FAQ
Questions owners ask.
About Prism Edge, fractional CFO work, selling your business, and AI for finance teams.
General
What does Prism Edge do?
Prism Edge is a finance firm for growing companies and the owners who build them. We provide fractional CFO leadership, sell-side M&A advisory for owners selling a company or doing a private equity recap, and AI for finance teams.
Who do you work with?
Growing companies that need senior finance leadership before they need a full-time CFO, and owners of businesses with $2M to $25M in earnings who are preparing to sell. We work with companies across the United States.
How do I get started?
Get in touch through the contact page, or take one of our free scorecards first: the CFO readiness scorecard or the exit readiness scorecard. Both take a few minutes and give you results right away.
Fractional CFO
What does a fractional CFO do?
A fractional CFO gives you senior finance leadership part-time: closing the books on schedule, reporting you can trust, a forecast that stays current, input when money is being committed, and board, investor and lender work. You get the judgment of a CFO without the cost of a full-time hire.
When do you need a fractional CFO instead of a bookkeeper?
A bookkeeper records what happened. You need a CFO when you have to decide what happens next: raising money, taking on debt, hiring ahead of revenue, pricing, or preparing for a board or a sale. If you can't make those decisions confidently from your numbers, it's time.
How does an engagement start?
With a fixed-fee 30-day diagnostic: the state of your books, your cash position, the biggest risks and opportunities, and a recommendation on the level of support that fits. You see the work before you commit to a retainer.
Is bookkeeping included?
Yes. Bookkeeping is included through our partner bookkeeping team. If you already have a bookkeeper or accounting team you like, we can work with them instead. Cleanups, model builds, system migrations and raise support are scoped separately.
What size companies do you work with?
Growing companies that have outgrown bookkeeping but don't need a full-time CFO yet, typically between $2M and $20M in revenue.
M&A Advisory
What size businesses do you advise on a sale?
Owners of businesses with $2M to $25M in earnings and $20M to $150M in revenue. We are industry agnostic.
What is a private equity recap?
A recapitalization lets an owner sell part of the company to a private equity firm, take cash off the table now, and keep a stake for a second payday when the business is sold again.
Can you advise on a stock sale, not just an asset sale?
Yes. A sale is usually structured as either an asset sale or a stock sale, and we advise on both. Where a transaction involves the sale of stock, it is handled together with our broker-dealer partners.
Do I need to be sale-ready before I talk to an advisor?
No. Gaps in financial clarity, reporting or owner dependence put value at risk, but closing them is part of what a good advisor does. Our free exit readiness scorecard shows where you stand in a few minutes.
What does the sale process look like?
Preparation, marketing to the right strategic buyers, negotiation, and close. The goal is a competitive process, so you aren't left taking the first fair offer.
AI for Finance
What does AI for finance actually mean?
Putting AI to work on the repetitive parts of accounting and finance: posting transactions, reconciling, building reports and models, and auditing spend. People stay in charge of judgment and approvals.
Does AI replace my accounting team?
No. It takes the hours out of routine work so your team spends its time on review and decisions. Every entry can still require a human approval.
How do you keep the numbers right once AI is involved?
Controls come first. We design checks and approval steps into every workflow so errors are caught before they reach the books.
What have you automated for clients?
More than 1,000 invoices a month posted to QuickBooks automatically with every entry approved, and a multi-entity opex audit cut from several days to two hours.