A Practice · The Maeven Office

Interim & Placement.

Finance leadership in the seat within days — vetted to an auditor's standard.

A good finance search takes a quarter. The close, cash visibility, and lender reporting can't sit still that long — and the cost of an empty seat rarely shows up until quarter-end, when it shows up all at once.

The Maeven Office places interim and fractional finance leaders — CFOs, controllers, audit-readiness operators — for exactly that window. Placed by a practitioner who has held the seats: twenty-two years from public-company audit to CFO chairs, not a recruiter working a list.

A resume is an unaudited financial statement. We audit.

The Practice
i.

The problem.

An empty finance seat fails quietly. The damage doesn't show up as a recruiting problem — it shows up as a soft close, a surprised auditor, a covenant conversation that starts three weeks late, and a board deck built on stale numbers.

The firms that could fill the seat mostly sell resumes. The people selling them have rarely closed a book, faced an audit committee, or defended a forecast — so the vetting is an interview, and the risk transfers to you.

ii.

Who it's for.

  • Companies mid-search for a CFO or controller, with a close that can't wait for the hire.
  • Founders past a raise, facing first-audit, diligence, or board-reporting expectations for the first time.
  • Owners who have outgrown the bookkeeper but can't yet justify a full-time finance chief.
  • PE-backed operators who need a seat held — competently, quietly — through a transition or transaction.
iii.

What we place.

Interim CFOs & controllers.

Gap coverage while you run the search properly — the close kept decision-grade, the audit kept on track, a clean hand-off when your hire arrives.

Audit & transaction readiness.

Operators who fix the close, paper the policies, and hand your auditors a file they can rely on — before fieldwork starts. The same file is most of a data room.

Cash & FP&A leadership.

The discipline layer between rounds: a thirteen-week cash view, hiring triggers tied to actuals, and a forecast the board can challenge and you can defend.

Fractional finance chiefs.

The standing version — CFO judgment without the CFO overhead, sized to the company you actually are, with room to grow into more.

iv.

The Maeven Standard.

Every operator passes a working session with the principal — real ledger, real reconciliation, real model — before they ever meet a client. Vetting to an auditor's evidence standard:

  • A working session, not an interview.Close a mini-ledger, walk a reconciliation, defend a thirteen-week cash model — live.
  • References checked like evidence.Former auditors, controllers, and CEOs get evidence questions, not vibe questions.
  • Tools proven in hand.The stack on the resume gets demonstrated, not asserted.
  • The standard holds after placement.A thirty-day deliverable-quality review with the client — not a satisfaction survey.
v.

How it works.

  • One call scopes the gap.Bring the search, the audit letter, or the runway question. Thirty minutes tells us both whether it fits.
  • Meet one operator.The right one — hand-matched by the principal, not a stack of resumes to sort.
  • In the seat within days.The engagement runs direct between you and the operator; Maeven stays accountable for the fit.
vi.

Engagement shape.

vii.

What this is not.

  • A staffing agency.No contractor float, no bill-rate spread, no resume volume. One right operator, placed and stood behind.
  • A recruiting retainer.We place from a vetted bench. When a permanent search is the right move, we pressure-test your finalists so you hire once.
  • A body shop.Senior operators only — people who have run closes, faced auditors, and defended forecasts.

The gap won't wait a quarter.

One call scopes it — bring the search, the audit letter, or the runway question. Thirty minutes tells us both whether it fits.

Book a 30-Minute Call