Windward CFO
Fractional CFO & FP&A · Bluffton, SC

A finance partner — with the books handled too.

I'm not a bookkeeper — my background is 15+ years in FP&A. A licensed team keeps your books and tax clean underneath; I bring the forecasting, margins, and decisions that actually move the business. Most owners get all of it for less than they spend today.

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FORECAST →
Where you areWhere you're headed
15+ years in FP&A U.S.-based, one accountable partner Licensed accounting & tax team Local to the Lowcountry
See what you'd save

What are your books really costing you?

Some owners pay a bookkeeper or a firm. Others do it themselves at the kitchen table on Sunday night. Either way there's a real cost — cash or hours. Plug in your situation and see what changes.

How do you handle your books today?
Annual salary of your bookkeeper / AP staff
$52,000
Fully-loaded overhead (taxes, benefits, PTO, software)
30%
Windward plan you'd move to
$0
estimated savings, year one
Today / mo
$0
Windward / mo
$0
Saved / mo
$0
Reduction
0%
Book a call for your exact number →

Illustrative — actual pricing is scoped to your business. If you're paying someone today, the win is usually a smaller bill and a fractional CFO watching your numbers. If you do the books yourself, the win is your time back and numbers you can trust — plus year-round tax planning that often surfaces deductions and elections a DIY setup misses. No one can promise a lower tax bill, and I won't.

The real cost

You're paying too much — and still not getting answers.

An in-house hire costs a salary plus taxes, benefits, and turnover. A local firm just sends a bill. Either way you're overpaying for the basics — and nobody's telling you what the numbers actually mean. There's a better setup.

The usual setup

  • A bookkeeper or in-house hire you're overpaying for
  • Salary, payroll taxes, benefits, PTO — and turnover
  • Books that run a month or two behind
  • Still no one telling you what the numbers mean
  • Tax season is a scramble

With Windward

  • Your books, AP & tax handled for a fraction of the cost
  • A flat monthly fee — no salary, benefits, or turnover
  • Clean, current books every month
  • A fractional CFO watching cash and margins
  • Year-round tax planning, CPA/EA-signed
Services & scope

One relationship. Pick the level that fits.

Start with clean books, add tax handled all year, or bring the full CFO layer on top. Every level includes the licensed team underneath and me accountable for it — and you can move up whenever you're ready.

Most complete Flagship

Finance Function

For owners who want to steer with real numbers.

  • Monthly cash-flow forecast & review
  • Margin & profitability analysis
  • Budget vs. actual & forward forecast
  • KPI dashboard built for your business
  • Decision support (hiring, pricing, capex)
  • Includes full bookkeeping + tax below
Book a call
Foundation

Books + Tax

For owners who want tax handled all year — not scrambled in April.

  • Monthly bookkeeping & reconciliations
  • Financial statements each month
  • Books kept tax-ready all year — no April scramble
  • Quarterly planning so there are no surprises
  • Federal & state returns prepared and filed
  • Reviewed & signed by a licensed U.S. CPA/EA
Book a call
Entry

Books

Clean, current books — a foundation to build on.

  • Monthly bookkeeping & reconciliations
  • Accounts payable / receivable tracking
  • Monthly financial statements
  • Clean-up of prior periods if needed
  • Easy to add tax & CFO layers later
Book a call

Everything we handle

The full picture, so you know exactly what's covered. Every engagement is scoped to your business — this is the menu we build from.

CFO & FP&A

  • Cash-flow forecasting
  • Budgeting & scenario planning
  • Margin & unit economics
  • KPI & dashboard reporting
  • Pricing & hiring analysis
  • Financing & growth strategy

Bookkeeping

  • Monthly close & reconciliations
  • Accounts payable / receivable
  • Bank & credit-card matching
  • Financial statement prep
  • Prior-period clean-up
  • QuickBooks / Xero setup

Tax & Compliance

  • Federal & state return prep
  • CPA/EA review & signature
  • Year-round tax planning
  • Payroll & 1099 support
  • Multi-state sales tax
  • Entity & structure guidance
Who it's for

Built for Lowcountry businesses that have outgrown guesswork.

Deep experience where clean numbers and forward planning make the biggest difference — including years spent inside healthcare finance.

/ 01

Medical & dental practices

Your revenue isn't what you bill — it's what you collect. Get visibility into payer mix, days in A/R, and collections per provider, plus the staffing-cost and fee-schedule analysis that shows where margin is quietly leaking. This is the world I came from.

/ 02

Construction & trades

Profitable on paper but cash is always tight. Get job-level margins, WIP and retainage visibility, and a forecast that handles the lumpy timing — so you bid smarter and never get caught short mid-project.

/ 03

Professional services

Growing, but guessing on hiring, pricing, and the next move. Get the margin analysis and forward forecast to make those calls with data instead of instinct.

/ 04

Real estate & property

Multiple entities, messy books, and tax exposure you can't see clearly. Get a consolidated picture, every entity kept clean, and tax planning that helps you keep more of what you earn.

How it works

From first call to steady rhythm.

A clear path in, then a monthly cadence that keeps you ahead of the numbers.

STEP 01

Discovery call

A free, no-pressure conversation about how you run finances today and where the pain is.

STEP 02

Onboarding & clean-up

We get your books current and accurate, set up the tools, and agree on what "good" looks like.

STEP 03

Monthly rhythm

Clean close, clear statements, and a working session on cash, margins, and what's ahead.

STEP 04

Quarterly strategy

Step back to plan taxes, test scenarios, and line up the next decisions before they're urgent.

Your data, handled right

You stay in control of your financial data — at every step.

Handing over your books is a big deal, so here's exactly how it works — no mystery, and nothing floating around in email. In practice this is more structured and more secure than the usual shared-login or shoebox-of-receipts arrangement.

Step 01

You share, securely

Documents move through your private, encrypted client portal — never as loose email attachments.

Step 02

I review everything

I'm your single U.S. point of contact. Nothing happens to your numbers without my eyes on it.

Step 03

You approve, in writing

Before any tax data is shared for preparation, you sign a formal consent. Nothing moves without your OK.

Step 04

Prepared under NDA

Qualified accountants do the work inside the secure system, under a confidentiality agreement, with access limited to what's needed.

Step 05

Signed & returned

A licensed U.S. CPA/EA reviews and signs. Clean results come back to you — and your data is always yours.

▪One accountable person. You always know exactly who holds your data and who to call: me.
▪Your written consent first. Nothing is shared for preparation until you formally approve it.
▪Secure by default. Encrypted portal and professional platforms with access controls — never financials over email.
▪Your data stays yours. You own it, you can export it, and you can leave anytime.
Brandon Newman, founder of Windward CFO
About

A career in financial strategy — now in your corner.

I'm Brandon Newman. I graduated from Texas Tech University in 2008 and have spent the years since in corporate finance — most of it in financial planning and analysis, the forward-looking side of the work. I've built the forecasts, dashboards, and revenue models that leadership teams steer by, and sat across from CFOs helping them decide what came next. My path runs from pricing and analytics at JPMorgan Chase to senior FP&A leadership in high-growth healthcare and technology — promoted, again and again, into the seat that owns the numbers behind big decisions.

Along the way I kept seeing the same gap: the forecasting, the clear margins, the finance partner in the room — the things large companies take for granted — rarely reach the small and family-owned businesses that need them just as much. I started Windward CFO to close it, and to bring that same CFO-level clarity to Lowcountry owners, without the six-figure hire.

My focus is your strategy: your cash, your margins, and the decisions in front of you. Bookkeeping and tax run underneath, handled by a licensed accounting team and reviewed and signed by a U.S. CPA or EA. I'm not a CPA myself — my edge is more than fifteen years of turning financial data into decisions. You get strategic thinking and compliance credentials in one relationship, with one person accountable for all of it: me.

Outside of work, my wife, our son, and I live right here in Bluffton — and we spend as much time as we can out on the local waterways. This isn't a market I'm serving from a distance. It's home, and these are my neighbors.

  • Texas Tech University graduate (2008) — 15+ years in corporate finance & FP&A since
  • Forecasting, margin analysis & decision support — the work large companies rely on, brought to small business
  • A senior-level track record — repeatedly promoted into roles advising CFOs and leadership teams
  • From JPMorgan Chase to healthcare & tech — strategy proven at scale, now brought home to the Lowcountry
  • One accountable partner, licensed team behind it — strategy from me; bookkeeping & tax CPA/EA-signed
Questions

Straight answers.

I do my own books. Why would I pay for this?

Two reasons, and neither is "you'll spend less." First, your time: the hours you spend categorizing transactions are hours you're not selling, delivering, or running the business — and they're usually your evenings. Second, what those books are for. Numbers kept by someone who does this all day are numbers you can actually make decisions from, and they're ready for tax season instead of becoming a March project. If your books are simple and you enjoy doing them, keep doing them — I'll tell you that on the call.

Can you lower my tax bill?

Sometimes, but I won't promise it. What I can say is that clean books and year-round planning are what make opportunities visible in the first place — deductions that go unrecorded in a DIY setup, entity-structure questions, retirement-plan options, the timing of large purchases. Those get reviewed with a licensed CPA/EA who signs your return. Whether they add up to a smaller bill depends entirely on your situation, and anyone who guarantees savings before seeing your numbers is selling you something.

Why is tax part of a monthly fee instead of a once-a-year bill?

Because the work is year-round. A one-time filing fee buys a transaction — you hand over a box of records in March and hope for the best. Here your books are reconciled and kept tax-ready every month, we plan quarterly so nothing lands as a surprise, and the return itself is prepared from numbers that are already clean. You're paying for a year with no scramble and no April surprises, not for a form.

How much can I actually save?

Most owners replacing an in-house bookkeeper or a local firm cut the cost of the function by 40–80% — often $30,000–60,000 a year for a full-time role — while gaining CFO oversight they didn't have before. Try the calculator above, then we'll scope your exact number on a call.

How is the price so much lower?

My background is FP&A, not bookkeeping — so rather than charge you for accounting work, I pair a licensed team to handle the books and tax efficiently, and focus my time on the strategy. You skip a full-time salary, benefits, and turnover. I'm your single U.S. point of contact and review everything that goes out; a licensed U.S. CPA or EA signs your returns; and you approve any data sharing in advance.

Do I really need a CFO?

Not a full-time one — that's the point. You need CFO-level answers a few times a month, not a $200k salary and benefits. That gap, between a bookkeeper and a full-time finance chief, is exactly what a fractional engagement fills.

Are you a CPA?

No — my background is 15+ years in financial planning and analysis, the strategic side of finance. For anything that requires a CPA, a licensed U.S. CPA or EA on my team reviews and signs. You get both: strategy from me, compliance credentials behind it.

How is my financial data handled?

Securely, on professional accounting platforms, under signed confidentiality agreements. Where work is supported by my accounting team, you approve a clear consent first, and I'm your single U.S. point of accountability reviewing everything that goes out.

What does it cost?

Every business is different, so pricing is scoped to your needs and the layers you want. Engagements are a flat monthly fee — predictable, no surprise hourly bills. The best next step is a quick call to size it up.

How do we get started?

Book a free discovery call. We'll talk through how you handle finances today and where it hurts. If it's a fit, onboarding and clean-up typically take one to two weeks.

See what your books are really costing you.

A free, no-pressure call. Bring last month's bookkeeping cost; leave knowing what you'd save.

Book a free call