Virtual CFO & Compliance services

An accountant records what happened. A virtual CFO also owns what happens next — forecasting, runway, budget-versus-actual, and the compliance calendar — and is accountable for it landing on time. In practice most companies still need a bookkeeper for daily entries; the virtual CFO function sits above that and owns the output.

The market spans a wide band depending on transaction volume, payroll size and whether statutory filings are included. We scope first and quote against that scope, because a pre-revenue company and one running a 60-person payroll need very different engagements.

Not from day one. It becomes worth it when investors start asking for monthly numbers, when payroll and GST filings are consuming founder time, or when nobody can answer how many months of runway remain without building a spreadsheet first.

Yes, and it is a common starting point. We reconcile the opening position, list everything outstanding, and tell you plainly what it will take to get current before we begin the ongoing cycle.

Yes — [AOC-4](/compliance/aoc-4/), [MGT-7](/compliance/mgt-7/), [ADT-1](/compliance/adt-1/), [DIR-3 KYC](/compliance/dir-3-kyc/), [DPT-3](/compliance/dpt-3/) and event-based forms are part of the engagement, tracked against the [ROC filing calendar](/compliance/roc-filing-due-dates/). Every one of them has a plain-language guide on this site so you can see the rule we are filing against.

We take a copy of the books, reconcile the opening trial balance against bank statements and GST filings, and flag any mismatch before the ongoing cycle starts. Your existing bookkeeper can stay on for data entry if you want — we can work above that layer instead of replacing it.

You do. We prepare the return, the computation and the supporting schedule; your authorised signatory or director signs and files it, or authorises us to file on the company's behalf where the portal allows an authorised representative. We do not hold signing authority over your funds or file anything without your sign-off.

Read or operator access to accounting software and the relevant GST/income-tax/MCA portals — never your net-banking credentials or payment authority, which stay with you throughout. Access is scoped to what the engagement needs and reviewed at handover if the engagement ends.

We list every outstanding filing and payment during the transition, quantify the late fee or interest exposure honestly, and file in priority order — starting with whatever is accruing penalty fastest. It is a common starting point, not a disqualifying one.

The scope is reviewed as headcount, transaction volume or entity count changes — a payroll of five and a payroll of fifty are different engagements, and a second entity means consolidated MIS rather than a second spreadsheet. We rescope rather than let deliverables quietly drop.

Yes — chart of accounts, software configuration, approval workflows for spend and payroll, and access controls are part of the scope where none of that exists yet. It is the same groundwork we would need to run the function well, so it is built once rather than retrofitted later.