Bidaya
Bidaya Finance
Fractional CFO in the UAE: what it covers, what it costs, and when you don't need one
Bidaya Finance
The most common finance problem in a growing UAE business isn't bookkeeping. It's that nobody explains the numbers: the books are kept, and the owner still can't say whether last quarter made money. A fractional CFO is the person whose job that is. At Bidaya the role is one scope of the executive layer, run alongside setup, operations and tech by one firm.
What it covers
Management reporting every month: profit, cash, margins by line of work, in a pack the owner reads in ten minutes. Budgeting and the cash-flow view. The reporting an investor, a board or a bank asks for. The corporate-tax and VAT positions, with the filings that carry fines when missed, handled with licensed tax consultants and accountants included in the fee. And the finance systems underneath, built on the tools the business already uses.
What it costs
Monthly engagements from AED 12,000, scope-dependent above that.
For comparison, the Cooper Fitch UAE Salary Guide 2025 puts a chief financial officer at a small or medium enterprise at AED 61,000 to 92,000 a month in salary, and a financial controller at AED 51,000 to 66,000, before visas, end-of-service and recruitment cost. A fractional engagement is a fraction of the time and the cost, and it ends on thirty days' notice, where a hire is a fixed cost.
When you don't need one
When the business isn't trading yet, or trades with one person and no payroll. Then the answer is a bookkeeper, a monthly figure you trust, and a registration calendar, which Where you stand gives you with the method. Past that, the question is whether the numbers need building once, or need someone to hold them every month.
How it starts
Questions
What is a fractional CFO?
A finance executive engaged for part of the time a full-time one would give, inside the business, with the reporting and the judgment of the role. Engaged monthly on thirty days' notice; the first month carries no notice.
Fractional CFO, outsourced CFO or part-time CFO?
The same role under three names. What differs is what's underneath it: some firms attach the title to bookkeeping and deliver no executive scope; some place a senior person and deliver nothing beneath the seat. Bidaya delivers both, as one firm.
Do you do the bookkeeping too?
Where it's needed, yes, with licensed accountants included in the fee. Where the business already has a bookkeeper who does it well, we keep them and build the reporting above them.
Can a fractional CFO handle corporate tax and VAT?
The positions, the calendar and the reporting, yes. The filings and the advice on your specific position are done with the licensed tax consultants on our bench, inside the engagement.
What does a fractional CFO cost in Dubai?
At Bidaya, monthly engagements start at AED 12,000 and depend on scope above that. The published salary benchmark above is what the full-time alternative costs.