A virtual CFO who has stood on the shop floor, for manufacturing companies.
Costing that reflects how the plant actually runs, working capital that stops funding the customer, bank limits sized to the cycle, and capex decisions with a payback someone will be held to. Fractional CFO services for Indian manufacturers of ₹10–200 crore turnover.
Sales grow, the plant is busy, and cash keeps getting tighter.
Manufacturers are profitable on the P&L and starved on the bank statement more often than any other business type we see. The reasons are structural: customers pay in 60–120 days, suppliers want 30, raw material sits for 45, and every growth step needs more of all three. Costing done on last year's standard rates hides which products are actually losing money.
The accounts team is good at recording what happened. What the promoter needs is someone to say which SKU to stop quoting, which customer's terms are eating the margin, how much stock is dead, and what the bank will say in March. That is CFO work, and it does not need a full-time CFO.
Our founder's 25 years were spent in oilfield services, energy and data businesses with plants, warehouses and field operations across 30 countries. The same discipline, applied to an Indian MSME manufacturer, is what this engagement delivers.
Signs this is your plant
- Costing uses standard rates nobody has updated in two years
- Finished-goods stock grows faster than sales
- The CC limit is exhausted and the bank is asking for more collateral
- A large customer's terms moved from 45 to 90 days and nobody repriced
- Capex is approved on the machine's quote, not on a payback
How a virtual CFO works inside a manufacturing business.
- 01
Costing rebuilt from the bill of materials
Product-wise contribution after actual material yield, scrap, rework, power, consumables and tooling amortisation. Overheads allocated on drivers the plant recognises. The result is a ranked list of what earns and what drains, and a pricing file for the next negotiation.
- 02
Working capital by line, with owners
Debtor terms by customer, inventory norms by category from consumption data, supplier terms negotiated with cash-discount arithmetic. Each line has a target, an owner and a weekly number. Dead and slow stock is identified and liquidated.
- 03
Bank limits and cost of debt
Stock statements and drawing power done properly, CMA and renewal packs that read well to a credit team, and limits restructured so working capital funds the cycle and term loans fund the machines. Interest cost usually falls by 100–250 basis points.
- 04
Capex and capacity decisions
Every machine, line or plant appraised on contribution per hour of capacity, payback and the cash it needs during ramp-up. Government schemes and incentives (PLI, state packages, MSME credit guarantees) checked and claimed where they apply.
Plant-level MIS and a cash discipline that holds.
Concrete deliverables, owned by named people, on a fixed monthly fee.
Monthly
- Management accounts with plant and product margins
- 13-week cash forecast and bank position
- Debtor, inventory and creditor dashboards
- Variance against budget with commentary
- Review with the promoter and plant head
Structural
- Costing model linked to the ERP
- Inventory norms and reorder policy
- Capex appraisal template and approval limits
- Bank renewal and limit-enhancement pack
- ERP and MIS redesign where the system cannot report margin
What manufacturers typically see.
Shown as ranges across comparable, anonymised engagements. Your numbers depend on your starting point.
Ranges across anonymised engagements with engineering, auto-component, chemical, textile and food-processing units. Outcomes depend on the starting point and on the promoter acting on the numbers.
Related pages and tools.
Virtual CFO for manufacturing: common questions
Which manufacturing sectors do you work with?
Engineering and auto components, chemicals and intermediates, textiles and garments, plastics and packaging, food processing and contract manufacturing, mostly in the ₹10–200 crore range. The finance problems are similar; the costing drivers differ, and we build the model around yours.
Our costing is in Tally. Is that enough?
Tally records transactions well but rarely reports product margin after yield, scrap and overheads. We usually start with a costing model outside the system, linked to the trial balance, and move it into the ERP once the business trusts it. If a system change is needed, our ERP advisory handles it.
Can a virtual CFO deal with our bank?
Yes, and it is often the fastest return in the engagement. We prepare the stock statements, CMA data and renewal pack, attend the meeting with you, and negotiate limits and pricing with the numbers in hand. Your relationship with the bank stays yours.
How is this different from a cost accountant?
A cost accountant builds the costing. A CFO decides what to do with it: which products to reprice, which customers to re-term, which machine to buy and how to fund it, and then holds the plant to the plan every month. We do both, in that order.
Find out where your plant's cash and margin are hiding.
Book a 30-minute strategy call. Bring last year's product-wise sales and the current stock statement and we will show you the first three numbers we would change.