Senior finance leadership, without the full-time hire.
For insurance agencies, MGAs, program administrators and carriers, and the privately held companies around them, doing roughly $3M to $25M a year. Twenty years in finance leadership, including AIG and Kemper, applied to your plan, your cash, your KPIs and your next decision.
Fully remote from Coral Gables. Clients across the United States.
Strategic finance for an insurance business in a growth phase.
For a company that has outgrown its bookkeeper’s reports but does not need a full-time CFO.
Budget, cash forecast and long-range plan
An annual budget that is reforecast each quarter, a rolling 13-week cash view, and a three to five year model that tests every hire, producer deal and carrier mix change against year-end cash before you commit.
Five to eight KPIs on one page
Agreed with ownership and tracked monthly: revenue per producer, retention, contribution by line and by carrier, EBITDA and cash conversion.
Independent view on executive compensation and distributions
Bonus structures, incentive plans and shareholder distributions tied to measured performance and the metrics in the plan. A recommendation ownership did not write for itself, with the numbers behind it.
Capital allocation decisions, modelled first
Buying a book of business, adding a line, opening an office or hiring ahead of revenue. Each option costed, sequenced and compared to doing nothing, so capital goes where the return is.
Growth balanced against financial discipline
Where the company stands today, and limits on debt, cash and owner pay so growth gets funded on purpose.
An outside voice at the ownership table
Assumptions challenged, strategies validated against the model, and a plain statement of what the numbers say. The seat only works if the advisor is independent of the answer you were hoping for.
The business is growing. The numbers are not keeping up.
Revenue goes up, the team is busy, the calendar is full. And still, when someone asks what last quarter's margin was, the answer is a guess. Cash gets tight for reasons nobody can name until it is already tight. The budget was built once, under pressure, and nobody has reforecast it since.
None of this means the business is weak. Finance has fallen behind the growth, and another report or tool will not close the gap. Someone reading the numbers with ownership every month will.
- You hear about a cash problem when it is already a cash problem.
- Margin by line of business, producer or carrier is a guess.
- Bonuses, owner pay and distributions are set by feel.
- A hire, an acquisition or a new line is on the table with no model behind it.
- Prices are set by what the competition charges, and you hope the gap covers it.
- A bank, investor or buyer is asking questions the numbers cannot answer.
What I keep seeing in growing companies.
At AIG and Kemper the numbers arrived on time, reconciled, with someone accountable for them. Decisions were made on current figures.
Since 2018 I have done the same work for privately held and sponsor-backed companies through Consultgenix, and the pattern repeats. The business works: customers keep coming, staff are busy, revenue goes up. What is missing is anyone reading the numbers alongside the owner. So prices come from the competition's rate card, margin news arrives once a year, every hire starts with a look at the bank balance, and compensation is whatever was left over.
I sit in that seat. In insurance I also bring what a generalist misses: carrier commission economics, premium trust, producer splits and loss-ratio sensitivity.
If any of this sounds like your business, the next step is a 30-minute call. Bring the decision that is bothering you. I will tell you whether I can help, what it would cost, and if I am not the right fit, who might be.
P.S. The question owners most often bring to a first call is the one nobody independent has asked them: are we paying ourselves, and our people, in line with what the business can carry? That is a fair place to start.
Built for owners and sponsors who
Run a real business and want the numbers to show it.
Not a fit: businesses that want a bookkeeper to pay bills and run payroll, or that need same-day answers on everything. Insurance agencies that need the books done first can start with bookkeeping for insurance agencies, a separate service with its own page and pricing.
- Run an insurance agency, MGA, program administrator or carrier doing roughly $3M to $25M, in a growth phase, with no finance lead at the table.
- Lead a privately held or PE-backed company with a transaction, a capital decision or an annual plan on the table and no one to prepare it.
- Want to stop guessing on pricing, hiring and growth and start deciding with current numbers.
- Are looking at AI or automation for finance and want the workflow assessed before buying the tool.
One retainer. Projects at a fixed fee. One call first.
No hourly billing. Scope, fee and start date in writing within two business days of the call. Every price here is real.
Fractional CFO
- Annual budget, quarterly reforecast and a 13-week cash view
- KPI page and a monthly decision meeting with ownership
- Independent recommendations on compensation, distributions and capital allocation
- Board- and lender-ready reporting
- On call when something does not look right
Scoped and priced in writing
- Financial position and planning assessment
- Executive compensation and distribution policy review
- Capital allocation or acquisition model
- Corporate finance and transaction support
- AI workflow assessment
One page a month. Plan, cash, KPIs and what ownership was paid.
A package you can read in ten minutes: budget against actual, contribution by line and carrier, cash on hand in weeks, the KPI page, what ownership drew against plan, and a one-page note on what changed and why. Then a decision meeting to work through what the numbers mean for the next move.
For insurance businesses, the package also ties commission revenue to carrier statements and shows producer payouts against the same statements the revenue came from.
Four steps from first call to decisions made on current numbers.
Talk
A 30-minute call about the decision in front of you. You leave knowing whether I can help and roughly what it costs.
Scope
Written scope, fixed fee and start date within two business days.
Assess
Read-only access to the ledger, bank feeds and the current plan. In the first 30 days: an assessment of the financial position, the budget, the cash view and the KPIs you should be running on.
Run
Monthly close review, cash view, KPI page and a decision meeting with ownership. Each quarter, a reforecast of the next twelve months.
Work directly with the person who signs off on your numbers.
Derrek leads every engagement. Work is done by Derrek or a team he trains and reviews, and nothing goes out without his sign-off.
About Derrek Career, writing and credentials at derrekspace.com →
Questions before you book
Do you advise on executive compensation and owner distributions?
Yes. Ownership gets an independent recommendation on bonus structures, incentive plans and shareholder distributions, tied to the KPIs and the forecast we agree on.
What does an engagement look like for an insurance business doing $3M to $10M?
Usually 16 to 20 hours a month, fully remote. Month one is an assessment of the financial position, the budget and the cash forecast. From month two the monthly cycle runs. Scope and fee are fixed in writing after the first call.
Do you only work with insurance businesses?
No. Insurance is the specialty: agencies, MGAs, program administrators and carriers. Privately held and sponsor-backed companies in healthcare, consumer goods and financial services, the industries I have run finance in, are welcome.
Do you do the bookkeeping too?
Not on this retainer. The fractional CFO work assumes a reconciled ledger. For independent insurance agencies that need the books done first, there is a separate bookkeeping service with its own pricing, and it can be bundled.
How long is the commitment?
Three months, then month to month with 30 days' notice. You keep your own systems and bank connections, so leaving is simple if you ever want to.
Do you work with businesses outside Florida?
Yes. The work is remote first and clients are across the United States. Clients in South Florida can meet in person when it helps.
Do you work in Spanish?
Yes. English, Spanish and French, with you, your staff and your CPA. Se habla español.
Bring your numbers. Leave with a next step.
A 30-minute call to see whether this is a fit. No preparation needed.
Or email [email protected]
Notes from Derrek
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