CFO as a Service
Fractional CFO for your
Swiss company.
Most Swiss AG and GmbH companies do not need a full-time CFO. They do need CFO-level financial reporting, board-ready accounts, investor reporting, and OR Art. 716a governance — delivered on a monthly retainer rather than as a CHF 300,000+ salary. Goldblum & Partner AG provides fractional CFO services from Zug for startups, scale-ups, and foreign subsidiaries.
Monthly
Reporting cycle
OR 716a
Compliant
Board-ready
Financials
Retainer
Flexible engagement
Service Scope
What the fractional CFO
covers for your Swiss entity
Monthly financial reporting
- P&L statement with variance analysis
- Balance sheet review
- Cash flow statement and working capital tracking
- Management accounts in Swiss GAAP FER or OR format
- KPI dashboard preparation and commentary
Planning and forecasting
- Annual budget preparation and board approval support
- 12-month rolling forecast updates
- Scenario modelling (base, upside, downside)
- Cash runway analysis for growth-stage companies
- Capex planning and investment appraisal
Governance and compliance
- OR Art. 716a financial oversight support for board
- Board reporting package preparation
- Statutory audit preparation (OR Art. 727 / 727a)
- Swiss GAAP FER / OR-Rechnungslegung selection
- FINMA-adjacent financial control for regulated entities
Treasury and banking
- Banking relationship management
- FX exposure monitoring and hedging overview
- Cash pooling structure assessment
- Payment authorisation process design
- Multi-entity inter-company reconciliation
Investor and stakeholder reporting
- Investor reporting package (monthly or quarterly)
- Board financial presentation
- Data room financial section for fundraising
- Financial model preparation for capital raise
- Coordination with statutory auditor
Tax coordination (Zug)
- Corporate tax return coordination with Steuerverwaltung Zug
- VAT (MWSTG) declaration oversight
- Transfer pricing documentation for multi-entity groups
- Advance tax ruling (Steuerruling) process coordination
- Participation exemption analysis (DBG Art. 69–70)
Key Data
CFO-as-a-Service — What You Get
Part-time executive financial leadership without full-time cost
60–80%
Typical cost saving vs. full-time CFO
Fractional engagement eliminates salary, benefits, and recruitment costs.
Dedicated
Advisor relationship
Named senior advisor — not a rotating team. Full continuity across engagements.
Flexible
Engagement model
Monthly retainer, project-based, or interim — scaled to your business stage.
3 areas
Core scope
Financial reporting, treasury management, and strategic financial planning.
When You Need It
Five triggers for CFO
as a Service in Switzerland
First Swiss employee hired
When a company moves from a dormant holding structure to an operating entity with headcount, finance-function infrastructure — payroll oversight, cost allocation, BVG coordination — must be established immediately.
Series A or external funding
Investors require auditable monthly reporting, a financial model, and a functioning finance function before closing. A fractional CFO can deliver all three within 4–6 weeks of engagement.
FINMA licence application
FINMA requires a qualified management team under FinIA Art. 9. A fractional CFO with Swiss regulatory experience contributes to the fit-and-proper documentation and handles the ongoing financial-control obligations post-licence.
Approaching OR Art. 727 audit thresholds
Ordinary audit is triggered at 2 of: CHF 20M balance sheet, CHF 40M revenue, 250 FTE. Companies approaching these thresholds need to professionalise their reporting before auditors demand it.
Multi-entity holding structure
A Zug AG holding with one or more subsidiaries requires consolidated reporting, intercompany pricing, and dividend-flow optimisation — CFO-level work that standalone bookkeeping cannot provide.
Legal framework — CFO engagement
The CFO engagement is governed by a mandate contract (Auftrag). Not an employment relationship — no employer AHV liability for the client company if the CFO operates through a legal entity. Mandate is revocable at any time by either party (OR Art. 404).
OR Art. 716a lists duties that cannot be delegated by the board: financial oversight, accounting system design, management supervision, insolvency filing. A fractional CFO supports the board in discharging these duties — it does not replace the board's responsibility.
Ordinary audit: 2 of 3 thresholds exceeded in 2 consecutive years — CHF 20M balance sheet / CHF 40M revenue / 250 FTE. Limited-scope audit applies below those thresholds. Opt-out available if headcount is 10 FTE or fewer.
Every Swiss AG and GmbH must maintain double-entry bookkeeping and produce annual accounts giving a true and fair view of asset, financial, and earnings situation. The CFO-as-a-service engagement typically oversees preparation of these statutory accounts.
For FINMA-regulated entities (portfolio managers, FinTech licence BankG Art. 1b), management must be qualified. A fractional CFO engaged for a FINMA-licensed entity must demonstrate adequate education and professional experience.
Monthly retainer model — predictable cost, flexible scope
CFO as a Service is priced as a monthly retainer rather than by the hour, giving clients predictable finance-function costs and eliminating the billing uncertainty of hourly advisory mandates. The retainer scope is defined at onboarding and reviewed quarterly. Engagements are governed by an OR Art. 394 mandate contract. Initial financial health assessment is delivered within 30 days of mandate commencement.
The service sits above Goldblum & Partner AG's accounting and payroll functions as the strategic finance layer: accounting provides the monthly data, payroll provides the HR cost inputs, and the CFO function integrates both into management accounts, board reporting, and investor-ready financials. For companies that need the full stack, a single mandate covers all three layers.
FAQ
Frequently asked
questions
Precise answers to the most common questions about forming a company in Switzerland. For specific advice on your structure, book a free consultation.
Free consultation
Free Consultation
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in Switzerland?
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Baarerstrasse 25 · 6300 Zug · Switzerland · Est. 2007