Fractional CFO for Professional Services in Hamilton
Utilization, project profitability, and services-revenue clarity for Hamilton professional-services firms, from a Big Four-trained CFO based in Hamilton who serves Hamilton in person and can fix the software feeding your books, too.
How a fractional CFO sharpens a professional-services firm
Professional-services firms, agencies, consultancies, engineering and design shops, and other expertise businesses, sell time and judgment, which makes their economics deceptively tricky. Utilization, realization, and project profitability drive everything, yet most firms manage them by feel and only find out a project lost money after it is delivered.
Professional-services firms in Hamilton sell time and judgment, which makes utilization and project profitability the whole game. With over $2 billion in annual construction activity, a $5.2 billion municipal infrastructure deficit, and a reinvented manufacturing base, the local economy is capital-intensive and fast-moving. I bring services-revenue and headcount-forecasting experience so you can see which work and which clients actually pay.
What I own for Hamilton professional services businesses.
The finance work that actually moves margin and cash in this industry.
01 Utilization & billable rates
Utilization, realization, and effective billable rates measured properly, so capacity and pricing decisions are grounded in real numbers.
02 Project & client profitability
Profitability by project, client, and service line, the view that tells you which work to chase and which to reprice or drop.
03 Services revenue recognition
Revenue recognized correctly across fixed-fee, time-and-materials, and retainer work, with WIP and unbilled handled cleanly.
04 Cash & working capital
Billing cadence, WIP, and receivables managed so the gap between delivering work and getting paid stops straining cash.
05 Partner & team comp
Compensation, profit-sharing, and headcount models that align what the firm pays with what it actually earns.
Real operating experience, and a local CFO who shows up.
Services economics run through everything I do. My SaaS work is heavy on services-revenue recognition, utilization, and headcount-driven forecasting, and my CFO and controller roles have repeatedly meant modelling project profitability and the people cost behind it. I know how to make a time-and-expertise business legible to its owners.
Being in Hamilton means I can sit at your kitchen-table office, your trailer, or your boardroom in person. Steel City CFO already ranks at the top of local search for fractional CFO work, and that is on purpose: this is home turf, and the work is hands-on. With over $2 billion in annual construction value and a $5.2 billion municipal infrastructure deficit, Hamilton’s builders and industrial operators carry exactly the kind of job-cost and WIP complexity I work in. For a Hamilton professional services business, that combination, industry depth plus a CFO who can tie utilization and project margin back to the GL, is rare in this market.
Most fractional CFOs can’t fix the software feeding your books. I can.
And because I also run a financial-systems practice, I can connect the tools you bill and track time in to your accounting system, so utilization and project-profitability reporting comes from clean data rather than three exports stapled together each month.
That second service line, Financial Systems Architecture, is what makes the CFO work stick in a services firm: when time, billing, and the GL actually agree, utilization and project profitability become numbers you can trust rather than argue about.
Who you’re actually working with.
Big Four-trained, operator-tested, locally present.
Steel City CFO is led by Kevin Cosgrove. The background spans high-growth SaaS, a $50M+ construction and industrial group, and prior fractional CFO work, delivered in person across Hamilton.
- Series B/C SaaS, independent fractional CFO work for venture-backed software companies (US + Canada): 3-statement models, ARR forecasting, ASC 606, board reporting.
- Controller, $50M+ group, heavy-civil construction, asphalt, and real estate: WIP, covenants, multi-entity consolidation.
- Prior fractional CFO, startups and mid-market firms across Canada: forecasting, lender reporting, finance ops built from scratch.
- Sell-side M&A exit, led the finance workstream on a venture-backed company’s acquisition by a strategic buyer.
Big Four (PwC) trained. Hamilton-based, serving clients across the Golden Horseshoe in person.
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Transparent pricing.
A fixed-fee start, then a right-sized retainer.
The Diagnostic Audit. A focused review of your finances and the systems feeding them, with quantified findings and a clear recommendation. No retainer, no open meter, you get the map first.
The audit, step by stepA right-sized monthly retainer once the foundation is clean: forecasting, reporting, lender and board support, and an operating rhythm you can run the business on. Scope and price scale to your size.
Book a CallLooking for the broader picture? See fractional CFO in Hamilton, fractional CFO for professional services, or the full services hub.
Need a fractional CFO for professional services in Hamilton?
Book a call. We’ll talk through where your numbers stand and whether the $750 + HST Diagnostic Audit is the right first step.