Build a Clear Roadmap for Profitable Growth with a fractional CFO Dubai
Financial Strategy and Business Planning, Scale Smart, Not Just Fast
Growing fast is good. Growing in the right direction, with the right margins, and the right resources, that's better.
A CFO doesn't just produce numbers. They translate your ambition into a quantified action plan, identify profitability levers, and help you make the right trade-offs before they're forced upon you. That what we believe.
At DHAC, we support business leaders who want to steer their growth with method, not navigate by sight hoping the numbers will follow.
Contact usUnderstanding Your Business with DHAC CFO
(Step 1, for any CFO)
1. Clarify Your Strategic Intent
Where do you want to take this company in 3 years? 5 years? Market maturity, organic growth, consolidation, new markets? Geographic expansion or product diversification?
These questions aren't philosophical, they determine everything else: the resources needed, the acceptable level of risk, the priority investments.
3. Conduct a Strategic Diagnosis (SWOT)
Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats, a classic exercise, but one we anchor in numbers. A market opportunity is good. An opportunity you can finance and execute with current resources is something else. Can we turn a weakness into a strength? Or a risk into an opportunity?
5. Define Your Strategic KPIs
Which indicators really matter for your business? Not a list of 50 metrics, but 5 to 10 KPIs that, if you track them, tell you whether you're on the right trajectory.
We define them together, based on your sector, your stage of development, and what truly drives your performance.
2. Analyze Your Business Model
What are your revenue drivers? Your fixed vs variable costs?
We challenge the obvious, because margins are often not where you think they are.
4. Implement Cost Accounting
If you operate multiple activities, services, or markets, you need to know what each one truly generates. Not just a global P&L, a segment-level reading that enables informed decisions (latest blog article)
Result of this phase:
A shared vision of where you stand, where you want to go, and the financial levers to activate to get there.
Trust is established with DHAC and we become an engaged, professional, and external partner guaranteeing a high level of confidentiality.
Profitability analysis by segment with a DHAC Fractional CFO
(Step 2 with DHAC External-CFO)
Once the analytical structure is in place, we can move to the real questions: which segments, services, or clients truly contribute to your profitability? And which ones consume resources without generating enough?
1. Profitability Analysis by Segment
Revenue by activity is a start. But what matters is the contribution margin of each segment once direct costs and a share of indirect costs are allocated.
A service that represents 40% of your revenue but only 15% of your margin deserves attention,
3. Resource Consumption Analysis
Each segment mobilizes resources: time, team, tools, space. We map this consumption to understand the true cost of each activity. A service "profitable on paper" can turn out to be loss-making when you count the actual time spent by your teams. Who are your main partners, what are their prices? The evolution of these prices? Should you negotiate discounts (loyalty, volumes, alternatives?)
4. Identifying Optimization Levers
How to optimize?
Should we change sales priorities? Should we keep less profitable segments? Cross-selling opportunities? Reallocation of resources toward higher-margin segments. Discontinuation or restructuring of offers that don't work.
2. Pricing Review
Do your prices reflect the value delivered? Do they truly cover your costs, including time spent, hidden costs, unbilled extras?
We identify possible adjustments. Sometimes it's an increase. Sometimes it's restructuring the offer. Sometimes it's accepting to lose an unprofitable client.
Result of this phase:
A clear vision of your actual profitability by activity, pricing adjustments to consider, and a first list of decisions to make on resource allocation.
From Solid Assumptions to an Actionable Plan
(Step 3, reach your goals with DHAC fractional CFO)
The analysis is done. We know where you stand, what works, what works less. Now we build, not in a vacuum, but on clear foundations.
1. Formalize Assumptions
Every projection rests on assumptions. The problem is when they remain implicit, in the leader's head, never challenged, never written down. We put them on the table: expected market growth, price evolution, hiring capacity, payment terms, conversion rates, seasonality.
Every important assumption is documented, discussed, and owned.
3. Build the Operational Budget
The budget is the translation of your strategy into numbers for the next 12 months. Expected revenue by segment, by month. Direct and indirect costs. Planned investments. Hires. We go to the level of detail that allows you to steer — not a frozen Excel spreadsheet forgotten by February, but a living decision tool.
Result of this phase:
A structured operational budget, explicit and challenged assumptions, and depending on your needs, a medium-term strategic plan that serves as a compass for your decisions
2. Cross-Reference with Opportunities and Risks
Assumptions don't live alone. We confront them with your SWOT: does this 20% growth account for a new competitor entering? This new service, do we have the in-house skills to launch it? This client representing 30% of revenue, what happens if they leave? We identify scenarios that would change the game, for better or worse and factor them into the plan. This is what will help understand gaps between the desired trajectory.
4. Or Go Further: The 3-Year Strategic Plan
Some entrepreneurs need to see further ahead. Because of the nature of their business (long-term projects, longer cycles) or because they're preparing a fundraise. Because they're considering expansion. In that case, we build a medium-term plan: revenue and margin trajectory, key milestones, financing needs, exit scenarios. It's a roadmap that guides today's decisions if needed.
Model Scenarios
(Step 4, make Trade-offs Methodically when Resources are Limited with DHAC part-time CFO)
A plan is good. But the reality is you can't do everything. Not at the same time, not with the same resources. Develop a new service, hire a sales team, invest in production equipment, open a new market, each option has a different cost, risk, and return potential.
This is where scenario modeling becomes essential.
1. Build Comparable Scenarios
We don't compare intuitions, we compare numbers. For each strategic option considered, we model the financial impact: required investment, time to return, effect on cash flow, risk in case of failure. Same methodology, same base assumptions, so the comparison makes sense.
3. Inform Trade-offs
In the end, you decide. But you decide with a clear view of the implications of each choice. "If we launch this product now, we postpone hiring by 6 months." "If we invest in this tool, we improve margin by 3 points starting year 2."
These explicit trade-offs make the difference between growth that happens to you and growth you control.
Result of this phase:
Quantified scenarios for your main strategic options, a clear view of the trade-offs to make, and if needed, a financial model ready to present to investors or banks.
2. Test Sensitivity
What happens if growth is 20% below expectations? If hiring takes 6 months longer? If the main client reduces orders? We test key variables to understand where the real risks lie, and at what point a scenario goes from "tight but manageable" to "critical."
4. Prepare Dialogue with Investors
If you're looking for funds, equity or debt, investors will want to see exactly this: scenarios, clear assumptions, an understanding of risks.
Not an optimistic business plan on PowerPoint, but a model that shows you know where you're going and what could go wrong. That's what builds trust.
Ready to Structure Your Growth?
You have ambition. You have a running business. What you might be missing is the financial structure to reach the next level , without navigating blind.
Surround yourself with real expert who demonstrates previous achievements.
What we offer:
A first 30-minute conversation to understand where you are and what you need. No sales pitch, a conversation between professionals.
Indicatives rates for Fractional CFO with DHAC
- CFO monthly package from AED 5000 / month
- One off assignment : AED 800 / hours
- (start up offer : 600 AED / hours)
Frequently Asked Questions About Financial Planning SME Dubai
A fractional CFO (or CFO on demand) brings senior financial expertise without the cost of a full-time position. For strategic planning, this means: building solid budgets, scenario modeling, profitability analysis by segment, and an external perspective that challenges your assumptions. You get a financial sparring partner when you need one.
The budget is operational: it covers the next 12 months, with monthly detail on revenues, costs, and investments.
The strategic plan takes a step back: it projects the company over 3 to 5 years, defines key milestones, financing needs, and major directions. Both are complementary, the plan gives direction, the budget translates the first step into concrete actions.
It depends on the complexity of your business and the quality of available data. For an SME with clean accounting, expect 3 to 4 weeks for a complete operational budget and initial scenario modeling. If cost accounting needs to be set up first, add 2 to 3 weeks.
Both. A startup in fundraising phase needs a solid financial model to convince investors. An established company needs to steer its profitability and make investment trade-offs. The method is the same, the level of detail and assumptions adapt to your stage.
We don't replace your accountant, we work with them. The accountant handles entries, filings, compliance. The CFO uses that data to build analyses, projections, and steering tools. If your accounting is properly maintained, that's the foundation we build on. If it needs restructuring (especially for cost accounting), we support you on that as well.
We offer also digital accounting, bookkeeping or training your staff for it, contact us for more information.
CFO on demand, fractional CFO, part-time CFO : these are different terms for the same concept: accessing the expertise of an experienced finance director flexibly, a few days per month, rather than as a permanent employee. You pay for the time and expertise you actually need.
Hiring a CFO is not always the most adequate approach, especially for SME who have ad-hoc needs and not necessarily the ressources, you can divide the cost but get precious insight for your business with a fractional CFO, but ensure they have the right skill set to support you.
- Full-time CFO in Dubai: AED 50,000-80,000/month + benefits = AED 600K-1M+ annually
- DHAC Fractional CFO: AED 5,000-20,000/month = AED 60K-240K annually