Is Stardom a CPA firm?

No. Stardom Employment Consultants is not a CPA firm and does not hold itself out as one. This is financial management consulting for the owner. Your CPA firm keeps its own work and we do not take it on.

What will the consultant not do?

The consultant never holds your bank logins, never has signing authority, never decides which bills get paid or when, never handles payroll tax or retirement plan deposits, and is never an officer or a signer on anything you send to a lender or a surety. You decide, you sign, you send. The consultant flags what needs your attention.

Do I have to let my bookkeeper go?

No. The retainer assumes somebody is already doing your books. The consultant works with that person, not instead of them.

What if I want to stop?

Ninety days to start, then month to month on thirty days' notice. There is no long contract and no deferral to harvest or to a draw.

How is this different from hiring a Controller?

A full-time Controller is a six-figure salary before benefits, and most owner-operated companies do not need one forty hours a week. This is the same judgment on a monthly cadence. If you decide you do need the full-time seat, Stardom runs that search too.

Fractional CFO · $3,500 a month

Strategic financial leadership without the full-time cost

A part-time finance leader for Central Valley owner-operated companies. One flat monthly fee, a fixed set of deliverables, and a person who sits down with you every month to go through the numbers.

Request a scoping call Call 559-218-5819

What you get

What $3,500 a month buys

Four deliverables on a fixed cadence. Everything here is prepared for your management use from your own records.

Monthly numbers pack

P&L, balance sheet, cash position and the six numbers that actually run your business, with written commentary. In your hands within ten business days of your close.

13-week cash forecast

A rolling thirteen-week view of the cash coming in and going out. Your bookkeeper updates it from our template each week and the consultant checks it.

Profitability and KPI reporting

A quarterly margin or pricing analysis, and the handful of measures you should be watching tracked month over month, so a bad trend shows up while you can still act on it.

Owner meeting and bank package

A working session with you every month and a one-page decision memo. Quarterly, a loan-terms check and a lender package that you read, sign and send.

This is built for you if

You are a privately held Central Valley company, roughly $4 million to $12 million in revenue.
Somebody keeps your books. There is nobody above them watching cash, margin and pricing.
Your bank has started asking who your CFO is.
The finance questions still land on your desk, and you are the owner.
You are three to five years from a sale, a transition, or a loan you cannot afford to get wrong.

It is not the right fit if

You need someone to do the bookkeeping itself. That is a staffing order, not a retainer.
You need months of closes caught up first. We quote that as a project after a short scoping call.
You want somebody to hold the bank logins and pay the bills. Our consultants never do that.

Any of those are still worth a call. Stardom places finance and administrative staff across the Central Valley, so we can usually point you at the right answer even when it is not this one.

How it works

Three steps to the first numbers pack

Scoping call

A short call with Lorenzo. What you have, what is missing, and whether a monthly retainer is the right answer. If it is not, we say so and tell you what is.

Match and engagement letter

We name your consultant and a named backup, put the scope in writing, and agree what sits outside it. Work starts on the first of a month.

First month

The consultant maps who holds what, builds your first numbers pack, and hands you a written list of what breaks first. Then it is the same rhythm every month.

Bridge CFO

Cover the seat while you search for the permanent hire

You lost a Controller, a Director of Finance or a CFO. The same $3,500 a month puts a finance leader alongside your team part-time, as management's finance adviser, while Stardom runs the search for the permanent seat.

Hire the finance leader Stardom presents and your first two months of retainer come off the search fee, up to $7,000. The credit applies to a Stardom-presented hire who starts within nine months of the bridge beginning. It has no cash value, it is not transferable, and it is one credit per hire.

The consultant covering the seat is not a candidate for it unless you ask in writing and pay the conversion fee. They write the scorecard and join interviews in an advisory role.

Talk about a bridge

The price

$3,500a month, flat

$3,500 a month, flat. No hourly billing, no surprise invoices.
Billed on the first of the month, in advance, by ACH.
Ninety-day initial term, then month to month on thirty days' notice.
The scope is written into your engagement letter. Anything beyond it is quoted and approved before it starts.
Your letter names a consultant and a backup. If we have to substitute, we do it within ten business days and the fee stops for any week you are without one.

Not included in the retainer

These sit outside the monthly fee. Some we quote separately, and some belong with your CPA firm.

Bookkeeping, data entry and the close itself
Catch-up and clean-up projects, quoted as fixed-fee work
Tax returns and any contact with tax agencies
System selection, M&A and any work a CPA firm performs

Questions

What owners ask first

Is Stardom a CPA firm?: No. Stardom Employment Consultants is not a CPA firm and does not hold itself out as one. This is financial management consulting for the owner. Your CPA firm keeps its own work and we do not take it on.
What will the consultant not do?: The consultant never holds your bank logins, never has signing authority, never decides which bills get paid or when, never handles payroll tax or retirement plan deposits, and is never an officer or a signer on anything you send to a lender or a surety. You decide, you sign, you send. The consultant flags what needs your attention.
Can I send these numbers to my bank?: You can send them, and you send them yourself. Every deliverable carries this line: Prepared for management use from client-provided records. Not audited, reviewed or compiled. Not for third-party reliance. Stardom Employment Consultants is not a CPA firm. If your lender wants work a CPA firm performs, ask your CPA firm for it.
Do I have to let my bookkeeper go?: No. The retainer assumes somebody is already doing your books. The consultant works with that person, not instead of them.
What if I want to stop?: Ninety days to start, then month to month on thirty days' notice. There is no long contract and no deferral to harvest or to a draw.
How is this different from hiring a Controller?: A full-time Controller is a six-figure salary before benefits, and most owner-operated companies do not need one forty hours a week. This is the same judgment on a monthly cadence. If you decide you do need the full-time seat, Stardom runs that search too.

Start here

Tell us what is going on with the numbers

Lorenzo takes these calls himself. It is a conversation about your business, not a pitch deck, and it costs nothing.

We reply within one business day.
We do not look at your numbers before an NDA is signed.
Prefer the phone? Call 559-218-5819.

On every deliverable

Prepared for management use from client-provided records. Not audited, reviewed or compiled. Not for third-party reliance. Stardom Employment Consultants is not a CPA firm.