What a Fractional CFO Actually Does for a Growing Business
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Fractional CFO Linda Rossouw spent 35 years in corporate finance before starting LaRoss Consulting — a business that gives growing companies senior financial strategy at a fraction of the cost of a full-time CFO. In this episode of Meet My Business she talks with Hendrik Baird about what “fractional” really means, why cash flow is the number one problem she sees in every business she touches, and how she reads a set of financial statements like a story.
She’s honest about the leap: the loneliness of going solo after decades in corporate, the early months of doubt, and how networking changed everything. She walks through her process from first meeting to 13-week cash flow forecast, and shares the engagements that remind her why she left. A clear, grounded look at the financial help most businesses don’t know they need.
She’s honest about the leap: the loneliness of going solo after decades in corporate, the early months of doubt, and how networking changed everything. She walks through her process from first meeting to 13-week cash flow forecast, and shares the engagements that remind her why she left. A clear, grounded look at the financial help most businesses don’t know they need.
Chapters
- 00:00 Cold open — a full order book, no sales
- 01:04 Welcome & who is Linda Rossouw
- 01:47 A typical day
- 02:29 How she ended up in this industry
- 04:11 What the people closest to her say she does
- 04:33 The problem nobody else was looking at
- 05:29 The early days — and how green she was
- 06:21 Discovering networking and building a website
- 07:32 The moment she thought of giving up
- 08:44 What she wishes she'd known: the loneliness of going solo
- 09:40 What surprised her most: her own resilience
- 10:49 What a fractional CFO actually is
- 12:02 Her ideal client
- 13:18 The process, from first contact to engagement
- 15:39 What makes her different
- 16:41 The biggest misconception: she's not a bookkeeper
- 18:12 The number one problem: cash flow
- 20:20 What changes for a client: clarity and certainty
- 21:47 Succession planning and exit strategy
- 23:41 What she wants people to say about her
- 24:30 Her best outcome: the live system migration
- 27:36 What you lose without a fractional CFO
- 28:32 How the opening story is playing out
- 31:17 Is this a typical engagement?
- 32:56 The reward beyond getting paid
- 34:32 Where to find her
- 35:32 Final advice for a struggling business
