What owners ask
The questions that come up in the first conversation, answered here so you do not have to ask them.
What does Kanton-West do?
Kanton-West is a fractional and part-time CFO practice in Cape Town, South Africa. It is Fransua van der Westhuizen, trading as Kanton-West. The work is raising finance and bank facilities, structures and money across borders, tax disputes and back taxes, cash flow and working capital, ERP and accounting systems, and standing in as the financial director for a day or two a month. It is done personally, not handed to a junior.
What does it cost?
CFO advisory rates are published; individual AI sessions and project work are quoted for the agreed scope. R14 500 a day, which is R1 813 an hour on an eight hour day. On-demand access is R14 500 a month for eight hours drawn as you need them. The Finance Inspection is R24 500 fixed for one entity, or R45 000 for a group or work across a border. Project work is quoted as a fixed fee once the scope is written.
What is the Finance Inspection?
A diagnosis of the financial foundations of your business, done before anyone quotes you a monthly fee: the processes, the systems, financial control and financial strategy. It returns the diagnosis in writing, with a rand cost against every finding and the order to put them right, a one-page cash and facility position, a tax exposure schedule by type and year, an AI readiness note, a ninety-day fix list, and ninety minutes at your table. The fee is credited in full against the first month if a retainer starts within sixty days.
Who actually does the work?
One person, with twenty years as CFO, financial director and GM Finance. There is no bench and no junior. Kanton-West holds a maximum of six retained clients at a time, so no client is competing for the same week, and every engagement carries a handover file kept from the first month rather than written at the end.
Does this replace my accountant or bookkeeper?
No. Kanton-West is not a bookkeeping practice and does not want your accountant's work. Your accountant keeps the annual financial statements, the audit or independent review where one is required, the annual returns and the CIPC filings. Kanton-West sits between the bookkeeper who records what happened and the auditor who checks it afterwards, doing the work in the middle that decides the outcome.
Can Kanton-West file my tax returns?
No. Kanton-West is an advisory practice. The tax position is worked out and set here, in writing, and the submission itself sits with your accountant or your own eFiling profile. The same boundary applies to money crossing a border: your bank is the authorised dealer and your bank is the party that lodges, and what the transaction has to look like before it will go is worked out here first.
What is Kanton-West registered as?
BAP(SA), Business Accountant in Practice, registered with CIBA, the Chartered Institute for Business Accountants, registration SAIBR 2709. Kanton-West is not a registered auditor and expresses no audit opinion, is not a licensed financial services provider under FAIS, and gives no financial product advice of any kind.
What size business is this for?
Owner-run businesses turning over roughly R5 million to R50 million, where the owner faces the same banks, the same SARS and the same contracts as a large group but cannot justify a full-time financial director. Larger enterprises are served on the tender, cross-border, dispute and systems work.
Do you work outside Cape Town?
Yes. Kanton-West is based in Cape Town and travels to the work, and has run finance across seven territories in Africa and Australia. A day is eight working hours of my own time, at your table or remote, your call, and it includes the preparation before and the write-up after.
What is the AI training day?
One day at your offices, with you and your team, working in your own live files rather than sitting through a slideshow. R8 500 for the day, priced for the training rather than at the advisory day rate. The order that governs it is data first, automation second, AI third, because AI applied to a wrong ledger produces wrong answers faster.
What does Claude training for finance professionals cover?
The work you already do. Asking properly, getting an answer you can rely on instead of a plausible one, drafting and checking against a document rather than from memory, and putting the tool inside the actual work: the month-end file, the debtor book, the board pack, the reconciliation that takes too long. It runs in your own files, one to one or with your team, and covers what not to put into an AI tool when you handle client or employee information.
Can I get Claude training as an individual, not for a whole team?
Yes. One to one, remote or at your desk, for individuals, professionals and business owners. Pricing is on request: tell me what you work on and I will quote the session. Start with the basics or bring a task from your own work. The scope is agreed before the session.
Do I need to know anything about AI before the training?
No. The session starts from what you actually do in a week and works backwards to the tool. If you already use it daily, the session skips the basics and goes to the two things most people never reach: getting an answer you can rely on rather than a plausible one, and building the recurring task you currently rebuild by hand every month.
What will I be able to do afterwards?
Leave with one thing you do every week running differently, built during the session in your own files. The training also covers what not to put into an AI tool, which for anyone handling client or employee information matters as much as what it can do.
Can I book a session just to learn the AI basics?
Yes. Start with finding your way around Claude, choosing a suitable model, setting up projects and instructions, and connecting approved files and tools. You do not need to arrive with a large project. See the AI basics offering.
What can we build in an individual AI session?
Depending on the agreed scope, we can work on a daily brief, a report or dashboard, a research brief, marketing content, a website or small tool, or a reusable workflow. The examples show possible outputs, not a promise to complete all of them in one session. Larger applications need a separate scope. See practical examples.
Are software subscriptions included in the training?
No. Software and hosting subscriptions are separate. Available connections depend on your software, subscriptions and permissions. Keep sensitive information out until access and handling are agreed. Discuss your session.