7 Best Websites To Find and Hire a Freelance CFO

Whether you have a fast-growing startup or a mid-market enterprise in need of a high-level financial expert whose expertise you can afford, the services of a freelance chief financial officer can be invaluable.

In this article, we will explain what a freelance CFO is, how they can help you achieve your business goals with expert financial planning, and the advantages of adding this key professional to your leadership team.

To make it easier for you to hire a freelance CFO, we’ve also compiled a list of the seven best websites to find candidates for this crucial role.

What Is a Freelance CFO?

A freelance CFO (also called a fractional CFO or outsourced CFO) is a self-employed senior financial executive who oversees your financial management and ensures your financial operations adhere to various legal standards and financial regulations.

They have expertise in key areas such as financial processes, tax preparation, accounting, budgeting, bookkeeping, funding, analyzing and preparing financial statements, and forecasting financial outcomes.

Typically, hiring a freelance CFO is more affordable than employing a full-time CFO and doesn’t require a long-term commitment. This means you can hire them for a one-time project or a short time period.

How Can a Freelance CFO Help Your Business?

A freelance CFO can manage several key finance functions for your business. Let’s have a closer look at each one of them:

Financial reporting

A freelance CFO can conduct various financial services, like reviewing all your financial reports and other documents before you declare your taxes to the IRS, minimizing financial audits. They can also help ensure frequent financial reporting, giving you more visibility into your business’s financial health.

Forecasting and strategic planning

CFOs help forecast financial projections and suggest ways to find new revenue streams and maximize profitability while reducing unnecessary expenses.

They are also able to tell you about which products or services generate the highest profitability so that you can maintain strong and steady business growth.

Budgeting

With a qualified freelance CFO, your cash flow and expenses will be in skilled hands. They will track all your business expenditures and transactions and identify efficiencies and opportunities to reduce costs. This will enable you to make more informed decisions and maintain healthier budgets.

Risk management

Freelance CFOs may also have expertise in dealing with unstable market conditions, risky industries, and different types of business models.

This heightens their ability to predict how financial changes and investments might affect the company and recommend ways to better prepare for risks. For example, they can help you better allocate resources to explore a new product or service and assess whether your business has the reserves to wait until the new venture becomes profitable.

Why Should You Outsource Your Next Chief Financial Officer?

Working with a freelance CFO has many advantages. Here are the major ones:

Save costs 

When you hire a CFO on a full-time basis, you need to account for various benefits and allowances, such as payroll tax, benefits, and health insurance. You’ll also need to provide them with resources like office space, equipment, and software.

You can eliminate many of these costs by hiring a freelance CFO, particularly if they work remotely.

In addition, you can benefit from further cost savings by outsourcing your CFO role to a region with lower salary expectations. For example, salary costs for financial roles are lower in Latin America (LatAm) than in the US due to its lower costs of living.

Improve your financial strategy

Freelance CFOs evaluate your financial data, assess the financial viability of new projects and product ideas, and come up with recommendations to improve based on various economic models and strategies that work. This will streamline your cash flow and help ensure business growth.

Freelance CFOs typically have a degree in finance, broad experience in multiple industries, and have dealt with complex business models.

Since they work with multiple clients, they often encounter different situations and can deal with a variety of challenges and initiatives with companies at all stages of growth. This combination of industry knowledge and experience allows them to come up with unique solutions for your company that other financial experts might not.

Free time to focus on core activities

Outsourcing a freelance CFO is the ultimate solution if you don’t have time to invest in legalities, budgeting, financial forecasting, and analyzing financial results. They will step in and take responsibility for all these financial activities with precision and skill so that your internal team can concentrate on more central tasks and core functions.

Why Consider Hiring a Full-Time CFO in Latin America Instead?

Most companies search for freelance or fractional CFOs because they assume they can't afford full-time C-level financial expertise.

But what if you could get dedicated, full-time CFO leadership at a fraction of the US cost?

Many growing companies default to fractional CFO arrangements thinking it's their only budget-friendly option. They settle for part-time strategic guidance when what they really need is someone fully invested in their business, available for urgent decisions, and deeply familiar with their operations.

Here's what most companies don't realize: you can hire a full-time CFO in Latin America for less than what many fractional CFOs charge annually, while getting significantly more value.

The real cost comparison

US CFO Salaries: $246k - $455k annually 

Latin American CFO Salaries: $120k - $180k annually

You're looking at up to 60% cost savings while getting a dedicated team member who works in your time zone and brings the same caliber of experience you'd find in the US market.

Why full-time beats fractional

When you hire a full-time CFO in Latin America, you get:

• Complete dedication: They're not juggling multiple clients or splitting attention between your business and others
• Deep business knowledge: They understand your industry, challenges, and growth trajectory intimately
• Immediate availability: Need financial guidance for an urgent decision? They're there, not scheduled for next week
• Long-term strategic thinking: They're invested in your success, not just completing project deliverables
• Team integration: They become part of your leadership team, building relationships and understanding company culture

Access to world-class talent

Latin American financial professionals often bring Big Four accounting experience (Deloitte, EY, KPMG, PwC), advanced degrees, and experience with US GAAP and international financial standards. You're not compromising on quality to achieve cost savings.

The time zone alignment means real-time collaboration during your business hours, unlike offshore alternatives that force you into awkward scheduling around 12-hour time differences.

{{state-latam-hiring}}

7 Websites To Find and Hire a Freelance CFO

Now that we’ve covered the role of a freelance CFO and the advantages it can offer your business, where can you find one?

One of the most efficient ways to source candidates for this position is by using online platforms. You can use the following seven websites to find skilled CFOs who can drive the financial success of your organization.

Note that these websites aren’t ranked in any particular order, as each comes with unique advantages.

1. Near

Near (Hire With Near) is a full-service staffing and recruiting agency that helps US companies of all sizes hire top-performing remote talent in Latin America across finance, accounting, sales, software engineering, AI, data, design, marketing, operations, and virtual assistance.

When you need senior financial leadership but want to move fast, we deliver qualified CFO candidates within 3 days and complete placements in under 3 weeks. Here's how we work:

• No upfront costs: You'll never pay anything upfront. Once you make a hire, you can choose between a one-off fee and a monthly fee, depending on whether you prefer us to handle payroll and compliance.
• Pre-vetted talent pool: We have a pre-vetted talent pool of over 45,000 candidates, but we don't just search there. We find you talent that meets your exact requirements and expectations.
• Big Four expertise: Our Latin American CFOs bring Big Four experience and multinational expertise, working in your time zone for real-time collaboration.

CyberFortress hired an entire 20-person accounting team through Near, including a Director of Accounting who helped cut their month-end closing timeline from 15 days to 10 days while saving an estimated $1.2M annually.

2. LinkedIn

LinkedIn is one of the most well-known networks for connecting with professionals, including finance experts. Its countless users include freelancers, independent contractors, and consultants.

There are two main ways to find your next freelance CFO on LinkedIn:

1. Post a job description with your specifications and wait for someone to apply
2. Search individually for a freelancer in your network and freelance groups

The downside of hiring a freelancer on LinkedIn is that it can require investing a lot of time to find the right candidate, which may not be ideal if you need to fill your CFO role urgently.

3. Paro

Paro is a freelance platform that specializes strictly in hiring freelancers in the finance sector. Unlike other platforms where you search for candidates individually, Paro uses proprietary AI matching technology to pair you with the right candidate.

First, you fill out a questionnaire that helps the AI service understand your needs and provide details about your company, such as size, name, industry, and contact information. Then, Paro’s team will contact you and list the candidates who best match your stated requirements.

4. Upwork

Upwork is an online platform that connects you with top freelancers. It provides a versatile approach to hiring and is free to join as an employer looking for your next financial expert.

If you type the keyword “CFO” in the search bar, the platform will return several pages of results displaying CFOs for hire. These professionals have a wide range of experience and rates, so you can choose one who is suited to your business and needs.

To make your search more tailored to your preferences, Upwork provides the option to filter results in terms of language, hourly rate, qualifications, education, and location.

You can also see freelancers’ reviews, job success rate, client history, and more. Once you decide on the candidates who appeal most to your needs, you can contact them directly via Upwork’s messaging system.

However, you must pay Upwork various process and administration fees, and some freelancers are available only for short-term or part-time projects.

Since you’ll still need to find and assess freelancers yourself, you’ll likely need to spend many hours posting jobs and screening candidates before you find the perfect freelance CFO for your business.

5. Toptal

Toptal is an exclusive freelance platform that connects employers with elite financial experts, among a range of other professionals.

The hiring process on Toptal is similar to Paro, but while the latter utilizes AI, Toptal relies on a team of internal recruitment experts who match a freelancer with your company based on your requirements.

It’s free to sign up and set up an introductory call with Toptal’s team. After that, you’ll pay a $500 refundable deposit before they begin their search for you.

6. FreeUp

FreeUp is an online marketplace for hiring freelancers and virtual assistants. It is known for its rigorous vetting process that ensures quality talent for a range of roles.

To find a freelance CFO, you’ll need to create a free account and add a job request. You then answer a questionnaire detailing your needs and the skills required for the job. After that, you’ll get matched with your ideal candidates.

Like Upwork, it can take considerable time to interview and screen candidates to find your ideal freelance CFO.

In addition to the client rate, FreeUp charges 20% of the freelancer rate.

7. Freelancer.com

Freelancer is a digital hub for employers to find top talent from tens of millions of freelance professionals. Once you post a job, freelancers will bid on their price.

The platform also enables you to search for freelancers individually and reach out to them directly. You can do so by inputting the type of professional you need (in this case, a CFO) in the search field and filtering results by hourly rate, skills, location, rating reviews, and exams.

Freelancer is highly popular, with millions of projects completed. However, it has recently been dealing with issues such as spam, fake profiles, and low-quality work.

In terms of pricing, it’s free to sign up, post your project, and start receiving bids. Once you award the project to a freelancer, the platform charges 3% of the amount you pay to them.

Final Thoughts

Most businesses default to fractional arrangements because they think it's their only option. But the companies seeing the best results are the ones willing to think differently.

Sure, you can piece together fractional CFO services and hope they understand your business well enough to make good decisions. Or you can get dedicated, full-time financial leadership for the same cost by hiring in Latin America.

The math is simple. A fractional CFO charging $200/hour for 20 hours monthly costs you $48K annually. A full-time CFO in Latin America costs $120K-$180K but gives you 2,000+ hours of availability, deep business knowledge, and someone who's genuinely invested in your success.

When you hire a full-time CFO, you get someone who understands your cash flow patterns, knows your business cycles, and can spot problems before they become crises. They're there for board meetings, investor calls, and those late-night decisions that can't wait until next week's fractional appointment.

The opportunity is there if you're ready to move beyond the traditional approach. You could access senior-level talent with Big Four experience, get someone available when you need them most, and free up budget for growth initiatives that actually move the needle.

Ready to explore what's possible for your team? Schedule a free consultation with Near. We'll show you exactly how companies in your situation have built world-class financial leadership while staying within budget.