Built for independent hospitality and entertainment operators who are done guessing at their numbers — and ready for a finance function that works without them babysitting it.
thefinanceoperator.com
For 15 years I was inside a family-owned entertainment and hospitality group — eight operating entities, $50M in combined annual revenue. I built the finance function from the ground up: designed the intercompany reconciliation process, standardized multi-entity reporting, rebuilt F&B cost controls from scratch, and integrated AI automation into daily workflows before most operators knew it was possible.
I've sat in your chair — fielding ownership questions at 9pm, chasing down a variance that shouldn't exist, closing books on a skeleton staff with no documentation and no playbook. I know what it actually takes, and I know what good looks like.
This isn't theory. It's what I actually did. And now I build it for you.
Clean chart of accounts, standardized across entities. A monthly close that happens in 10 business days, not whenever someone gets to it. Books you can actually rely on.
Automated bank feed categorization, daily reconciliation alerts, scheduled report delivery. Your numbers in your inbox every Monday — without anyone generating them manually.
A live cash dashboard across all entities — updated daily, accessible from your phone. No spreadsheet to maintain. No phone call needed to know where you stand.
Plain-English SOPs your bookkeeper can actually follow. Staff training with recorded Loom walkthroughs. A system that doesn't require me to keep working for it to keep working.
Week one is entirely discovery — nothing is built yet. The goal is to understand your operation completely before touching a single workflow. By Friday of week one, you have a written audit of your books and a custom 90-day roadmap.
Most operators say the week-one findings call alone is worth the engagement. It's often the first time they've had a clear, honest picture of their own financial situation.
Most operators are bleeding in three places they can't see: labor misclassification, undocumented intercompany loans, and F&B costs running 4–6 points above where they should be. On $5M in revenue, that's $200K–$300K in recoverable margin. The first win typically shows up inside 30 days.
Five things: accountant-level access to your bookkeeping system, last 3 months of bank statements per entity, your most recent P&L and Balance Sheet, an entity map (a napkin sketch is fine), and calendar availability for your bookkeeper on Tuesday of week one. That's it. I handle everything else — setup, invites, agenda, questionnaire, audit framework. If your books are a mess, that's exactly why you hired me.
Week 1: 3–4 hours total across the kickoff call, accounting team intro, and questionnaire. One-time investment. Weeks 2–10: Your bookkeeper should expect 1–2 hours per week during the build phase — reviewing outputs, doing test runs. I send Loom walkthroughs for everything so they can review async on their own time. After go-live: If your team is spending more than 2 hours per week on close-related tasks after month 3, something is wrong and we fix it. For owners specifically: after week 1, your personal commitment is one 30–60 minute call per week. The goal is to get you out of the books entirely.
Five sections: Business Structure (entities, ownership, intercompany relationships), Current Financial State (last reconciliation, close timeline, known errors), Systems & Access (bookkeeping platform, bank feeds, payroll, POS, and any other tools that touch financial data), Reporting Requirements (who sees what, in what format, what questions they ask that you can't currently answer), and Pain Points & Goals (what keeps you up at night, what success looks like in your own words). Most owners find completing it clarifies things they hadn't explicitly articulated before.
It means your finance function does repetitive tasks automatically. Concretely: daily bank feed categorization rules — transactions auto-coded based on vendor and pattern, your bookkeeper reviews exceptions not every transaction. Automated reconciliation alerts — discrepancies flagged within 24–48 hours instead of discovered at month-end. Scheduled reporting — P&L, cash position, and KPI scorecard delivered automatically on a schedule you set. Cash visibility dashboard — live across all entities, updated daily, on your phone. None of this requires new software. It's built around your existing accounting platform and Google Workspace tools you likely already have.
I work with your existing team. I'm not a replacement — I'm an upgrade layer on top. In most engagements, your bookkeeper's job gets easier: instead of manually doing everything, they're reviewing automated outputs and handling exceptions. If the volume has outgrown your current staffing, I'll tell you plainly and help you think through the right hire. I'm not in the business of protecting my engagement by keeping your team underpowered.
I tell you immediately and directly. I've found everything from duplicate vendor payments and missed payroll tax filings to undocumented intercompany loans and sales tax errors going back years. When something significant surfaces, you get: a clear explanation of what it is, an honest assessment of the risk or dollar impact, and a recommended path forward. I don't editorialize or assign blame. Finding problems is the job — not a failure of yours.
Every client gets a dedicated Slack channel on day one — you, your bookkeeper, and me. Response times by tier: Foundation — email, 48-hour response. Operator — Slack, 24-hour response. Fractional CFO — Slack, same-day during business hours. For urgent items — a bank notice, a vendor threatening to pull terms, an ownership question that can't wait — reach out and I'll prioritize. I don't hide behind SLAs when something actually matters.
Bookkeeping software: I work with whatever you have — QuickBooks Online, Sage, Xero, NetSuite, FreshBooks, or even a well-structured spreadsheet setup. I'll assess your current platform during the audit and recommend if a change would genuinely benefit you, but no switch is ever required. Strongly recommended: Google Workspace. Most automations are built in Google Apps Script — free, powerful, and platform-agnostic. Everything else: I work around your existing stack — POS, payroll, inventory tools. I don't require new software purchases. I earn no commissions or referral fees from any vendor. If I recommend something, it's because it solves a real problem.
You'll feel progress in week 1 — just from the audit findings call. Most clients say it's the clearest financial picture they've ever had. Tangible system changes start going live in week 3. By end of month 1 you usually have automated reporting running and the first clean close completed together. Month 2 is where it feels different day-to-day: reports arrive in your inbox without asking, cash position is visible without a phone call. Month 3 is the proof: a close that happens on time, reports that don't require explanation, and an ownership conversation you're actually prepared for. The first specific win — a cost or margin issue — typically surfaces inside 30 days.
More complicated is usually more interesting. I've worked across eight-entity structures with shared payroll, intercompany loans, management fee arrangements, and multiple ownership splits. That's not unusual — that's hospitality. If the scoping call reveals a complexity that changes the engagement meaningfully, I'll tell you upfront and scope accordingly. I don't discover complexity mid-engagement and add fees without a conversation.
A full-time Controller in hospitality runs $80–$110K per year in salary alone — before benefits, payroll taxes, and onboarding time. A CFO is $140–$200K+. For most independent operators under $20M in revenue, that's not the right structure. You don't need 40 hours of CFO time per week — you need high-quality CFO thinking at the right moments, with a system that runs in between. At $5,500/month you get the build, the system, and the institutional thinking at a fraction of the annual cost of even a mid-level Controller hire — with no employment risk attached.
Billed monthly, due on the first of each month. ACH or check — whichever is easier for your operation. No prepayment required, no large upfront retainer. A signed engagement letter is required before work begins — plain language, not a 20-page legal brief. If you want to pay the full engagement upfront, a 5% discount applies. Most clients prefer monthly. Everything I build belongs to you — the automations, SOPs, dashboards, and reporting systems. If we part ways at any point, you walk away with the full system.
In most cases, yes — professional consulting fees paid for business purposes are deductible as an ordinary and necessary business expense under IRC Section 162. That said, I'm not your tax advisor and your specific situation may have nuances worth discussing with whoever prepares your returns. I provide a W-9 at engagement start and issue 1099s as required.
No pitch, no pressure. A 30-minute conversation to understand your operation, your pain points, and whether this is the right fit. If it is, I'll tell you what a custom engagement looks like and what it costs. If it isn't, I'll tell you that too.