'You must have the heart of a teacher.'

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By Janet Berry-Johnson | writer

If you're struggling to step beyond transactional and compliance work into the world of advisory, you're not alone—and Adam Lean is someone worth listening to.

Lean co-founded The CFO Project, a done-with-you mentorship program made up of more than 500 accountants, CPAs, bookkeepers and Enrolled Agents who all have one mission: to grow their practices (and careers) by offering outsourced CFO and business advisory services.

Here, he shares how he built a system that helps advisors stop trading time for money and start building more profitable, impactful practices. –Janet Berry-Johnson

What inspired you to co-found The CFO Project?

My business partner, Jeff Prager, and I had a successful CFO Advisory firm. What made us unique was that we did three things differently than other advisors/fractional CFOs.

First, we sold a “productized CFO” service, giving our clients a specific set of deliverables with an unambiguous fee structure. Second, we spent most of our time helping our clients take action (rather than do what most CFOs do and just talk about numbers). Third, we created systems for everything. Systems to get leads, systems to convert those leads to paying clients and systems to provide a CFO Advisory service that got results.

This caught the attention of other accountants and bookkeepers eager to learn our systems, so we decided to launch a training company to help them build and grow successful CFO Advisory firms.

Why do you think some accountants struggle to get started offering advisory services, even when there’s a clear demand from clients?

Most accountants aren’t getting paid to provide advisory services because their plate is full of tax/bookkeeping and other compliance services. Plus, most accountants and bookkeepers are not sure how to provide advisory services beyond surface-level advice like “cut your expenses.”

How can offering fractional CFO services help accountants become more profitable while delivering greater value to their clients?

Instead of charging for transactional work, like tax prep or closed books, they charge for something business owners truly value: advice on growing a successful business.

In addition, we do not advocate for providing “Fractional CFO” services (because you're right back in the trap of trading time for money). Instead, we recommend providing productized “CFO Advisory” services where you’re helping clients get what they want while charging around $2,000 per month and only spending around four hours per month per client.

What steps would you recommend to accounting pros who want to move beyond compliance work and establish themselves as trusted advisors or fractional CFOs?

First, ensure you want to be a business advisor. You must have the heart of a teacher and the ability to influence clients to take action. Second, adopt a system for getting clients and a system for providing a CFO Advisory service that offers real results for clients.

Over the first three months, focus on getting just one CFO Advisory client paying, on average, $2,000 per month. This equates to $24,000 in annual billings. Then, eliminate, sell or delegate $24,000 worth of compliance/ transactional clients off your plate. Rinse and repeat. You’ll have fewer clients but make way more money in less time.

This interview was edited for brevity and clarity.

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