calendar, handle FX translation and intercompany reconciliations, and prepare the local board pack and the group reporting pack side by side. Through DFK International, Plizz can coordinate with member firms in other countries, which helps groups that consolidate several Asian subsidiaries.

Advice from someone who has been the CFO through a fundraise, an audit dispute, a loan renegotiation, or an exit is different from advice from someone who has only watched those events. Benoît Meneau held CFO roles in listed and private companies across Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa, and Jérôme Le Louer spent more than 20 years as a regional CFO in Southeast Asia. That experience shapes how we scope engagements, write board packs, and frame trade-offs when the rules and the business point in different directions.

Not productively until the books are moved to accounting software. Excel-based books usually miss accruals, lack regular reconciliations, and are expensive to audit. We usually recommend a migration to Xero or similar software first, then start the CFO engagement on a clean base. Skipping this step reduces what the CFO can deliver.

The trigger is usually a mix of size and complexity. Most companies need a full-time CFO once revenue passes about THB 500 million, when they run several legal entities or countries, when they prepare for an IPO, or when they are past Series B and investors expect institutional-grade governance. Until then, a part-time CFO gives you the same strategic layer without the fixed cost of a full-time hire.