Fractional and part-time CFO services

You should focus on your business and have a partner to ensure these areas are optimised.

Where it starts

A conversation first, and it costs nothing. Then, before any retainer is quoted, an inspection of the actual records. A fee fixed off a conversation is a guess.

What an inspection turns up

Cash locked up in the working capital cycle. Debtors drifting past their terms, stock bought ahead of the work, creditors paid faster than the money comes in. Each one is your cash funding somebody else's business.
Payments that leave the bank on one pair of hands. Who can capture, who can approve, and what goes out without a second pair of eyes. The system already knows; the inspection puts it in writing.
Two missed returns at CIPC. That is all it takes for a company to go into deregistration. 677 944 were struck off in a single year. When it happens the company stops existing, the bank can freeze the account, and the directors can be held personally liable for the debt.
The SARS letter in the drawer. What is actually owed, by year and by tax type, and what the interest has run to since the date on the letter.
Money that crossed a border without the paperwork the bank should have taken. Putting it right afterwards is settled as a share of the amount that moved, and that share runs from 10 to 40 percent.
Accounts that arrive on the twentieth. By the time they land, the month they describe cannot be changed.

None of that is a guess about your business. It is what the inspection looks for, and what each one costs when it is there.

The Finance Inspection

Before anyone quotes you a monthly fee, someone should go through the actual records. What comes back is a diagnosis of the financial foundations of the business: the processes, the systems, financial control and financial strategy. Where the business is exposed, what that is costing it, and the order to put it right.

Done when: the diagnosis is handed over and walked through at your table.

What is looked at, and what comes back

What is looked at. The ledger and whether it agrees to the source records, the bank facilities and what they cost and what is pledged, the tax position by type and by year, cash and the working capital cycle, debtors and creditors aged, the systems, the statutory filings, and the people doing the work. The numbers are tested against the source records, so what you are working from is what is actually there. What comes back. The diagnosis in writing: the financial foundations, the processes, the systems, financial control and financial strategy, with a rand cost against every finding and the order to put them right. A one-page cash and facility position at the inspection date. A tax exposure schedule by type and by year. An AI readiness note: where AI fits the operation, what the data as found will support, the training need by seat, and the order to adopt in. A ninety-day fix list with a cost against each item. Ninety minutes at your table walking through all of it. What it costs. R24 500 for one entity, R45 000 for a group or across a border. The fee is credited in full against the first month of any retainer that starts within sixty days of the readback.

R5 million to R50 million turnover

For the owner-run business

The cash forecast weekly, the books current, the bank onside, the tax right, and a financial director without the full-time cost.

Cash flow and working capital

Build the thirteen week cash forecast and keep it honest, week by week. Collect the debtors: terms, invoicing discipline, the call at day one overdue, not day sixty. Negotiate creditor terms so payments match the cash cycle. Right-size the stock. Watch facility headroom and covenant headroom so the bank is never a surprise. When the gap is structural, say so, and size the facility that closes it.

Done when: the forecast runs weekly, the cash cycle is shorter, and you know the position on Monday morning without asking anyone.

Behind it

A group treasury department established and run: centralised cash pooling across multiple jurisdictions, intergroup balances reduced and held at minimal levels. Debtor days from 60 to 38. Cash forecasting and working capital optimisation across group companies as standing practice. Treasury reported to the board quarterly.

Raising finance

Work out how much, for what, and which instrument fits: term loan, asset finance, project finance, working capital. Build the financial model and the pack lenders lend against. Approach more than one lender so there is competition. Compare the term sheets: rate, security, covenants, fees. Negotiate the security package down and the covenants to levels the business can live with. Push the deal through legals to signing and drawdown.

Done when: the facility is signed and the money is drawn.

Behind it

More than USD 300 million raised. Over ZAR 4 billion in asset, project and working-capital finance. Led the ZAR 400 million DTI-backed transaction with a South American counterpart. Assisted shareholders to raise USD 30 to 40 million of project finance for agriculture in the DRC. Term sheets, security packages, covenants, escrows and guarantees negotiated across six jurisdictions.

Bank applications

Rebuild the financials and forecasts to the standard a credit committee reads. Put together the facility register: what the client has, what it costs, what security is pledged. Write the application and the motivation the banker takes to committee. Prepare the owner for the questions. Sit in the meeting.

Done when: the application is in front of the committee with the owner prepared.

Behind it

Two decades on the borrowing side of every major South African bank. Five or more banks per region across six jurisdictions. Fifteen-plus DFIs, Afreximbank among them, and export credit agencies. Group treasury custodian responsible for facility structures and covenant compliance.

Monthly management accounts

Take the raw ledger, correct it, cut it into what matters: profit by month, margin by job or product, cash position, debtors, creditors. Deliver it by a fixed day each month. One page the owner reads, backed by detail if wanted.

Done: on the fixed day, every month.

Behind it

Monthly close reduced from 30 days to 7. Debtor days from 60 to 38. Board and shareholder reporting produced at three groups between ZAR 1.5 billion and ZAR 4 billion in revenue. Four ERPs implemented or run: IFS Cloud, Sage X3, SAP, PeopleSoft. The Lesedi implementation delivered under budget, without business disruption, on the CEO's written record.

Catching up the books

Gather the bank statements, invoices and payroll records for the missing period. Rebuild the ledger month by month. Reconcile every bank account. Fix the VAT and payroll submissions that were wrong or missing. Produce the annual financials. Hand back a clean set the accountant and SARS accept.

Done when: the books are current and the accountant and SARS accept them.

Behind it

Appointed CFO at Lesedi after the company had operated without one, with the mandate to stabilise ahead of a growth phase. The CEO's written reference records the department stabilised, financial frameworks rebuilt, and a tier-one cloud ERP migrated without loss of productivity or data.

Personal and company tax

Map everything the owner touches: salary, dividends, loan account, the companies, the trusts. Decide the salary, the dividend and the loan account together, once, so they do not contradict each other, and hand the position to whoever files the returns. Keep the provisional payments right so there are no surprises. Watch the loan account before SARS does.

Done: the position is set for the year, and the person filing has it in writing.

Behind it

Public officer appointments held personally. Full direct and indirect tax oversight as standing FD responsibility: corporate tax, VAT, PAYE, withholding taxes, customs. Salary structuring and employee taxes as named competencies. The same position run first-hand as an owner across multiple entities.

R50 million upward, to group scale

For the larger enterprise

Structures across borders, disputes settled, the systems put in right, tenders priced right.

Foreign company setup

Decide the structure: branch, subsidiary or joint venture, and who owns it. Register the company, the tax numbers, the payroll. Open the bank accounts and get through the KYC. Work out what the exchange control and central bank rules on both sides require, and brief the banks that lodge it. Set the statutory calendar: what gets filed, where, when. Find and brief the local accountant and auditor so the client is not alone there afterwards.

Done when: the company can trade, bank, employ and file in that country.

Behind it

Finance run on the ground in the DRC under OHADA, in Zambia, in Namibia inside the Common Monetary Area, in Mozambique including forex registration on a USD 80 million plant relocation, in Mauritius under the GBC regime, and in Australia. A UK subsidiary incorporated. Consolidation across more than six currencies and three accounting frameworks.

Moving money across borders

List every flow: dividend, management fee, interest, loan repayment. For each one, work out the withholding tax, check the treaty rate, and set out what the tax clearance has to say and what the bank will need before it will move the money. Paper the intercompany agreements so both tax authorities accept the flow. Sequence it: what moves first, what it costs, when it lands. Sit with the bank through the first payment. Leave the client with the file to repeat it. Your bank is the authorised dealer and your bank is the party that lodges. The position it lodges on is set here, in writing, before it goes.

Done when: the first payment has landed and the file to repeat it is in the client's hands.

Behind it

SARB exchange control and balance of payments compliance as standing practice for over a decade. Group dividend and intercompany flows run across South Africa, Mauritius, the DRC, Zambia, Namibia and Mozambique. Transfer pricing and double tax agreement application at group level. Treasury risk and intergroup funding reported to the board quarterly.

Tax disputes and back taxes

Quantify what is actually owed against what is assessed: tax, penalties, interest, per year, per tax type. Decide the route: object, negotiate, voluntary disclosure, settle. Work out what the returns and reconciliations for the missing years have to say, and brief whoever files them. Sit in the meetings with the authority and negotiate the number and the payment terms. Get the settlement in writing. Set the compliance calendar so it does not happen again.

Done when: the settlement is in writing and the payment terms are agreed.

Behind it

Eight years of non-compliance in Namibia regularised in person, deal struck with the authority. Complex tax disputes negotiated to favourable resolution in multiple African jurisdictions. TVA recovery in the DRC. Transfer pricing and double tax agreement positions defended. Tax packages prepared for local authorities in every operating jurisdiction.

ERP and accounting systems

Choose the system on what the business needs it to do, not on the demo. Plan the implementation: master data, opening balances, integrations, the cutover. Run the project to go-live with the month-end still delivered on time. Then review the internal controls: who can do what in the system, where the approvals sit, what leaves the bank without a second pair of eyes. Set the control environment so the numbers hold after the consultants leave.

Done when: the system is live, a month has closed in it on time, and the control review is delivered in writing.

Behind it

IFS Cloud R22 implemented in 2023, Project Chamoin, under budget and without business disruption. Sage X3 rolled out to the civils division across African territories, as project lead. PeopleSoft implemented. SAP run in operation. Four ERPs implemented or run in total.

Tender pricing and guarantees

Read the contract conditions before the price goes in: penalties, retention, payment terms, escalation, guarantee requirements. Put those costs and risks into the tender price so the job is won at a number that survives execution. Work out what guarantees the contract needs, what they cost, and what facility headroom exists. Negotiate the guarantee facility with the bank or insurer. Read the counter-indemnity before it is signed. Model the cash: retention held, advances, payment lag against the wage bill.

Done when: the tender is submitted at a priced risk, and the guarantees the contract needs are in place.

Behind it

Standing FD work at two EPC groups. Koeberg steam generator replacement, ZAR 450 million of works, Framatome. Koeberg second backup power supply, ZAR 800 million, Eskom. Main Road 91, Namibia, ZAR 1.2 billion. Atlantis 7 MW solar plant, over ZAR 100 million. BMW Rosslyn rooftop plant, over ZAR 100 million. Dam wall civils for Barrick in the northern DRC, over USD 200 million. Kenmare zinc plant relocation, USD 80 million, Mozambique. Guarantee facilities held as a named stakeholder relationship; cash modelling of major contractual disputes.

Where Kanton-West stops and your accountant carries on

Kanton-West does not replace your accountant and does not want to. Most owner-run businesses need both, and they need each to stay in its lane.

Your accountant keeps the annual financial statements, the audit or independent review where one is required, the annual returns and the CIPC filings, and the relationship they have built with you.

Kanton-West takes the decisions between those events. Whether that facility should be signed. What the covenant does in month nine. Whether the structure across the border works. What the tender should be priced at. What the month actually says.

Neither signs the other's work. Kanton-West does not review or sign off financial statements that Kanton-West prepared, and where an audit or an independent review is required it goes to your accountant or an auditor, with everything they need to do it faster.

Your accountant is copied. By default every management pack, model and finding goes to your accountant at the same time it goes to you, unless you say otherwise. They should not hear about a change in your business from you in February.