Fractional CFO & Money Movement
If you pay the bills today, what gets tight tomorrow?
Cash flow should not feel like a guessing game. You need to know what is coming in, what is going out, and what that means for payroll, partner draws, and the decisions you make every day. We build the system that gives you those answers.
You are making financial decisions in the dark.
"Can I take a draw this month?"
You think so. The bank account looks fine. But you are not sure what is hitting next week. So you take less than you should, or more than you should, and find out later which one it was.
"Can we make payroll if this settlement gets delayed?"
Two big receivables are pending. Payroll is Friday. Your operating account is thinner than you would like. Nobody can tell you the actual number, so you hold your breath.
"Are we actually profitable or just busy?"
Billable hours are up. Revenue looks strong. But the bills keep piling up and the account balance does not reflect the effort. Something is leaking but you cannot find it.
"What happens if I hire one more associate?"
The work is there. But you have no model for what that hire costs fully loaded or how many months until they are producing enough to cover themselves. So the decision stalls.
These are not CFO problems. These are the questions every firm owner is already asking.
We help build reporting that answers them. What is safe to pay right now? What needs to wait? What is getting tight? What needs attention before it becomes a problem?
The goal is not more reports. The goal is reports you will actually use.
You went to law school, not finance school.
Somewhere along the way, the managing partner became the de facto CFO. You are approving invoices, managing payroll timing, juggling trust disbursements, and trying to figure out if the firm can afford to grow. That is not your highest and best use. Every hour you spend playing finance is an hour you are not billing.
"I spend 10 hours a week on things that are not practicing law."
Reviewing bills, approving payments, reconciling what the bookkeeper did, answering payroll questions. You have become the controller by default.
"I think we need to hire a controller."
Maybe. But a qualified controller who has actually worked inside a law firm? That is a $120,000 to $160,000 hire before benefits. And even then, they have probably never dealt with IOLTA compliance or trust accounting rules specific to your state.
"We hired someone and they cannot fix the software."
You expected them to clean up Clio or Smokeball, get the billing data flowing into QuickBooks correctly, and create reports that make sense. But they came from a different industry. They are learning on your dime and making mistakes on your trust accounts.
"I just want someone to tell me the number."
Can I take a $30,000 draw and still cover everything next month? Can we afford the new associate? Should we invest in that marketing push or wait? You want a straight answer from someone who already knows where all the money is.
A controller costs $120,000 to $160,000. And most firms don't need a CFO.
Most law firms under $10M in revenue are not ready for a full-time CFO and do not need one. What they need is someone who can manage the money, pay the bills, handle trust disbursements, and give the managing partner clear financial answers. That is a controller. And a qualified one costs $120,000 to $160,000 before benefits, payroll taxes, and the overhead of managing another employee. Or you can outsource the entire function.
A person. A salary. A learning curve.
$120K to $160K+ for a real controller
At $70K, you get a bookkeeper who calls themselves a controller. At $120K+, you get generic experience. Add 30% for benefits and overhead.
They have probably never worked in a law firm or your software
Trust account compliance, IOLTA rules, earned vs. unearned revenue, contingency fee timing. This is not general industry accounting. The learning curve is steep and the mistakes are expensive.
They still need a CPA for tax and compliance
So now you have two vendors, an employee, and yourself trying to coordinate between three people who do not share the same data or the same process.
Software becomes your problem again
You expected them to fix the Clio-to-QuickBooks pipeline. But they came from manufacturing or healthcare. Your practice management system is foreign to them.
You are still the decision maker of last resort
When something does not reconcile, when trust is off, when the payroll account is short, it comes back to you. The hire did not eliminate the problem. It just added a salary.
A team. A process. End to end.
Fractional CFO and money movement from one team
Strategic advisory, cash flow forecasting, bill pay, trust disbursements, payroll, and financial reporting. One engagement. One monthly fee. No coordination headaches.
We have done this inside law firms of every size
From 40-attorney regional practices to 450+ attorney national firms. We understand how partner compensation flows, how trust accounts work, and how pressure moves through your business.
CPA, accounting, and advisory under one roof
Your books, your tax planning, your money movement, and your strategic reporting all share the same data and the same team. Nothing falls between the cracks.
We already know your software
Clio, Smokeball, LeanLaw, MyCase, Filevine. We work inside these every day. We do not need training on your tech stack. We leverage it from day one.
You get your time back
Every hour you stop spending on financial operations is an hour you can bill. That is not a soft benefit. That is revenue.
Every dollar in. Every dollar out.
We manage the complete flow of money through your firm. Inflows, outflows, trust disbursements, payroll, vendor payments, and the cash flow reporting that ties it all together.
Vendor payments processed on time, every time
We handle your firm's bill pay on your agreed schedule. No missed payments. No damaged vendor relationships. No managing partner reviewing invoices at 10pm.
Client fund releases with full documentation
We initiate approved trust account disbursements on your agreed terms. Every release is documented, reconciled, and compliant with your state's trust accounting rules.
Employee payroll and partner draws managed
Payroll scheduling, partner compensation draws, guaranteed payments, and year-end allocation modeling. You tell us the numbers. We execute the process and track the tax impact.
Real-time oversight of every account
We track inflows (client payments, retainers, settlements) and outflows (expenses, payroll, draws) across all firm accounts. You will always know what is available, what is committed, and what is coming.
Estimated vs. actually billed, reconciled monthly
We evaluate total estimated billable charges against what was actually billed to clients. Expenses your firm advanced but never invoiced are flagged and recovered before they become permanent losses.
Scenario planning for the decisions ahead
Hiring, expansion, new practice areas, case volume fluctuations. We model the financial impact of the choices you are weighing so you can move forward with real numbers, not gut feelings.
A CFO who cannot use your software is not a CFO.
Your practice management system is where revenue starts, where trust accounting lives, and where billable data originates. If the person managing your money cannot work inside that system, they are working from a copy of a copy. We work from the source.
75% of law firms under $10M revenue run on one of five platforms. These are the systems we work inside every day.
Reports you will actually use.
The goal is not a thicker packet of financial statements. The goal is answers. We build reporting around the decisions you are actually making.
Weekly cash position summary
What is in the bank. What is committed. What is expected. What is safe to spend.
Monthly spending allocation
Where your money is going, broken down by category. Not a general ledger dump. A clear picture of how the firm spends.
Realization and collection rates
How much you bill, how much gets collected, and where the gap is. By attorney, by practice area, by matter type.
Partner draw impact modeling
Before you take a draw, see what it does to the firm's cash position and tax obligation. No guessing.
Growth scenario planning
What does it cost to add an associate? When do they become profitable? What happens to cash flow during the ramp?
"The goal is not more reports. The goal is reports you will actually use."
We meet with you weekly to review what matters. Not a data dump. A conversation about your firm's financial position, what is safe, what needs attention, and what decisions are ahead. We show you how you are spending your money and what to expect as your firm grows.
A fraction of the cost. All of the function.
Advisory and money movement layered onto your accounting engagement.
Our advisory and money movement services stack on top of our accounting foundation. Your engagement grows with your firm. Here is what that looks like:
Accounting + Tax
Monthly bookkeeping, trust administration, tax preparation, compliance oversight, and a dedicated CPA team. Starting at $950/month.
+ Money Movement + Advisory
Everything in Foundation plus accounts payable, trust disbursements, payroll, cash flow monitoring, profitability forecasting, and weekly advisory meetings.
Our full-service engagements with law firms typically range between $2,500 and $10,000 per month depending on firm size and scope. Following our first call, we build a quote specific to your firm.
"Having Knight as a resource has been extremely valuable for strategic planning regarding big-picture financial outlook decisions as well as streamlining day-to-day business and accounting functions. Knight has enabled us to focus more on the legal work we want to be doing and essentially outsourcing what used to be accounting and financial headaches."