Cornerstone Finance Finance Partner Remote · Part time Company website

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Cornerstone Finance partners with small businesses and startups to help them build healthy, sustainable, and successful businesses. We provide a fractional finance team across accounting, financial management, and tax, giving business owners the expertise they need without building a full in-house department. What sets us apart is how we partner with our clients. We go beyond delivering reports and keeping the books clean. We work alongside business leaders to understand their goals, solve problems, make better decisions, and build stronger businesses. We believe business success is about more than maximizing profit. It’s about building something that creates lasting value for owners, employees, customers, and the communities they serve.

Would you like to use your finance experience to make a meaningful difference in the lives and businesses of entrepreneurs? Are you looking for an alternative to the traditional corporate finance career path where you can build a portfolio of clients, work directly with business owners and have the flexibility to grow your involvement over time?

Cornerstone Finance is a growing financial management and advisory firm based near Portsmouth, NH. We provide white-glove financial partnership to startups and small businesses – typically under $10M in revenue.

Our services are designed to scale with clients as they grow, beginning with bookkeeping, tax, payroll and financial reporting and expanding to include CFO and FP&A services such as KPI reporting, forecasting, budgeting, strategic planning, fundraising, exit planning and much more.

We are seeking experienced finance professionals to join our team as Finance Partners.

A Finance Partner is different than a fractional CFO or financial consultant. Finance Partners lead the Cornerstone relationship with their clients and walk alongside business owners as trusted advisors and partners.

While finance is our foundation, our goal is to help clients build better businesses. Finance Partners are expected to look beyond the numbers, understand what is happening throughout the organization and help owners solve problems across finance, operations, strategy and leadership.

This role is designed for someone who wants to build a portfolio of meaningful client relationships while maintaining flexibility and autonomy. Finance Partners may begin with one or two clients on a part-time basis and grow their portfolio and leadership responsibilities over time.

We are especially interested in finance professionals who have built strong foundational experience but are looking for a different path – one that provides greater ownership, broader business exposure, direct relationships with entrepreneurs and the opportunity to develop into a well-rounded business leader.

Cornerstone is a values-based company. We expect our Finance Partners to care deeply about integrity, service, people and helping entrepreneurs build businesses that create long-term value for their owners, employees, customers and other stakeholders.

Key Responsibilities:

• Serve as the primary financial leader and trusted advisor for a portfolio of startup and small business clients
• Develop strong relationships with business owners and leadership teams, deeply understanding their businesses, goals, challenges and opportunities
• Own the overall financial health of client relationships, including financial reporting, forecasting, budgeting, cash flow management, KPI development and financial decision support
• Provide leadership and oversight across accounting, bookkeeping, payroll, tax and other financial functions, working alongside Cornerstone specialists and client team members
• Translate financial information into practical insights and recommendations that business owners can understand and act upon
• Participate in strategic planning and help clients establish priorities, goals, financial plans and actionable roadmaps
• Proactively identify risks, opportunities and areas where Cornerstone can help improve the client's business
• Step beyond the traditional finance function when appropriate to help clients solve problems involving operations, systems, people, pricing, processes, strategy and other areas of the business
• Help business owners evaluate important decisions through both financial and broader business perspectives
• Coordinate Cornerstone's broader team and resources to ensure clients receive excellent, proactive and integrated support
• Hold clients and internal team members accountable to agreed-upon priorities, commitments and action items
• Continuously develop your own capabilities as a financial leader, strategic advisor and well-rounded business partner
• Proactively contribute ideas for improving Cornerstone's services, systems, methodologies and overall business
• Model Cornerstone's values and encourage clients to build financially healthy, sustainable businesses that honor their people and stakeholders

Performance Expectations:

• Build strong, trusted relationships with clients and become someone business owners genuinely value having alongside them
• Take ownership of client outcomes rather than simply completing assigned deliverables
• Demonstrate strong engagement and team presence, proactive communication, transparency, kindness and professionalism
• Think proactively – identify issues, opportunities and next steps without waiting for clients or managers to tell you what to do
• Develop a deep understanding of each client's business beyond their financial statements
• Be prepared for client and internal meetings and consistently follow through on commitments and action items
• Communicate clearly and proactively when expectations, timelines or availability change
• Maintain appropriate availability during US ET working hours for scheduled client and team commitments unless otherwise agreed
• Keep client plans, project management systems, financial tools and other relevant materials reasonably current
• Work collaboratively with accountants, bookkeepers, tax professionals, analysts and other Cornerstone team members
• Exercise sound judgment, confidentiality and integrity when advising business owners and handling sensitive information
• Take ownership over your work – lead, be proactive, move with urgency, communicate, learn and continuously improve

Requirements:

• 5+ years of relevant experience in finance, accounting, FP&A, financial consulting, controllership, CFO advisory or a related field
• Strong understanding of financial statements, accounting principles, budgeting, forecasting, cash flow and financial analysis
• Experience working directly with business owners, executives, clients or other senior stakeholders
• Ability to analyze a business, identify important issues and translate financial information into actionable recommendations
• Comfort operating in entrepreneurial environments where responsibilities may extend beyond a narrowly defined finance role
• Strong written and verbal communication skills
• Strong financial modeling and spreadsheet skills
• Comfort learning and utilizing multiple systems. Examples may include Google Workspace, QuickBooks Online, Reach Reporting, Bill.com, Gusto and related small business technology
• Bachelor's degree in accounting, finance, economics, business or a related field is preferred
• CPA, CMA, MBA or other relevant professional credentials are a plus but not required
• Experience with startups, small businesses, consulting, professional services, Big Four/public accounting, corporate FP&A or entrepreneurial environments is a plus

Key Skills, Knowledge & Abilities:

• Strong financial and analytical capabilities
• Business and strategic acumen
• Excellent problem-solving and decision-making skills
• Executive-level communication and relationship-building ability
• Ability to simplify complex financial concepts for entrepreneurs and non-financial leaders
• Curiosity and willingness to understand all aspects of a client's business
• High degree of ownership, initiative and personal accountability
• Ability to influence and lead without relying on formal authority
• Strong organizational and time-management skills
• Comfort managing multiple client relationships and competing priorities
• Entrepreneurial mindset and comfort operating in environments that are still being built
• Humility and willingness to learn, receive feedback and collaborate with specialists
• High standards of confidentiality and integrity
• Strong alignment with Cornerstone's values and commitment to serving clients, employees and other stakeholders well

Compensation

Variable compensation based on client portfolio and level of responsibility.

This role is designed to allow Finance Partners to begin with a limited number of clients and grow their portfolio, income and responsibilities over time. It may be particularly attractive to professionals looking to transition gradually from traditional employment into fractional or portfolio-based work.