There comes a point where the question changes. For years it was: are the figures correct? Then, often within a single quarter, it becomes: what are the figures telling me to do? That is no longer a bookkeeping question. It is a steering question — and a correctly kept set of books does not answer it on its own.
At doo.FINANCE we rarely see that shift announced in advance at Dutch MKB companies — MKB being the Dutch term for small and mid-sized businesses. It arrives with a second bv (a Dutch private limited company), with a bank asking for interim figures, with an investment whose effect on the cash position nobody can model. This article sets out those thresholds concretely, and it is just as explicit about what a fractional CFO does not do. That second part matters at least as much: most disappointment with CFO services comes not from poor work, but from an expectation that was never spoken out loud beforehand.
What a fractional CFO does — and where bookkeeping stops
Bookkeeping records what has happened. It looks backwards, it is a legal obligation, and by definition it is only complete after the period has closed. The CFO function does something else: it translates the same figures into decisions that still have to be taken — pricing, working capital, financing, invest or wait, hire or outsource.
A fractional CFO is that second function, bought in rather than put on the payroll. In practice it usually means a fixed commitment of one to a few days per month, with a defined scope of work:
- periodic reporting that goes beyond the profit and loss account: margin per client, service or site, working capital tied up, cash flow;
- a forecast that is updated monthly instead of set once a year;
- the set-up of the administration, so that management information actually comes out of the system and not out of a stand-alone spreadsheet;
- a counterpart for the bank, shareholders, investors and the accountant;
- modelling scenarios before a decision, not after it.
So the difference with a good bookkeeper is not experience or seniority. It is the question being answered. That is exactly the territory of finance transformation: not more figures, but figures that arrive earlier and can carry a decision.
Five thresholds where bookkeeping is no longer enough
There is no revenue level above which a fractional CFO becomes necessary. There are situations that make the need concrete. If you recognise two or more of them, the conversation is worth having.
1. You have more than one entity
As soon as a second bv, a holding company, a foreign branch or a joint venture is added, it is not only the number of ledgers that doubles. The questions change too: which results are consolidated, which intercompany positions cancel each other out, where the equity actually sits, and what a fiscale eenheid — a Dutch fiscal unity — means for vennootschapsbelasting, the Dutch corporate income tax.
The bookkeeping per entity still adds up while the overall picture is missing. A fractional CFO builds that overall picture — and, just as importantly, builds it repeatably, so that it comes out of the same system with the same definitions every month.
2. There is financing on the table
With bank financing, a subordinated loan or an investor, the burden of proof shifts. The question is no longer whether the jaarrekening — the Dutch statutory annual accounts — adds up, but whether the substantiated forward view holds up: a multi-year forecast, a cash flow statement, a sensitivity analysis, and covenants that then have to be monitored monthly.
Building that while the credit application is already running means negotiating from a weak position. Having it ready means negotiating on terms.
3. Growth makes a forecast unavoidable
Growth costs money before it earns money: stock, receivables, people on the payroll months before their first invoice. With stable revenue an annual budget is often enough. On a growth curve, the gap between profit and liquidity becomes the real problem — profitable and still short of cash.
The reflex is to build a bigger spreadsheet. Cash flow forecasting deserves separate treatment and will get it; what counts here is the observation itself: as soon as your planning reaches beyond the current financial year, you need a function that maintains the plan rather than drawing it up once a year.
4. A shareholder, bank or accountant asks for interim figures
As soon as an outside party requires interim figures, the deadline is no longer yours. Monthly figures that appear on working day twenty are too late to change anything with — at that point they are a record, not a steering instrument.
This is the threshold that shows up fastest in the administration itself: without a disciplined month-end close, a consistent chart of accounts and a fixed set of reports, the question simply cannot be answered. Read more on why interim reporting in Odoo is essential and how to handle the month-end close sensibly.
5. There is an investment decision nobody can model
A new machine, a business property, an acquisition, a six-figure software project. The question "can we carry this?" needs a payback period, a financing mix, an effect on the cash position — and someone who defends the assumptions to the bank.
If a decision like that gets taken on instinct in your organisation because nobody has the time or the tools to model it, that in itself is the signal.
The statutory thresholds that force the conversation
Alongside the commercial signals there are hard limits in Boek 2 BW — Book 2 of the Dutch Civil Code, the Burgerlijk Wetboek. They do not determine whether you need a fractional CFO, but they do determine when your reporting obligations get heavier — and that is usually the point at which administrative capacity falls short.
- Size criteria. For financial years starting on or after 1 January 2024, the thresholds are higher. For the small regime: balance sheet total up to €7.5 million, net turnover up to €15 million and fewer than 50 employees. For medium-sized: up to €25 million balance sheet total, up to €50 million net turnover and fewer than 250 employees.
- Audit requirement. If your company exceeds two of the three small criteria in two consecutive financial years, it counts as medium-sized and a statutory audit of the jaarrekening is mandatory (art. 2:393 BW). An audit like that sets requirements for internal control and documentation that a purely transactional administration rarely meets on its own.
- Filing deadline. The board prepares the jaarrekening within five months of the end of the financial year, with a maximum extension of five months; once adopted, filing follows within eight days. The jaarrekening must be filed with the KvK — the Dutch chamber of commerce register — no later than twelve months after the end of the financial year.
- Corporate income tax. In 2026 the rates are unchanged: 19% on the first €200,000 of taxable profit and 25.8% above that. With more than one entity, where the profit falls is not a detail but a structural question.
These limits are not growth targets. They form the grid your reporting calendar is pinned to — and it is more comfortable to arrive six months early than six weeks late.