Advisory · fractional controller
Senior oversight, without the six-figure hire.
You've outgrown "just bookkeeping" but you're nowhere near needing a CFO. A fractional controller is the missing middle: the close reviewed, the controls held, the reporting honest — scoped to what your business actually needs.
Operational controllership — not CPA attestation or tax oversight. Scoped individually, fixed fee in writing.
In brief
Fractional controller, in plain terms.
What is a controller?
The senior oversight layer of a finance function: reviews the close, enforces controls, owns reporting integrity. The bookkeeper produces the numbers; the controller assures them; a CFO uses them strategically.
Why fractional?
A full-time controller is a six-figure hire — right at a scale most small businesses haven't reached. Fractional gives you the oversight discipline on a standing cadence, scoped to what you actually need, at a fixed written fee.
Why Westgate for this?
Because senior review is already how this firm runs — every file is reviewed to David's 40-year standard. The fractional-controller engagement is that review layer, productized and pointed at your whole finance function.
What does it cost?
Scoped after a conversation about your business — fixed fee, in writing, like everything we do. The strategy call is free; the firm's published bookkeeping ranges are on pricing.
Defined honestly
What a controller is — between bookkeeper and CFO.
A controller owns the integrity of the numbers. Not the data entry — that's bookkeeping. Not capital strategy — that's a CFO. The controller is the layer between: the senior person who reviews the monthly close before anyone relies on it, keeps the controls that prevent errors and surprises, holds the reporting cadence when business gets busy, and answers — by name — when something in the numbers looks off.
Most small businesses feel the need for this layer before they can justify the seat. The books are kept, the statements arrive, and yet: who's checking the close? Who notices the control gap before it costs something? Who does the bank's question land on? When those questions have no name attached, you have a controller-shaped hole — and a full-time controller is a six-figure hire, which is exactly why the fractional version exists.
Bookkeeper — produces
Transactions categorized, accounts reconciled, the close run. The foundation. Monthly bookkeeping →
Controller — assures
Reviews the close, enforces controls, owns reporting integrity. This page.
CFO — strategizes
Capital, financing, long-range planning. A different job — and when you need it, we'll say so.
Not sure which layer you're missing? Map it with David on a free strategy call — bookkeeper, controller, or CFO, named honestly.
Book a strategy callThe engagement, concretely
What standing oversight includes.
Close review, every month
Each monthly close reviewed before it's delivered — reconciliations verified, anomalies investigated, nothing relied on unchecked. The month-end close →
Controls that fit your size
Approval thresholds, separation of duties where headcount allows, documentation that makes errors visible early — controls scaled to a real small business, not a Fortune 500 binder.
A reporting cadence that holds
Statements on schedule, in the same format, every month — including the busy ones, which is when discipline earns its keep.
The standing advisory meeting
A recurring senior conversation about what the reviewed numbers say — drift named, questions answered, the next move agreed. Often paired with reporting advisory.
Why this firm, structurally
The review layer is already how Westgate runs.
Here's the structural honesty most fractional-controller pitches skip: oversight only works when it's independent of the hands doing the work but close enough to know the file. Westgate's model has that built in. A dedicated senior operator owns your books; David leads the engagement and reviews the work to his standard — that review layer is the firm's locked architecture, not a feature we bolt on for this page.
The fractional-controller engagement takes that existing layer and widens it from "the books are right" to "the finance function is sound": close review becomes formal, controls get designed and held, the reporting cadence gets owned, and the senior conversation gets a standing slot. Forty years of board-level and operating-business judgment, applied where a controller applies it. It also pairs naturally with outsourced accounting when you want the whole back office — production and oversight — under one roof.
The honest fit
Who this is for — and when you need a CFO instead.
A fractional controller fits if…
You've outgrown "just bookkeeping"
The books are kept, but nobody senior reviews the close or owns the controls.
Others rely on your statements
A bank, a bonding agent, a partner — audiences that notice when reporting wobbles.
The seat isn't justified yet
You need the discipline of the role, not the six-figure salary of the chair.
You need a CFO — not us — if…
The questions are capital questions
Raising money, structuring debt, acquisitions, exit planning — CFO work, plainly.
Investors are at the table
Board packages, investor relations, diligence cycles need a dedicated strategic finance lead.
You need attestation
Audited or CPA-reviewed statements require a licensed CPA firm — we coordinate with yours, we don't replace them.
If you're the right column, we'll say so on the first call and help you frame the search. Stretching past our honest edge isn't how this firm works — see the disclaimer for the full boundary.
Fractional controller FAQ
The questions owners ask about the role.
Related: financial reporting advisory · cash-flow management · outsourced accounting · the advisory hub.
The missing middle
Get the oversight layer — scoped to your size.
A strategy call with David, free. We'll map where your finance function actually stands — bookkeeper, controller, CFO — and scope the oversight you need in writing. Including "you don't need this yet," if that's the truth.