What a virtual CFO actually costs
Engagements start at ₹50,000 a month — roughly ₹6 lakh to ₹36 lakh a year depending on revenue and scope. Below is the range, what moves it, and the honest comparison against building the same function in-house.
Access CFO engagements run from ₹50,000 to about ₹3,00,000 per month — ₹6 lakh to ₹36 lakh a year — depending on revenue, transaction volume, number of entities and the modules in scope. Every engagement, at every level, includes a named partner-level CFO, a chartered accountant controller and a dedicated analyst. The equivalent in-house team costs ₹80 lakh to ₹1.2 crore a year.
We do not publish fixed packages, because the same scope is materially different work at ₹5 crore and at ₹80 crore. After the free week-one diagnostic we quote one fixed monthly fee against a written scope, and it does not move unless the scope does.
Where most engagements land.
These are ranges, not packages — a starting point for the conversation rather than a menu. Your actual number is fixed after the diagnostic.
The founder-run business
Visibility before headcount. Clean books, a monthly number you trust, and a forecast that means payroll is never a surprise.
- Monthly close and MIS pack by the 7th
- 13-week rolling cash forecast
- GST, TDS and ROC compliance calendar
- Monthly CFO review call
- Named CFO, controller and analyst
The scaling company
Institutionalising the function. Budgets that hold up, unit economics that explain the business, and books that survive a bank or investor asking hard questions.
- Everything in the band above
- Driver-based annual plan and quarterly reforecast
- Unit economics by product, channel and region
- Bank and lender liaison, covenant monitoring
- Fundraise and diligence readiness
The established SME
The layer above your accounts team. Strategic finance, internal controls, and someone senior enough to push back in the room.
- Everything in the bands above
- Named CFO in leadership and board reviews
- Internal controls and audit readiness
- Board packs and investor reporting
- M&A, restructuring and succession support
What moves the number
Six things drive where an engagement sits in the range. None of them is negotiable in the sense of being arbitrary — each one is a real difference in the hours and the seniority the work consumes.
- Revenue and transaction volume. A ₹60 crore distribution business with 4,000 invoices a month is a different close from a ₹60 crore services firm with 40.
- Number of entities and registrations. Three companies across Delhi, UP and Haryana means three closes, three compliance calendars and a consolidation.
- Condition of the books at the start. Clean books cost less to run than books that need reconciling every month because the underlying process is broken.
- Modules in scope. Compliance and MIS only sits at the bottom of the range. Add cash flow, budgeting and fundraise support and it rises.
- Cadence. Monthly review and quarterly strategy is standard. Weekly cadence, board attendance or an active transaction adds partner time.
- Reporting audience. A founder summary is one document. A lender pack, an investor MIS and a formal board pack are three.
What is not included
Stated plainly, so there are no surprises on the first invoice:
- Statutory audit fees — your auditor must be independent of us, and should be.
- Clearing a significant historical backlog, which is quoted separately after the diagnostic has sized it.
- Software licences and subscriptions you own, such as Tally, Zoho or your ERP.
- Government fees, penalties and interest on filings that predate the engagement.
- Transaction fees for an active fundraise or M&A process beyond preparation work.
The diagnostic is free, and the memo is yours either way.
Week one, we audit the books, the compliance position and the reporting, and hand you a written, prioritised findings memo. If you never speak to us again, you still keep it.
The in-house comparison
The honest way to evaluate the fee is against what the same capability costs to build internally — not against your current accountant’s bill, which buys something different.
| In-house team | Access CFO | |
|---|---|---|
| Annual cost | ₹80 lakh – ₹1.2 crore | ₹6 lakh – ₹36 lakh |
| Time to productive | 4–6 months | 30 days |
| Seniority available | One person’s ceiling | Partner-level bench |
| Cover on leave or exit | None — key-person risk | Built into the pod |
| Scaling up | A new hire each time | Switch a module on |
| Commitment | Notice periods, severance | 30-day exit, any time |
The saving is typically around 70 percent. But the number most clients actually care about is the four to six months they do not spend interviewing, and the fact that when the CFO is on leave the month still closes.
How the quote is arrived at
- Discovery call, 30 minutes. What the business does, where the numbers hurt, what you have tried. Free.
- Diagnostic, week one. We look at the books, the compliance position and the current reporting, and write it up. Free, and the memo is yours regardless.
- Written scope and fixed fee. Modules, deliverables, dates and a single monthly number. It changes only if the scope does.
- Engagement letter. Thirty-day exit, either side, from day one.
Want your actual number?
Tell us your revenue, entity count and what is currently breaking. We can usually indicate a range on the first call.
Get a fixed quote WhatsApp +91 83830 53534Asked before every engagement.
Across the Indian market, virtual and fractional CFO engagements generally run from about ₹50,000 a month for a light advisory arrangement to ₹3,00,000 or more a month for a full outsourced finance function. Access CFO engagements start at ₹50,000 a month, or roughly ₹6 lakh to ₹36 lakh a year, because every engagement includes a named partner-level CFO, a chartered accountant controller and a dedicated analyst rather than a single consultant.
Because the same headline scope means very different work at ₹5 crore and at ₹80 crore of revenue, and because a fixed package either overcharges the simple business or under-serves the complex one. We scope after the week-one diagnostic and quote a fixed monthly fee against that scope, so the number is firm even though the starting range is not.
The pod (CFO lead, controller, analyst), the monthly close and MIS pack, the 13-week cash forecast, the compliance calendar and filings in scope, the monthly review call and the quarterly reforecast. Software licences you already own stay yours; statutory audit fees are separate.
The week-one diagnostic is free and you keep the findings memo either way. Where a significant backlog has to be cleared before the monthly rhythm can start, that is quoted separately and up front, after the diagnostic has told us how large it actually is.
No. Thirty days’ notice, either side, at any time. On exit you receive every file, model, working paper and password.
An experienced CFO in India costs roughly ₹40–60 lakh a year in salary alone. Add a controller at ₹15–20 lakh, two accounts staff, recruitment, tools and churn, and an equivalent in-house function lands between ₹80 lakh and ₹1.2 crore annually. The typical saving against that is around 70 percent, before counting the four to six months you do not spend hiring.
Thirty minutes. We’ll tell you exactly what your finance function is missing — free, either way.
If we’re not the right fit, you’ll still leave with a prioritised list of what to fix. That’s the worst-case outcome.