CFO consulting for asset managers and fund managers.
The financial function that sits distinct from fund administration; covering management company finances, fee mechanics, investor reporting, audit coordination, and the senior financial oversight that bridges the administrator and the limited partner.
A CFO without the headcount cost.
Most emerging managers cannot justify a full-time CFO at $50–250M AUM. Most cannot operate well without one either. The result is a founder-PM stretched across investment work and finance work, an administrator producing outputs that nobody reviews, and an annual audit that arrives as a fire-drill.
Our CFO consulting closes that gap. We act as your CFO across the recurring decisions — NAV review, fee mechanics, investor reporting, manco finance, audit coordination — without joining your headcount. Where an in-house CFO would be touching the work daily, we touch it weekly or monthly with a senior reviewer. The decisions still get made; the cost base stays sustainable.
We work alongside your existing administrator, auditor, prime broker, and bank; not in place of them. The CFO function is additive: it is the layer that validates, challenges, and communicates the work the others produce.
What CFO consulting covers.
A representative scope. Specific engagements vary by fund structure, AUM, and existing in-house capability.
- 01Management company financial reporting
Manco P&L, expense allocation, partner distribution mechanics, and quarterly management accounts. The GP entity gets the same financial discipline as the fund.
- 02NAV review & administrator oversight
Independent review of the administrator's NAV computation, including pricing, fees, accruals, and capital activity. Exceptions surfaced and resolved before the NAV is final.
- 03Management fee & performance fee mechanics
Detailed review of fee computations against LPA and PPM language: high-water mark, hurdle, catch-up, equalization (series vs. equalization adjustment), crystallization timing, redemption fees.
- 04Investor reporting & LP communications
Quarterly capital statements, transparency reports, side-letter compliance tracking, annual investor letters, and ad-hoc LP data request handling.
- 05Capital call & distribution mechanics
Closed-end fund mechanics: capital call notices, drawdown sequencing, distribution waterfalls (European vs American), recallable capital handling, and LP-level economics.
- 06Audit coordination
Both manco audit and fund audit. PBC list management, audit query response, technical position drafting, and direct coordination with the audit partner so you are not the messenger.
- 07Tax compliance — manco & partners
UAE corporate tax for the management company, tax position drafting for partners, and coordination with cross-border tax advisors for non-UAE-resident principals.
- 08Treasury & bank relationship management
Manco bank relationships, FX hedging operations review, cash flow forecasting, and capital adequacy monitoring against regulatory minimums.
- 09Financial KPIs & AUM tracking
Monthly manco dashboards: AUM by strategy, fee revenue, expense run-rate, partner distributions, and cash burn. The numbers founder-PMs need to see and rarely have time to build.
Two cadences, one judgment.
Most CFO consulting work falls into one of two patterns. Both are sold as consulting engagements with fixed scope and clear deliverables.
Discrete project engagement
A specific scope with a defined output. Examples: comprehensive fee-mechanics review against LPA, audit-readiness remediation before year-end, manco financial reporting framework build, investor reporting infrastructure build, transition to a new administrator.
Typical duration: 4-12 weeks. Fixed-fee.
Ongoing CFO retainer
Recurring monthly engagement covering the recurring CFO calendar: monthly manco accounts review, monthly NAV validation, quarterly investor reporting, quarterly fee computation review, annual audit coordination, ad-hoc support across the year.
Typical structure: Monthly retainer with annual review. Sized by fund complexity.
Common questions on CFO consulting.
How is CFO consulting different from fund administration?+
Fund administration handles the books and records of the fund itself, including striking NAV, processing capital activity, and producing the financials. CFO consulting sits one layer above. It covers the management company finance function (manco P&L, partner economics), reviews and validates the work the administrator produces, designs investor reporting and fee mechanics, and acts as the financial counterpart for auditors, banks, and limited partners. Most managers require both, served by different parties.
Does Fundtec replace the existing fund administrator?+
No. Fundtec works alongside the manager's existing administrator, including Apex, Citco, IQ-EQ, Waystone, Trident, or any other. Where the administrator's role ends, with a struck NAV and capital statements, the CFO function picks up: validating the output, coordinating with auditors and banks, building investor communications, and managing manco finances. The firm is administrator-neutral and does not take referral fees from any of them.
Does Fundtec advise on management and performance fee mechanics?+
Yes. Fee mechanics is one of the most under-attended areas in emerging manager finance. Fundtec reviews the LPA and PPM logic against actual administrator computations, including high-water mark application, hurdle and catch-up clauses, equalisation (series accounting vs. equalisation credit/debit), crystallisation timing, and redemption-fee handling. Disagreements between LPA wording and administrator implementation are common; the firm surfaces and resolves them.
Can Fundtec support investor reporting and LP communications?+
Yes. Quarterly capital statements, transparency reports, side-letter compliance tracking, ad-hoc LP data requests, and annual letter drafting are all within scope. The firm also builds the underlying data infrastructure so that reporting becomes repeatable rather than recreated each quarter.
How do CFO consulting engagements work in practice?+
Two cadences. Discrete projects, including fee mechanics review, audit preparation, or investor reporting build, are scoped and priced as fixed-fee engagements. Ongoing CFO support is a monthly retainer covering management accounts review, NAV validation, fee computation review, audit coordination, treasury oversight, and direct LP-facing support. Most clients begin with a discrete project and move to retainer once the framework is in place.
What is the typical engagement size?+
Fundtec works primarily with managers between USD 50 million and USD 750 million AUM. Below USD 50 million, the CFO function can usually be handled by the founder-PM and an administrator until growth justifies the spend. Above USD 750 million, managers typically have an in-house CFO and engage Fundtec only for specific projects, including fee mechanics review, transitions, or system implementations.
A second look at the fund finance setup.
A discovery call carries no obligation. Most emerging managers leave it with a clearer view of what is working, what is not, and what would matter at the next ODD.