FAQ – Interim CFO / VP Finance

An interim CFO takes on full responsibility for finance, controlling, reporting and liquidity management for a defined period. Operational from day one – no onboarding gap – leaving structures that function independently after the mandate.

Read more: Approach · Mandate vialytics · Guide: Interim CFO, fractional CFO, consultant or permanent hire?

The CFO holds full strategic finance responsibility at executive level, including capital markets, investors and the board. A VP Finance operationally leads the finance organisation – accounting, controlling, reporting and FP&A – and is often the right hand of the CFO or CEO. In start-ups and scale-ups the roles blur; frequently one person covers both.

Read more: Guide: Interim CFO or interim VP Finance · Guide: Is a VP Finance enough after Series A?

Typical triggers: (1) growth phases where existing structures can't keep pace; (2) a vacancy after a CFO's departure; (3) ERP implementations and IT transformations; (4) M&A transactions, carve-outs and post-merger integrations; (5) missing leadership in finance.

Read more: Diagnosis: four typical starting positions · Mandate KRÜSS (vacancy) · Guide: the first 90 days after Series A

An interim CFO takes on the full CFO role for a defined period, usually full-time. A fractional CFO works simultaneously for several companies at reduced capacity. Both provide senior finance leadership with full flexibility and without the fixed cost of permanent employment – the choice depends on the scale of the need.

Read more: Guide: fractional CFO in detail · Guide: Is a fractional CFO cheaper?

A consultant analyses, produces recommendations and hands over a slide deck – implementation stays with you. An interim CFO takes on operational line responsibility, makes decisions, leads the team and delivers. In short: the consultant says what to do – the interim CFO does it and owns the result.

Read more: Guide: consultant without line responsibility · Mandate PeriGuard (advisor and interim CFO)

An interim CFO is the right choice for temporary or acute needs: bridging a vacancy, growth or transformation phases, a financing round, an ERP rollout or restructuring. Available immediately, without recruiting lead time and without long-term fixed cost. For a permanent, steady-state role a full-time CFO makes sense – which the interim CFO often prepares and hands over cleanly.

Read more: Guide: permanent CFO as the long-term solution · Mandate KRÜSS (handover to the permanent CFO)

Interim CFOs typically bill a daily rate. In Germany, experienced interim CFOs are usually in the range of roughly €1,200–2,500 per day – depending on profile, industry, complexity and mandate length. What matters is not the rate alone but the return on interim management: the value contributed – avoided wrong decisions, secured financing, better processes – usually exceeds the cost significantly. You'll receive a concrete quote after a brief initial call.

Read more: Guide: What does an Interim CFO cost? · Worked example for a whole mandate

Billing is usually a daily rate based on days actually worked, invoiced monthly. Travel and expenses are agreed by actual cost or as a flat rate. The engagement runs on a service contract with a clearly defined brief, scope and term – flexibly terminable and without the fixed and ancillary costs of permanent employment.

Read more: Guide: the daily rate and what it includes · Request a first call

Yes – especially then. Smaller companies and scale-ups rarely have a fully built-out finance leadership, yet face the same complex demands in financing, reporting and growth. An interim CFO brings senior expertise exactly for the phase when it's needed – without permanent C-level fixed cost. Over the engagement this is usually far cheaper than a mis-hire or a missed financing round.

Read more: Guide: when the daily rate pays off · Mandate Coffee Assurance Services (€4m revenue) · Mandate PeriGuard (€20m revenue)

Most mandates run between 6 and 18 months – depending on the task. Bridging a vacancy can be shorter; building the finance function or an ERP rollout longer. Across Ruben Faust's documented mandates the range spans roughly 6 to 36 months. Scope is clearly defined at the start and extended if needed.

Read more: PeriGuard, 6 months · Automotive OEM, 9 months · vialytics, 30 months · Fairtrade International, 36 months

Interim day rates at C-level are usually in a similar range across roles as for an interim CFO – market-typical around €1,200–2,500 per day, depending on seniority, industry and complexity. FAUSTSOLUTIONS specialises in interim CFO and VP Finance mandates; for other roles such as interim CTO or COO we're happy to refer through our network.

Read more: Guide: what moves the daily rate

Typically within 1–2 weeks of brief clarification. Limited mandate time demands pace: operational from day one, fast decisions, immediate value – no months-long onboarding.

Read more: Approach: four phases · Request a first call

In four steps: (1) initial call and diagnosis – clarifying needs, goals and urgency; (2) engagement with scope, objectives and term; (3) delivery from day one – operational leadership, fast impact, regular alignment with management and board; (4) a structured handover to the successor or internal team so the structures remain.

Read more: Approach · Guide: the first 90 days after Series A

Both – hybrid, tailored to the mandate. In critical phases and to build trust and structures, on-site presence matters; ongoing steering, reporting and forecasting work well remotely. Ruben Faust is available on-site throughout Germany, based in Bonn/NRW; the remote share is agreed per project.

Read more: Mandate vialytics (Stuttgart, Paris, New York) · Contact

The goal is a mandate that makes itself redundant. At the end there are robust processes, a well-functioning team and a clean handover to the permanent successor or the internal finance team – including documentation. That way the impact remains rather than leaving with the interim manager.

Read more: Mandate KRÜSS (structured handover) · Approach: clean handover · Guide: Can an interim mandate turn into a permanent position?

Particularly valuable for companies with €4–100M revenue: start-ups from Series A/B, scale-ups, high-growth SMEs, and PE/VC-backed portfolio companies. Industry experience: SaaS, High-Tech, Med-Tech, E-Mobility, Automotive, FMCG and NGO.

Read more: All mandates, filterable · vialytics (SaaS) · Automotive OEM · Fairtrade International (NGO)

Yes, that's a core discipline. Ruben Faust has supported six financing rounds totalling over €100M and led several due diligence processes – from investor readiness through financial modelling, data room and reporting to negotiation. Series A/B rounds in particular benefit from a CFO who masters both the numbers and the investors' language.

Read more: Mandate vialytics (two rounds) · Mandate med-tech start-up (exit over €100m) · Guide: data room for the next round

Yes. Ruben Faust has implemented or migrated six ERP and CRM systems – including SAP, Oracle NetSuite, DATEV, Salesforce, ABAS and Monitor ERP – on average within 6–9 months. As a CFO with project-leadership experience he combines the functional requirements from finance and controlling with realistic delivery planning.

Read more: Guide: ERP implementation in a scale-up · Automotive OEM (migration) · Fairtrade International (global cloud ERP) · KRÜSS (CRM rollout)

Yes. The service spectrum includes M&A support – buy-side, sell-side, post-merger integration –, carve-outs, and restructuring and turnaround including liquidity management and input to restructuring opinions (IDW S6). Ruben Faust has delivered three M&A processes with a transaction volume of over €150M.

Read more: Automotive OEM (IDW S6) · BLOKS (insolvency) · Coffee Assurance Services (spin-off) · Med-tech start-up (exit)

AI tools find duplicates and mispostings faster than any person and take over document processing, reconciliations and reports. Someone who understands the chart of accounts must set the rule for what is correct. So I work in two stages: first the data base, then automating one process, with a metric before the tool and a handover to the client's team.

Read more: Guide: AI in finance, what works and what does not · PeriGuard mandate: data base and automation

No company data in public chat tools; ending that is the first step. I process client data only on an enterprise platform with a data processing agreement under Art. 28 GDPR, EU hosting and a contractual ban on use for training. Every automated figure stays traceable under GoBD rules. Where a works council exists, it is involved before the tool.

Read more: Guide: Where the data stays · Privacy policy

Yes, where needed. Where confidentiality requires it, for example investor reports, M&A or payroll data, models run locally on the client's own hardware or in the client's own cloud. Nothing leaves the building. That costs computing power and support, and I say so in advance. For most tasks an enterprise platform with EU hosting and a processing agreement suffices.

Read more: Guide: Where the data stays · Contact

Ask one question: who else can produce the monthly report, and where is the procedure written down? In a 2026 mandate, the knowledge of how the report to the parent company is produced sat in a single head outside the company; no description existed. In the September 2026 prototype the monthly routine stands in five sentences on the first sheet.

Read more: Diagnosis: The numbers do not reconcile · Guide: The blind spot

Figures can be consistent and still wrong. So nothing goes to the client before a second, separate instance has taken it apart. Before delivery, a second, separate AI system reviews the work critically, without knowledge of how it was produced. It is not an auditor and replaces none. The financial judgement stays with me: what is correct, what to claim.

Read more: PeriGuard mandate: Who checked the work? · Approach

At PeriGuard an auction of around 240 lots was still unsettled and unbooked ten months on. A seemingly inextricable tangle of data became a continuous, auditable document and data package, booked correctly, reconciled and closed by mutual agreement. The machine read around 600 pages and linked every figure to its document; what to claim was financial judgement.

Read more: PeriGuard mandate: data base and automation · Results: three documented cases

Yes. Ruben Faust operates as interim CFO and VP Finance throughout Germany – based in Bonn/NRW (Cologne, Düsseldorf, Rhineland). Assignments in France, UK, Netherlands, Belgium, USA, Austria and Switzerland on request.

Read more: Contact · Fairtrade International (Bonn) · KRÜSS (Hamburg) · Bonsucro (London)

Three differentiators: (1) triple BVMID TOP INTERIM 2024, 2025 and 2026; (2) 15+ documented mandates with verifiable results and over 30 years of finance experience, nearly 18 of them at The Coca-Cola Company; (3) a hands-on mentality – not a consultant who writes recommendations and leaves, but operational responsibility from day one.

Read more: About me: career in detail · Results · Testimonials