We work as a fractional CFO on Long Island for businesses that have outgrown guesswork but cannot justify a full-time finance hire. That means a cash forecast you can plan on, margin by job or customer instead of one blended number, and someone who can sit across from a lender with you. It starts from books that reconcile, because a forecast is only as good as what it is built on.
A 13-week cash forecast, updated as the weeks roll
Margin by job or customer, not one blended percentage
Lender and IDA packages prepared, and the conversations attended
Senior finance time at a fraction of a full-time cost
The Melville office, or a working session over a forecast.
Overview
We work as a fractional CFO on Long Island for businesses that have outgrown guesswork but cannot justify a full-time finance hire. That means a cash forecast you can plan on, margin by job or customer instead of one blended number, and someone who can sit across from a lender with you. It starts from books that reconcile, because a forecast is only as good as what it is built on.
The forecast in ninety seconds
Video coming soon
How a 13-week cash forecast is built
Where each row comes from, and why a shortfall has to be visible weeks before it lands.
[confirm length once filmed]
What a fractional CFO actually does
The job is the forward view. A bookkeeper records what happened and an accountant explains it and plans the tax around it. A CFO is the person asking what happens next: whether the business can afford the hire, what the fourth truck does to cash, which work to stop taking, and what a lender will say when you ask.
At the size we work with, that is usually a few days a month, well short of a full-time role. What the owner gets is a forecast that is maintained instead of built once, a set of numbers that hold up in a diligence conversation, and somebody to think out loud with before a decision instead of after it.
The order matters. We will not build a forecast on books that do not reconcile, because every error underneath it comes through into the projection and the first bad month destroys the owner's confidence in the whole model.
The 13-week cash forecast
Thirteen weeks is the horizon that matters for a business without a treasury function. It is far enough out that a shortfall appears while you can still act on it, and near enough that the numbers are real rather than an assumption about next year.
Four rows drive it. Beginning cash is the actual bank balance the week opens with. Receipts are timed by when customers actually pay, which for most Long Island businesses is not the invoice date. Disbursements are payroll, rent, vendors, debt and taxes in the week they leave. Ending cash feeds the next week's start.
What the model buys you is time. A gap in week eight is visible in week one, which is the difference between delaying a purchase and chasing receivables on the one hand, and drawing on a line at short notice on the other.
Margin, underneath the blended number
One gross margin percentage for the whole business hides more than it shows. It mixes the work that earns with the work that only looks busy, and the owner ends up defending an average instead of managing the parts.
The fix is to get true cost onto each job or customer: labor including the employer payroll taxes, materials, subcontract cost, and the overhead that a blended number buries. Once that is in place the split is usually stark, and it changes pricing decisions the same quarter.
We also look at what a job costs to win and to service, as well as to deliver. A customer who takes three site visits to close and pays in ninety days is a different proposition from one who signs on the first quote.
Raising money on Long Island
Three lanes, and each expects a different package.
Debt. Long Island's community and national banks, plus SBA 7(a) and 504 lending. Expect financials, tax returns and projections that agree with each other, which is where most first applications come apart.
Public programs. The Nassau and Suffolk County Industrial Development Agencies handle incentives on facility and equipment projects, including sales and mortgage tax exemptions and PILOT abatements. These reward preparation and punish a rushed application.
We prepare the projections, the cap table math and the diligence support, and we sit in the conversations rather than handing you a file.
How we work with you
Monthly, on a fixed fee agreed up front. A typical month is the close, the forecast rolled forward, a short written read on what moved and what it means, and a call. Around a financing round, a lease decision or a hire, it is more contact and we say so before the month starts rather than after.
Most of our CFO clients start as bookkeeping clients, because that is the order the work has to happen in. If your books are already clean and kept by someone else, we can work alongside them.
Where Long Island businesses find capital
Three lanes, and what each one expects before it will look at you.
Each source expects its own package. The projections are the part we prepare.
What this looks like in practice
These are the situations we are typically brought in to fix on Long Island. Details are generalised, and we never publish a client's business.
1
A Hauppauge contract manufacturer
Hauppauge, Suffolk County
What we found
Growing revenue and shrinking cash, with no forecast and a line of credit drawn to its limit twice in a year, which the owner read as a sales problem.
What we did
Built a 13-week forecast off the real collection pattern, which showed customers paying at 68 days against terms of 30, and put job-level margin in place.
Where it landed
The gap was working capital, not sales. Terms tightened on two large accounts and the line came back down.
2
A Garden City professional services firm
Garden City, Nassau County
What we found
One blended margin across four service lines, and a plan to hire two more people into the line that turned out to be the least profitable.
What we did
Allocated true cost including overhead and non-billable time by service line, and rebuilt the pricing on the two weakest.
Where it landed
The hire went into a different line, and the weakest service was repriced rather than dropped.
3
A Bay Shore marine services business
Bay Shore, Suffolk County
What we found
Applying for SBA financing on an equipment purchase with three sets of figures that did not agree: the books, the tax return and a spreadsheet projection.
What we did
Reconciled the three, rebuilt the projection off the books, and prepared the package with the seasonal pattern explained rather than smoothed.
Where it landed
One consistent set of numbers, and a lender conversation about the business instead of about the discrepancies.
What it costs
A flat monthly fee, quoted from your transaction volume, your accounts, and whether you run payroll. You get the number in writing before any work starts. Catch-up work is quoted separately so it does not inflate the ongoing fee.
Basics
$250per month
Solo owners and single-location businesses under about $50k of monthly expenses.
Monthly bank and card reconciliation
Expense categorization with bank rules
Profit and loss, balance sheet, and cash flow every month
Sales tax return prepared and filed at your county rate
Ro Sokhi is a New York licensed CPA. The person who signs off on your numbers is the person who can tell you what they mean for your tax bill.
Flat monthly fee
You know the number before the month starts. No hourly meter, no surprise invoice for a phone call in March.
On Long Island, not a call center
Staffed offices in Melville and Hicksville. We will come to the shop if the shoebox is easier to hand over than to scan.
Catch-up work is normal here
Most businesses that call us are behind. Some by a quarter, some by three years. That is the job, and it is quoted separately so the monthly fee stays clean.
Our offices
Both offices are staffed. Most work happens electronically wherever you are, and the offices are there for the businesses that would rather hand something over in person.
Suffolk County Office
68 S Service Rd #100 Melville, NY 11747
On the South Service Road off the LIE, serving Suffolk County and eastern Long Island.
Sales tax rates by county.Publication 718: New York State Publication 718 lists the combined rate for every jurisdiction, including Nassau at 8.625 percent and Suffolk at 8.75 percent.
Suffolk's rate change.Sales tax rates bulletin: Suffolk raised its local rate from 4.25 to 4.375 percent effective March 1, 2025, which is why the two counties no longer match.
Clothing under $110.Publication 718-C: Publication 718-C sets out which localities exempt clothing and footwear under $110 and which continue to tax their local portion.
MCTMT employer rates.MCTMT employer rates: The payroll expense threshold and the Zone 2 bracket rates that apply to Nassau and Suffolk employers.
MCTMT if you are self-employed.0.34 percent on Zone 2 self-employment earnings: Long Island is Zone 2, where net earnings from self-employment are taxed at 0.34 percent above a threshold that rises to $150,000 for tax year 2026.
The vendor collection credit.5 percent of tax due, up to $200 a period: Quarterly and annual filers who file on time keep 5 percent of the tax due, up to $200 a period. Monthly filers and PrompTax enrollees are not eligible.
Property tax, full value rates.Overall full-value tax rates by county: New York State's overall full-value tax rates by county: Nassau $36.90 and Suffolk $18.90 per $1,000 for 2021, against $27.70 statewide outside New York City.
Long Island Innovation Park at Hauppauge.1,300 companies at the Innovation Park: HIA-LI, the park's steward, publishes the 1,300 company count cited in the capital map.
CPA licence verification.NYSED licence register: The New York State Education Department register, where any CPA licence can be checked, including ours.
Every rate on this page links to the New York State authority that publishes it. Figures are current as of the date shown above. They explain how the numbers work and are not tax advice for your situation.
HIA-LI The Innovation Park's industry association, and a route into the business community there.
Every rate on this page links to the New York State authority that publishes it. Figures are current as of the date shown above. They explain how the numbers work and are not tax advice for your situation.
Questions
How is this different from a bookkeeper or an accountant?
A bookkeeper records what happened. An accountant explains it and plans the tax around it. A CFO owns the forward view: forecasting, pricing and margin, and the financing conversations. The three build on each other, so clean books come first.
How much time does it take, and what does it cost?
Usually a few days a month, on a fixed fee agreed before we start. Around a financing round or a big decision it is more, and we tell you that before the month rather than on the invoice.
Do we have to move our bookkeeping to you?
No. Most of our CFO clients started as bookkeeping clients because that is the order the work happens in, but if your books are clean and kept by someone else we will work alongside them.
Can you help with an SBA or bank application?
Yes. We prepare the projections and the supporting package, make sure the books, the tax returns and the projection agree with each other, and attend the conversations. Disagreement between those three is the most common reason a first application stalls.
How much does a bookkeeper cost on Long Island?
Our plans start at $250 a month for a solo owner and run to $850 for a multi-entity business, set by your monthly expense volume rather than by the hour. You get the number in writing before any work starts. Independent bookkeepers on Long Island often quote hourly, which looks cheaper until a busy month arrives; a flat fee is a number you can budget.
My books are two years behind. Is that a problem?
It is the most common reason people call. We work backwards from the last filed return, rebuild the periods in between, and reconcile to the bank rather than to whatever the prior file says. You get a clean starting balance and a written list of what changed. Catch-up is quoted as a one-time project, usually one to two months of the recurring fee.
Do you file sales tax returns?
Yes, and on Long Island that matters more than most places. Nassau charges 8.625 percent and Suffolk charges 8.75 percent, so a business selling in both counties collects at two rates and has to report them separately. We register you if you are not registered, review what you are collecting, and file on whatever schedule the state has put you on.
Are you a CPA firm?
Ro Sokhi is individually licensed as a CPA in New York and leads the work. The operating entity is a business corporation and is not registered with NYSED as a public accounting firm, so we do not perform audits, reviews, or compilations. If your bank or a buyer needs assurance work we will tell you plainly and point you to a registered firm.
What is the difference between a bookkeeper and a CPA?
A bookkeeper records what happened. A CPA is licensed, can represent you before the IRS, and can tell you what the numbers mean for your tax position and your decisions. Most small businesses are sold one or the other. Here the bookkeeping is done to a standard a CPA is willing to sign off on, and the same person handles the return.
Do you work with QuickBooks, or do I have to switch?
QuickBooks Online for most clients, and Xero where a business is already on it. We do not force a migration for its own sake. If you are on spreadsheets, a shoebox, or a system your last bookkeeper set up badly, that is a normal starting point and we will move you when moving is worth it.
How long does it take to get started?
A first call takes about twenty minutes and a quote follows the same day. Once you accept, we need read-only access to your bank and card feeds and your last filed return. Most businesses are fully onboarded inside two weeks; a business needing catch-up work takes longer, and we tell you how much longer before you commit.
Do we have to meet in person?
Only if you want to. Most clients send documents electronically and talk to us on a call. The Melville and Hicksville offices are there for the businesses that would rather hand over a box of receipts than scan them, and for anyone who wants to meet the person doing the work before handing over the books.
Can you handle payroll as well as the books?
Yes. We process payroll, file the NYS-45, and track the MCTMT, which applies here because Nassau and Suffolk are inside the Metropolitan Commuter Transportation District. We also review worker classification, because contractors who work like employees are the payroll issue New York challenges most often.
What happens if I get a letter from New York State or the IRS?
Send it to us the day it arrives. Most notices are routine and are resolved with a reconciliation and a reply. Ro is a CPA and holds unlimited representation rights before the IRS, so if a notice turns into something more, you are not looking for help at that point.
Are you taking new clients right now?
Yes. We keep the client list small enough that the same person reviews your file every month, so there are periods when onboarding runs a few weeks out, and we tell you that on the first call rather than after you sign.
