What are the best fractional CFO firms?
The Best Fractional CFO Firms, by What AI Actually Recommends
2 firms lead, appearing in 72.0–92.0% of 25 AI responses. The sample cannot separate them, so we do not pretend it can.
Based on 25 ChatGPT responses to this question, collected August 8, 2026. Firms are counted once per response. How we measure.
Key findings
- Pilot and Burkland Associates lead this sample, each named in 72.0–92.0% of 25 ChatGPT responses to the question “What are the best fractional CFO firms?”, collected August 8, 2026.
- The gaps between Pilot and Burkland Associates are inside the margin of error at 25 responses, so The Shortlist Report groups them in one tier rather than ranking them against each other.
- 15 firms cleared the reporting threshold on “What are the best fractional CFO firms?” in ChatGPT as of August 8, 2026; the full table with response counts is below.
- Deloitte appears in 6 of the 14 fractional CFO and outsourced accounting firms reports published by The Shortlist Report, the widest coverage of any firm named on this page.
- No firm paid to appear in this ranking; placement cannot be bought, and the counts come from ChatGPT responses rather than from submissions.
The ranking
| Firm | Responses | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tier 1 2 firms, 72.0–92.0% | |||
| Pilotpilot.comOffers technology-enabled bookkeeping, accounting, and CFO services to startups and small to midsize companies. | 23 of 25 | 92.0% | |
| Burkland Associatesburkland.businessFractional CFO, FP&A, and fundraising support for venture-backed startups, particularly SaaS and tech companies. | 18 of 25 | 72.0% | |
| Tier 2 6 firms, 32.0–60.0% | |||
| indineroindinero.comProvides outsourced accounting and fractional CFO services to startups and growing SMBs. | 15 of 25 | 60.0% | |
| Kruze Consultingkruzeconsulting.comProvides startup accounting, CFO services, tax preparation, R&D tax credits, and fundraising support for seed through Series C+ ventures. | 13 of 25 | 52.0% | |
| Paroparo.aiOperates a marketplace of fractional finance professionals for startups through mid-market companies. | 9 of 25 | 36.0% | |
| RSMProvides accounting, FP&A, controllership, and CFO services to growing middle-market businesses and PE-backed companies. | 9 of 25 | 36.0% | |
| Deloittedeloitte.comOffers full finance-function outsourcing, automation, controllership, and transformation for mid-market and enterprise clients. | 8 of 25 | 32.0% | |
| Graphite | 8 of 25 | 32.0% | |
| Tier 3 7 firms, 20.0–28.0% | |||
| BDOProvides bookkeeping, accounting, reporting, FP&A, and finance transformation for mid-market companies. | 7 of 25 | 28.0% | |
| Grant Thorntongrantthornton.comProvides outsourced accounting, advisory, tax, and finance transformation services for mid-market and larger companies. | 7 of 25 | 28.0% | |
| PwCProvides finance transformation, accounting operations, vendor financial due diligence, and CFO services for mid-market enterprises and private-equity-backed businesses. | 6 of 25 | 24.0% | |
| Toptaltoptal.comCurated marketplace connecting companies with individual fractional CFOs, positioning itself as sourcing top-tier independent talent. | 6 of 25 | 24.0% | |
| Acuityacuity.coOffers outsourced controller and CFO support with multi-entity/multi-currency accounting for SaaS, professional services, and growing companies. | 5 of 25 | 20.0% | |
| Genpactgenpact.comHigh-volume finance and accounting outsourcing and transformation for large enterprises and global operations. | 5 of 25 | 20.0% | |
| KPMGkpmg.comProvides full finance managed services, M&A advisory, financial diligence, and transaction support for mid-market and enterprise clients. | 5 of 25 | 20.0% | |
Why the tiers fall where they do
Tier 1 holds Pilot and Burkland Associates, named in 18 to 23 of the 25 ChatGPT responses. They are grouped rather than ranked because the gaps between them are inside the margin of error at this sample size — one extra mention would reorder them, so an order would be reporting noise as a finding.
Tier 2 holds indinero, Kruze Consulting, Paro, RSM, Deloitte and Graphite, named in 8 to 15 of 25 responses (32.0–60.0%). The sample does separate these firms from the tier above: the difference from the leading group is larger than the margin of error, which is what puts them in a tier of their own.
Tier 3 holds BDO, Grant Thornton, PwC, Toptal, Acuity, Genpact and KPMG, named in 5 to 7 of 25 responses (20.0–28.0%). The sample does separate these firms from the tier above: the difference from the leading group is larger than the margin of error, which is what puts them in a tier of their own.
The test is McNemar’s at 95%, applied against the same 25 responses for every firm. The full reasoning, and what happened when we ranked one-to-N instead.
What the sample shows
2 firms lead this question: Pilot and Burkland Associates. They appear in 72.0–92.0% of the 25 responses. The gaps between them are inside the margin of error at this sample size, so they are listed together rather than ranked against each other.
60 firms were named at least once across the sample. 15 of them cleared the threshold of 2 responses and appear above; the rest were named once and are inside the noise.
How to read this
Firms are grouped into tiers, not ranked one to fifteen. A tier holds every firm whose 95% confidence interval overlaps the leader's, which is a long way of saying the sample cannot tell them apart. Order within a tier is arbitrary — read the counts, not the position.
Share is the percentage of responses that named the firm — not a quality score. A firm scoring low here may be excellent and simply under-written about online, which is a finding about its visibility rather than its work.
The same question was asked repeatedly because AI assistants do not answer identically twice. A single response would tell you almost nothing.
What this measurement does not tell you
- It is not a quality ranking. Share reflects how much has been written about a firm online, which is what an AI assistant reads. A capable firm nobody writes about scores low here.
- It is a reading from a date range, not a permanent standing. This sample was collected August 8, 2026; models change and so do their answers.
- It covers ChatGPT only. Other assistants answer differently, and we do not extrapolate across engines we have not measured.
- Order within a tier is arbitrary. Read the counts, not the position. Why we use tiers.
Cite this report
Danielle Trettson. (2026). The Best Fractional CFO Firms, by What AI Actually Recommends. The Shortlist Report. https://www.shortlistreport.com/article/best-fractional-cfo-firms
Underlying counts: CSV · JSON · reusable under CC BY 4.0 with attribution.