Free training this week on becoming a CFO
About The CFO Project
Our mission is to eradicate small business failure – one trained CFO at a time
What we do
The CFO Project trains accountants, bookkeepers, CPAs and other financial professionals to deliver CFO Advisory to small business owners. We give you a system to build a CFO Advisory service, either as a new revenue stream inside your existing practice or as a practice you start from scratch, along with the people and tools to help you put it to work.
1,100+
CFOs trained to date
500+
active members building their practices
$1,978
average our members charge per client, per month
NASBA
registered CPE sponsor, Sponsor ID #148330
Why we exist
Small business owners need someone to explain the numbers
There are more than 36 million small businesses in the U.S.,1 and about half of new businesses don't make it to their fifth year.2 Most small businesses that fail had a good idea and an owner willing to work hard. What they were missing was someone to explain what the numbers were saying and what to do about it. Very few small business owners have a CFO, and most can't afford a full-time one.
Accountants and bookkeepers are already the most trusted financial voice in an owner's life. When they learn to deliver CFO Advisory, owners get the guidance they need, and the advisor builds a monthly service with recurring revenue. Every advisor we train can help dozens of businesses over a career. That's how we work toward our mission, one trained CFO at a time.
1. U.S. Small Business Administration, Office of Advocacy, "Number of Small Businesses in the U.S. Exceeds 36 Million," June 2025.
2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Business Employment Dynamics: business survival rates.
Our story
Built inside a CFO Advisory firm
The CFO Project began inside a CFO Advisory firm. Our founders, Adam Lean and Jeff Prager, built that firm to serve small business owners, and it grew quickly for two reasons. Their clients got results, so they stayed. And the founders built a system for every part of the business: a way to find clients, a way to sign them, and a repeatable monthly process to serve them.
The firm reached capacity. The founders could have kept growing it. They decided to teach their methodology and systems to other financial professionals instead, so many more small businesses could get the same results their clients did. That decision became The CFO Project.
Today, the system is still at the center of everything we teach. Around it, we've built executive coaching, CFO Mentors who run their own practices, a growing member community, and the Client Center, software built on our methodology that does the monthly analysis so advisors can spend their time on the advice.
What we do
We take the guessing out of advisory
Our members always know what to do with a client, how to do it, and what to do next. Their clients pay an average of about $2,000 a month for CFO Advisory, and ten clients at $2,000 a month is $240,000 a year in recurring revenue.
Systems
What to do
The One Clear Path and the 12 cash flow drivers give you one repeatable monthly process you run with every client, in any industry, to move the business from where it is to where the owner wants it to be.
Support
How to do it
You'll meet weekly with a peer roundtable led by an executive coach and a CFO Mentor. You'll also have access to office hours, the member forum and live masterclasses for a full year.
Tools
What to do next
The Client Center, along with templates and resources, helps you walk into every client meeting knowing which driver matters most and what to recommend next.
See how the system would work in your practice
Leadership
Dyanna Salcedo
CEO, The CFO Project
Dyanna Salcedo is the CEO of The CFO Project, bringing 20 years of leadership experience across Wall Street, growth-stage consumer brands, and the United States Army. Her superpower is helping organizations turn data into decisive action, a through-line that led her to The CFO Project, the premier training platform for accountants and CPAs ready to launch high-impact CFO Advisory practices.
Adam Lean
Co-Founder, The CFO Project
Adam Lean is a former accountant turned two-time entrepreneur who built, scaled, and sold two businesses. After discovering his passion for teaching owners how to make more money and gain peace of mind, he co-founded The CFO Project, a training company that teaches financial professionals how to offer an outsourced CFO and business advisory service.
Jeff Prager
Co-Founder, The CFO Project
Jeff Prager is a retired CPA, business owner, and entrepreneur for over 35 years. He's built multiple businesses into 7, 8, and 9-figure successes, including Ashworth Golf Clothing and the second-largest privately-owned home builder in Colorado. His passion is helping business owners understand their numbers so they know how to have a better business.
Our team
The people you'll work with
Our team helps you decide whether the program fits, gets you set up when you join, and keeps the member community running.
Cris D'Annunzio
Sales Director · Los Angeles, CA
Jason Horek
Business Development Director · Austin, TX
Dave Knee
Operations Manager · Pittsburgh, PA
Simon Roylance
Enrollment Advisor · Chicago, IL
Tess Taylor
Community Manager · Binghamton, NY
Executive coaches
Coaches who get you past the doubt
Knowing the system is half the job. Our executive coaches help members get past imposter syndrome, hold them accountable for doing the work, and lead the weekly roundtables where members practice their first advisory conversations.
Carla Greenan
PCC · Executive Coach
Carla is an ex-CPA turned executive coach with 20 years of experience coaching leaders at all levels, following a 23-year career at EY where she became a founding member of the Americas Coaching Team. She holds her Professional Certified Coach (PCC) credential through the ICF and specializes in leadership transitions, advancing women, and the challenges facing working parents. She founded 3Be Coaching in 2016 and lives in Seattle with her husband, three kids, and two dogs.
John Staley
Executive Coach
John Staley is an executive coach, professional actor, and founder of Presenting U. For more than two decades, he's helped leaders at companies such as Amgen, Starbucks, Biogen, Experian and NASA/JPL communicate with confidence and inspire action. At The CFO Project, John coaches CFO Advisors as they launch and grow their practices, helping them articulate their value, connect with the people they serve, and build the trust that leads to lasting client relationships.
Kenya Haupt
PCC, CPC, ELI-MP · Executive Coach
Kenya is a Professional Certified Coach (PCC) with deep expertise coaching executives and managers through career transitions, promotions, and performance growth, drawing on 31 years in Human Capital at PwC. She is also a Lead Trainer for iPEC, where she trains and mentors aspiring coaches, and holds ELI-MP, HBDI, and Leadership Versatility Index 360 certifications. Known for her high energy and ability to build trusting relationships, she lives in the Colorado mountains with her family.
CFO Mentors
Mentors who run their own CFO Advisory practices
Our CFO Mentors are Certified CFOs who run their own CFO Advisory practices. They've done this work with real businesses, so they can tell you what a client is going to ask before the client asks it.
Ryan Kimler
Ryan is a Certified CFO and the founder of Net Profit CFO. Passionate about fighting business failure, he helps business owners gain financial clarity, increase profitability, and build businesses that generate consistent cash flow.
Amanda Mallmes
A CPA, CGA and fractional CFO, Amanda helps business owners understand what's driving their results, keep more of the money they earn and make confident decisions about where to focus, invest and grow.
Why I mentor
"Every business should have access to a CFO who can help them make better decisions. Mentoring lets me extend that impact by helping other CFOs strengthen their advisory practices."
Amy Foeller
Amy founded The CFO Service in 2023 to help small business owners increase revenue and profit while keeping cash flow consistently positive. She also mentors entrepreneurs through SCORE.
Why I mentor
"I mentor to share my knowledge, ideas and experience with other members on their CFO Advisory journeys. Leading our roundtable discussions helps me grow as a CFO Advisor too."
Emiliano Espinosa
Emiliano is the founder of Star Books, where he provides bookkeeping and CFO Advisory services to growing businesses and nonprofits, in both English and Spanish.
Why I mentor
"My mentors helped me find the confidence to go from only doing bookkeeping to providing CFO Advisory services. I want to help new members reach that same confidence."
Jemel Smith
Jemel is a tax strategist, Certified CFO, REALTOR® and author who helps small business owners, especially in construction and real estate, improve profitability, strengthen cash flow and reduce taxes.
Why I mentor
"I know firsthand how valuable the right guidance can be. I want to help other CFOs shorten their learning curve and confidently build a profitable practice."
Jeremy Toler
Jeremy is a financial and operational strategist who uses his management consulting background and his superpower, job costing, to help small and mid-sized businesses gain clarity and freedom.
Why I mentor
"The CFO Project was life changing to me. I love helping business owners find freedom through their business, and I love doing that with fellow CFOs."
Joseph Shawver
Joseph is a Certified Fractional CFO who has helped more than 40 businesses get their finances on track. He built his own firm, Square Books, without taking on a dollar of debt.
Why I mentor
"I believe in giving back to the organization that trained me to be a CFO."
Kimberly Ferguson
Kimberly is the founder and CEO of The Emerald Edge, where she helps husband-and-wife business partners and nonprofit leaders connect their numbers to their bigger goals, mission and life.
Why I mentor
"I know how transformative it is to shift from thinking like an accountant to stepping into the roles of strategic advisor and CEO. I love helping CFOs break through the mindsets that hold them back."
Lacey Harnar
CPA · Certified CFO
Lacey is a CPA and Certified CFO. After years of tax seasons, she built her business around CFO Advisory so she could reach her own business and life goals and help other business owners reach theirs.
Monica Roca-Quesada
Monica is the founder and CEO of Agile Planners. With more than 30 years in finance, operations and technology, she helps business owners gain financial clarity, improve cash flow and build systems for sustainable growth.
Why I mentor
"Experienced CFOs have a responsibility to help develop the next generation of financial leaders. I'm excited to share practical lessons from my career."
Nancy Lane
Nancy is a CMA with more than 40 years of experience leading accounting and finance operations in construction, manufacturing and technology, known for strategic thinking and hands-on leadership.
Why I mentor
"I wanted to help other business owners."
Natasha Anderson
Natasha is a CFO Advisor and Profit Transformation Coach who helps business owners move from overwhelm and financial uncertainty to making more money and running their businesses like a CEO.
Why I mentor
"Mentorship was instrumental in helping me start and grow my own practice, and I wanted to pay that forward."
Patricia Santayana
Patricia is a CPA, fractional CFO and business strategist who helps owners improve cash flow, increase profitability and build businesses that don't depend on them for every decision.
Why I mentor
"I know how valuable it is to have someone who will challenge you, believe in you, and help you see possibilities you may not see for yourself."
Sara Bryson
Sara helps service business owners understand what their numbers are really saying, so they can make confident decisions that improve profitability, cash flow and peace of mind.
Why I mentor
"Knowing how instrumental a mentor was to my own success, I was stoked to have the opportunity!"
Tabitha Hollimon
Tabitha is the founder and outsourced CFO of Hollimon Strategic Advisors. A Georgia peach at heart, she helps business owners strengthen profitability, improve cash flow and understand their numbers.
Why I mentor
"I chose to mentor because of the value I had already received as a mentee and member. I want others to level up and provide the best service possible."
Teena Chandler
Perfect Balance Bookkeeping
Teena is a Certified CFO and the founder of Perfect Balance Bookkeeping, where she grew a bookkeeping firm into a CFO Advisory practice that serves small business owners as their outsourced CFO.
Tiffany Holtrup
Tiffany started her tax and accounting firm in 2011 and has built and adapted it through every stage of life into a business that serves both her clients and her family.
Why I mentor
"I genuinely enjoy teaching and helping someone work through a challenge, gain confidence, and find an approach that works for the business they want to build."
Member results
What our members say
Straight from our members' Google reviews and the wins board inside the community.
From corporate accounting to her own firm
First CFO client in 30 days
6 new clients in one month
Doubled her income
+$3,050 a month from an existing client
Third client at $5,000 a month
Grew her fractional CFO business
First client from his firm's book
Highest-paying client at $3,000
Contact us
Reach a real person
Mailing address
Austin, Texas
The CFO Project, 14425 Falcon Head Blvd, Building E, Suite 100, Austin, TX 78738
The CFO Project is registered with the National Association of State Boards of Accountancy (NASBA) as a sponsor of continuing professional education on the National Registry of CPE Sponsors, Sponsor ID #148330.
Two ways to start
Start with free CFO training or a Right-Fit Call
Start with a free training, or, if you've already watched one of our trainings, book a call with one of our Enrollment Advisors.
Free live training
Learn the strategies to become a CFO for small businesses
Discover how to earn $192,000 per year as a CFO for small businesses.
The session is also available as CPE-eligible training.
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