This page sits under every other page. It names the owner we were built for.
Steven Palmieri is the Entrepreneur's CFO for owners who still sign for the business, because your finances and the company's finances are still one loop. You are the guarantor on the loan, the person who lends the company cash when it runs short, and the manager who signs every check. We start with your owner file, keep the company's books clean, put a controller on the month, and then do the CFO work you actually wanted.
Three different lines get mixed up, and they are not the same thing. This page keeps them straight so you can tell whether you fit.
The first line is our client-fit line. We work with owners under ten million dollars of revenue, before the first full-time controller. That is not a legal cutoff. It is the size where most owners still are the finance function. Hiring guides often place a full-time controller around ten million and a full-time CFO much higher, so if you are before that hire you are in the band this practice was built for.
The second line is a tax-method line, and it is not a reason to hire us. For tax years that begin in 2026, the IRS small-business receipts test is a three-year average of thirty-two million dollars. For 2025 that average was thirty-one million. If you meet the test, and you are not a tax shelter, the tax code lets many companies use the cash method and skip extra inventory-cost rules. We mention that number only when we talk about how you may keep the books for tax. It does not mean you must keep GAAP books, and it does not mean you have outgrown us. It is about three times our client-fit line, and companies at that size often already have a finance team.
The third line is the SBA guarantee rule, and it is not a revenue cutoff at all. If you own twenty percent or more of the company, an SBA lender will almost always ask you to guarantee the loan in your own name. The bank reads you before it reads revenue, which is why the owner foundation comes first on this site.
A typical fractional CFO prints a floor well below ten million. Some start near five hundred thousand. Some start at one or two million. A Dallas Fort Worth firm says the math rarely supports their product under two million. Almost none of them start with your personal credit, your personal taxes, or the personal financial statement a lender asks for by name. They start where you are trying to get to. We start where you are.
If your business can run without you financially, you do not need us. If it still needs you, that is who we serve.
We do not do, and you probably do not need, audits, compilations, or GAAP reports. What you need is clean numbers and a clear picture.
Sources
All accessed 2026-09-14.
1. G3CFO, "When to Hire Your First Controller" (updated 2024-06-12). g3cfo.com
2. Frontline Source Group, "How to Hire a Controller or CFO." frontlinesourcegroup.com
3. Rev. Proc. 2025-32, section 4.30 (thirty-two million for years beginning in 2026). irs.gov
4. IRC § 448(c), § 471(c), § 263A(i). law.cornell.edu
5. 13 CFR § 120.160(a). law.cornell.edu
6. SBA SOP 50 10 8.1, Section A, Chapter 5, Paragraph A (effective 2026-10-01). sba.gov
7. Named-firm floors from each firm's own site. sdocpa.com · localfractional.com · theprocfo.com · bennettfinancials.com