What is advisory & virtual cfo with CapEasy?
Advisory is only worth buying once the underlying numbers are trustworthy — which is why it sits after bookkeeping rather than instead of it. This is sized to the business in front of us, not enterprise-CFO language sold to a ten-person company.
Advisory, in our scope, is the discipline of turning a set of books into a set of numbers a founder can act on before the money runs out. That means a rolling cash flow forecast built off actual receipts and actual payment terms, not a template with round numbers in it. It means a runway figure that updates every month, so a burn-rate conversation happens in week two of a bad quarter instead of week eleven. And it means margin analysis broken out by product line, customer cohort, or service offering — whichever cut actually explains why gross margin moved.
The natural cadence is monthly, tied to close. Once the books close for the month, the advisory layer turns that close into three things: a variance narrative against budget, an updated forecast, and a one-page summary a non-finance founder can read in five minutes. Quarterly, that same output rolls up into a board pack — the deck a seed or Series A board expects to see before a meeting, with the KPI trends, the burn multiple, and the runway number front and center.
The services inside advisory
4 services, each with its own page — scope, process and the licence line stated before you buy anything.
| Cash flow forecasting | A rolling forecast built from your ledger, updated as the month moves. |
| Runway analysis | How long the money lasts on your own numbers, and what changes it. |
| Budgeting and forecasting | A budget that survives contact with the actuals. |
| Margin analysis | Where the money is actually made, by product, customer or channel. |
Why it matters
| Without a system | With CapEasy |
|---|---|
| Decisions made on last year’s numbers | A forecast that is updated from the actual close |
| Pricing set by feel | Knowing which work makes money and which does not |
| Cash surprises that were visible months earlier | Numbers you can defend in a funding conversation |
What we need from you
Foundation
- A clean, current set of books
- At least a few periods of history
- Budget or plan, if one exists
Context
- Pricing and cost structure
- Headcount plan
- Anything you are about to decide
How it runs, step by step
- Planning & forecasting
- Cash flow forecasting
- Budgeting and re-forecasting
- Scenario modelling
- Profitability
- Job, product or service profitability
- Margin analysis
- Cost optimisation review
- Financial modelling & valuation support
- Three-statement models
- Unit economics
- Valuation analysis and supporting workings
What lands with you, every cycle
- Rolling forecast
- Profitability analysis
- Financial model
- Valuation workings
- Investor or board reporting pack
Who does what
Modelling, valuation analysis and materials preparation only. We do not approach investors on your behalf — soliciting investment for compensation can require broker registration — and nothing here is investment advice. Here is the licence line in the United States, stated before you buy anything — each of these is carried out by your CPA or enrolled agent:
- Issue compilation, review or audit reports — those are restricted to licensed CPA firms.
- Prepare or file federal or state tax returns.
- Represent you before the IRS, or respond to notices on your behalf.
- Determine sales-tax nexus, or worker classification.
- Advise on which entity to form, or draft formation documents — that is legal work.
Advisory & virtual CFO in United States
This is not an attest engagement
Under the Uniform Accountancy Act §14(a), compilation, review, and audit reports are restricted to licensed CPA firms — the restriction sits on the report itself, not on the underlying preparation of financial statements. Advisory output is management reporting: a cash flow model, a variance memo, a board deck. It is never issued as, and never substitutes for, a compiled, reviewed, or audited financial statement. If a lender or investor requires an attest-level report, that engagement goes to a licensed CPA firm, and we are explicit about that with clients before it becomes a surprise.
Entity choice is legal work, not an advisory output
Whether a company should be a Delaware C-corp, an S-corp, or an LLC is a legal and tax determination with real consequences for equity structure, self-employment tax, and investor eligibility. It is made by an attorney and a CPA, not inferred from a margin analysis. Advisory can show a founder what a given entity structure is costing them in Delaware franchise tax — the state runs two calculation methods, the Authorized Shares Method and the Assumed Par Value Capital Method, and most early-stage companies are overpaying under the default method — but the decision to restructure is theirs to make with counsel.
Sales tax nexus is a determination, not an observation
A forecast can flag that a company has started shipping into a new state, or that revenue from a state has crossed a threshold worth watching. It cannot determine whether that activity has created sales tax nexus in that state — nexus determinations depend on state-specific economic thresholds, physical presence rules, and marketplace facilitator law that changes state by state and year by year. That determination goes to the CPA or a state tax specialist. We flag the fact pattern; the ruling on it belongs to them.
The forecast is not a filing, and the forecast is not advice on a filing
A cash flow forecast that shows a company will owe an estimated tax payment in a given quarter is a planning tool. It is not a substitute for the CPA's calculation of the actual liability, and it carries no representation that it matches what will be filed on Form 1120, 1120-S, or 1065. Where the forecast includes a payroll tax line — the quarterly 941 deposits, for instance — that line is built from historical deposit amounts and payroll schedule, not from an independent calculation of what's owed.
What your CPA or enrolled agent receives from us
- A closed, reconciled general ledger for the period, timestamped and versioned so the CPA knows which close it is working from.
- A rolling 13-week (or monthly, for longer-horizon models) cash flow forecast with the assumptions stated separately from the numbers — collection days, payment terms, hiring plan.
- A variance report comparing actual to budget or to the prior forecast, with every variance over a stated threshold given a one-line cause, not just a percentage.
- A runway calculation stated as a date and a dollar figure, with the burn rate it was derived from shown alongside it.
- AP and AR aging summaries broken into standard buckets (current, 30, 60, 90+), flagged where a balance has aged past the company's normal terms.
- A quarterly board-pack draft: KPI trend lines, burn multiple, runway, and a plain-language narrative of what changed and why — formatted for the CPA or the founder to review before it goes to the board.
Questions worth asking before you start
Will you deal with the Internal Revenue Service on my behalf?
No. We are a consulting firm — licensed work runs through partner CPA firms. Anything that means dealing directly with IRS — filing, correspondence, representation — stays with your CPA or enrolled agent. What changes is how much work it is for them: they open a file that is already reconciled and coded, not one they have to rebuild first.
Exactly what lands with your CPA or enrolled agent at the end of a cycle?
Rolling forecast, Profitability analysis, Financial model, Valuation workings, Investor or board reporting pack. All of it goes to your CPA or enrolled agent — or straight to you, if you are the one reviewing before it moves on.
Who actually does the work — a person or an AI tool?
A named person on our team owns your file and reviews everything that leaves it. Software does a real share of the grinding underneath it — coding, matching, flagging the obvious gaps — but nothing regulated happens without a person’s judgement, and nothing here is signed or filed by an algorithm.
Is this the same as hiring a CFO?
It is CFO-shaped work — forecasting, modelling, profitability — sized to a business that does not need a full-time hire for it yet. It sits on top of clean books, which is also why we ask for those first.
Can you help us prepare for a funding round?
We build the model, the unit economics and the data-room materials. We do not approach investors on your behalf, and nothing here is investment advice — that stays with you and your advisers.
Do you get involved in pricing decisions?
We give you the cost and margin numbers behind a pricing decision. The decision itself, and the market judgement behind it, stays yours.
Is advisory the same thing as a CPA review of my financials?
No. A review or compilation report is an attest engagement restricted to licensed CPA firms under UAA §14(a). Advisory is management reporting — cash flow forecasts, variance analysis, board packs — built from your books, but never issued as a compiled, reviewed, or audited statement. If you need that level of assurance, that engagement sits with your CPA firm, and we'll tell you plainly when that's the case rather than blur the line.
Can you tell me whether I should be an S-corp or a C-corp?
No, that's a legal and tax determination made by your attorney and CPA, not something advisory output decides. What we can do is show you what your current structure is actually costing — Delaware franchise tax under both the Authorized Shares and Assumed Par Value methods, for example — so that conversation with your advisors starts with real numbers.
Will you tell me if I owe sales tax in a new state?
We'll flag the fact pattern — new-state revenue, a threshold you're approaching — but the nexus determination itself goes to your CPA or a state tax specialist. Nexus rules vary by state and change over time, and getting that wrong has real consequences, so the ruling stays with them — the forecast only surfaces the fact pattern.
How often do I get a cash flow forecast?
The standard cadence is monthly, tied to your close, with a rolling update to the forecast each time. Companies burning cash fast enough to need tighter visibility can run a 13-week rolling forecast instead, refreshed weekly against actual receipts and disbursements.
What exactly goes in a board pack, and who writes it?
KPI trends, the burn multiple, the runway date and dollar figure, and a plain-language narrative of what changed since the last board meeting and why. AI drafts the first pass from the numbers; a named advisor reviews and finalizes it, and any open items flagged by your CPA are stated in the deck rather than smoothed over.
Does the runway number in my forecast match what my CPA would calculate?
It's built from the same general ledger your CPA works from, using stated assumptions about collection days and payment terms that get checked against actual AR aging every close. It's a planning figure, not a substitute for your CPA's own analysis, and we say so on every forecast.
Can advisory replace my CPA?
No. Advisory covers management reporting — forecasting, variance analysis, margin breakdowns. Preparing or filing your federal or state returns, representing you before the IRS, and issuing attest-level reports all stay with your CPA or enrolled agent. We build the numbers your CPA and your board use; the CPA's job stays with the CPA.
What happens if my forecast assumptions turn out to be wrong?
They get corrected at the next close, and the memo says explicitly what changed and why — a customer that renegotiated payment terms, a churn assumption that didn't hold. A forecast that quietly keeps running on stale assumptions is the failure mode we build the review process specifically to catch.
Do you handle payroll tax filings like the 941?
No. We track the quarterly 941 deposit schedule as a known outflow in your cash forecast, sourced from your CPA's filing calendar, so it doesn't surprise your cash position. The filing itself, and any Form 8655 Reporting Agent authorization tied to it, stays with your CPA or payroll provider.
What data do you need from us to start?
Access to your closed general ledger, your AP/AR detail, and whatever operational metrics you track — MRR, headcount, unit economics, depending on your business. The forecast and reporting quality is only as good as the close it's built on, so a clean, timely monthly close is the real precondition.
Who is actually accountable for the numbers in my board pack?
A named advisor reviews every figure before it reaches you or your board. AI handles the mechanical work — pulling transactions, flagging variances, drafting the first version of the narrative — but it doesn't sign off on anything, and it isn't the one accountable if a number is wrong. A person is.
Can you help us set the budget itself, not just report against it?
We build the variance-against-budget reporting and can model scenarios (a new hire, a slower quarter, a pricing change) so you see the cash impact before you decide. The budget decision itself — how much to spend, on what — is yours; we make sure you're seeing the real number when you make it.
