Fractional Controller & FP&A

A senior finance team, without the full-time payroll.

Primex gives small organizations the controller and financial-planning expertise they need but can't yet justify hiring full-time. You get clean books, a reliable month-end close, budgets people trust, and systems that make it all easier, for a part-time commitment.

Led by a CPA with 15 years in finance, from a C$20B pension plan to a venture-backed startup to a multi-program community organization. You get senior judgement for the hours you actually need.

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Sound Familiar?

You've outgrown your bookkeeper, but you're not ready for a full-time CFO.

Most small organizations reach this point. The work has become more complex than basic bookkeeping can handle, but a full-time controller or finance manager isn't in the budget yet. These are the usual signs.

01

The books are always a few weeks behind

Month-end drags on, reconciliations pile up, and by the time you see last month's numbers it's too late to act on them.

02

The budget is a spreadsheet nobody really trusts

It's built once a year, rarely compared to actual spending, and nobody can say with confidence whether you're on track.

03

Board, funder, and audit requests turn into a scramble

Every report gets rebuilt by hand. Audit season means weeks of digging, and adjustments that should have been caught earlier.

04

Big decisions get made without a clear financial picture

Hiring, a new program, a major purchase: you need someone to model the options and tell you plainly what the numbers say.

Services

Two roles your organization needs, delivered part-time.

Engage Primex as your fractional controller, your fractional FP&A lead, or both. Each is a monthly arrangement sized to the hours you need, and you can scale up or down as you grow.

Service 01

Fractional Controller

Accurate books, on time, every month. Your accounting foundation, owned by someone senior enough to get it right.

What's included
  • Month-end close management and account reconciliations
  • Review and oversight of your bookkeeper or accounting staff
  • Monthly financial statements you can actually read
  • Internal controls and approval workflows
  • Grant and restricted-funding tracking and compliance
  • Year-end audit preparation and auditor liaison
  • Chart of accounts clean-up and redesign
What you getA faster close, fewer surprises at audit, and confidence that the numbers are right.
Service 02

Fractional FP&A

Financial planning & systems. Turns your numbers into decisions, and sets up the tools that keep them up to date.

Planning
  • Annual budget built with, and owned by, your managers
  • Monthly budget-vs-actual reporting with plain-English commentary
  • Cash flow forecasting and multi-year projections
  • Financial models for big decisions: hiring, expansion, acquisitions, fundraising
  • Board and funder reporting packages
Systems
  • Getting more out of the accounting software you already pay for
  • Self-serve reports and dashboards in Excel or Power BI
  • Automating manual, spreadsheet-heavy processes
What you getA budget people use, a clear view of where you're heading, and less time spent rebuilding reports.

Need help with a single project instead?

Not every need is ongoing. Primex also takes on fixed-scope projects, often as the first step before a monthly arrangement.

Finance health check Audit readiness Accounting system setup or migration Budget process redesign Acquisition or investment analysis Fundraising model & investor materials
Works with the tools you already have
Acumatica· Microsoft Dynamics· SAP· Sage Intacct· NetSuite· Excel· Power BI· Velixo· Microsoft 365
Why Fractional

Senior expertise, sized to your organization.

A fractional arrangement gives you experienced finance leadership for the share of time your organization needs, without the cost and commitment of a full-time hire.

Bookkeeper only

Records the past
  • Enters transactions and pays bills
  • Rarely owns the close, controls, or audit
  • No budgeting, forecasting, or decision support

Full-time controller or FP&A hire

Often more than you need
  • Full salary, benefits, and recruiting costs
  • Months to find and onboard the right person
  • Usually strong in either accounting or planning, rarely both

Primex, fractional

The right amount
  • Pay for the hours you need, monthly
  • Controller and FP&A expertise from one partner
  • Works alongside your bookkeeper; no one gets replaced
  • Scales up at budget season and audit, down when it's quiet
How It Works

Simple to start. Easy to adjust.

Step 01

Free discovery call

We talk through where your finances stand today, what's taking too much time, and what you need from a finance partner. No obligation.

Step 02

Finance health check

A short, fixed-scope review of your books, close process, budget, and systems. You get a plain-language summary of what's working, what isn't, and what to fix first.

Step 03

Ongoing monthly support

Primex steps in as your part-time controller, FP&A lead, or both, on a monthly arrangement sized to your needs that you can adjust as you grow.

Results

What this work has delivered.

Results from controller and FP&A work inside real finance functions. Client details are kept confidential.

5 days
Monthly close, down from 12 days, across 34 departments
C$1.8M
Misstatement found and fixed at the root, after it had carried through multiple audits
25% → 5%
Budget-to-actual variance after redesigning a C$35M operating budget
Zero
Year-end audit adjustments from funding tracking, across 10 funding sources
01 Fractional Controller · Month-End Close From a 12-day close to 5 days
Problem

A multi-program organization with 34 departments took 12 days to close each month, so managers saw their numbers too late to act on them.

Approach

Standardized the reconciliations and automated the recurring checks (trial balance, receivables, payables) that had been done by hand every month.

Result

Close cut from 12 days to 5, freeing the team for analysis instead of catch-up.

Why it matters for a small team: a slow close is usually a process problem, not a people problem. A faster close gives you current numbers and gives your staff their time back.
02 Fractional Controller · Audit & Controls The C$1.8M error that kept coming back
Problem

A setup error in the accounting system had been posting depreciation to the wrong account for several years. Each audit corrected the result, but the error kept recurring.

Approach

Traced the error to its source, confirmed the C$1.8M figure against the auditor's own adjustments, then redesigned how asset purchases and depreciation flow through the books.

Result

The misstatement was corrected, and the cause was removed so the error can't recur.

Why it matters for a small team: audit adjustments that come back every year usually point to a setup or process problem. A controller fixes the cause so the same correction isn't needed next year.
03 Fractional FP&A · Budgeting & Systems A budget managers actually use
Problem

Budgets were collected by email with no version control, and department heads relied on Finance for every routine report.

Approach

Rebuilt the budget process inside Excel, connected live to the accounting system, so managers could see budget-vs-actual for their own programs at any time. Added a simple online budget submission tool to replace the email chain.

Result

Every department head and program manager adopted it, and budget variance fell 15% year over year.

Why it matters for a small team: the best budget tool is one people already know how to use. Building on Excel and your existing system means nothing new to buy and almost no training.
04 Fractional Controller · Grants & Funding Funding tracked well enough to pass audit cleanly
Problem

Spending across 10 funding sources was reconciled only at year-end, so issues surfaced during the audit instead of while they could still be fixed.

Approach

Designed a funding-and-spending tracker with controls that flag exceptions automatically through the year.

Result

Year-end audit adjustments from funding tracking went to zero.

Why it matters for a small team: for grant-funded organizations, tracking restricted money is a compliance requirement. Funders can claw back what you can't account for.
05 Fractional FP&A · Decision Support A second opinion before a C$85M commitment
Problem

An organization was weighing a C$85M, 109-unit property purchase based largely on the seller's figures.

Approach

Built an independent financial model, tested rent assumptions against market evidence, and applied the organization's own borrowing policy.

Result

The model showed a 3.4% return against the seller's stated 4.5%, and a property that wouldn't cover its debt payments. The pricing issue came to light before any money was committed.

Why it matters for a small team: large decisions are infrequent, so most organizations don't have modelling expertise on staff. A fractional FP&A partner gives you an independent view when you need one.
About Primex

Big-organization experience, matched to the size of your organization.

James Zhan, Principal of Primex Advisory
James Zhan, CPA
Principal, Primex Advisory

Primex is led by James Zhan, a CPA with an MBA in Finance & Strategy from Vanderbilt University and 15 years of experience across both sides of finance: controllership (closing the books, running audits, building controls) and FP&A (budgeting, forecasting, and modelling the decisions that matter).

That experience spans a C$20B+ pension plan, where he redesigned budgeting for C$35M in operating expenses and led the accounting side of a major system migration; a venture-backed startup, where he built the financial models behind a $15M Series B; high-growth global companies; investment banking; a Fortune 500 consumer goods company; and most recently a multi-program community organization with a C$80M operating budget, 270+ programs, and 10 government funding streams.

Primex brings that same experience to organizations too small to hire it full-time. You get a senior finance partner who can close your books, build your budget, present to your board, and set up systems your team will actually use, all explained in plain English. James works in English, Mandarin, and Cantonese.

CPA (Active) MBA, Vanderbilt CFA Level I English · Mandarin · Cantonese

Senior

You work directly with an experienced CPA, not a junior staffer learning on your books.

Right-sized

Pay for the hours you need. Scale up at budget season or audit, and down when it's quiet.

Plain English

Clear numbers and clear explanations your board, funders, and managers can act on.

Practical

Built on the software you already own, with nothing new to buy unless you truly need it.

Get in Touch

Let's talk about what your finances need.

Book a free, no-obligation discovery call. Tell us where things stand, and we'll tell you plainly whether a fractional controller, fractional FP&A, or a one-time project is the right fit.

Book a Free Discovery Call
Or email info@primexadvisory.com