A fractional accountant is an experienced accounting professional who works on a part-time or flexible basis – typically 10–30 hours per week – as a fully integrated member of a company's team. They own real accounting responsibilities and work directly within the company's systems and workflows. The "fractional" part just refers to the fraction of full-time capacity dedicated to the engagement.
Fractional accountants are not bookkeepers, outsourced accounting firms, or temporary staffers. They are mid-to-senior level professionals who take genuine ownership of their scope – month-end close, AP, AR, revenue reconciliation, audit preparation – just at a capacity that matches what the business actually needs.
The scope depends on what the business needs. Common responsibilities for fractional accountants placed through MAVI include:
A fractional Senior Accountant manages the close cycle – journal entries, reconciliations, accruals, close reporting – working directly in the company's ERP. This is one of the most common use cases: a company needs dedicated close support but doesn't have enough volume to justify a full-time hire.
A fractional AP or AR Specialist handles invoice processing, vendor payments, customer invoicing, collections, and cash application, typically 15–25 hours per week. Hours scale with volume without converting to full-time.
For SaaS, fintech, and other companies with complex revenue models, a fractional Revenue Accountant manages revenue recognition, deferred revenue schedules, and reconciliation against billing systems.
A fractional Senior Accountant with Big 4 or audit experience can prepare the documentation, reconciliations, and internal controls work external audits require – without the cost of a full-time audit-ready hire.
Many companies bring in a fractional accountant to clean up a chart of accounts, improve close processes, build SOPs, or address backlogs left by a departed team member. Time-bounded work that doesn't require a permanent FTE.
If your current workload genuinely requires 20–30 hours per week of skilled support, a full-time employee adds 10–20 hours of unnecessary payroll cost. This is especially common at companies with 20–100 employees where the accounting function is growing but hasn't reached full-time complexity.
A key accountant leaves and the remaining team can't absorb the workload. A fractional accountant can step in within days – MAVI places fractional talent in as few as five – to cover the gap while a permanent search runs, or permanently if the arrangement proves sufficient.
Experienced mid-level and senior accountants are expensive full-time. A fractional Senior Accountant delivers that expertise at the hours and cost that fit the company's current stage.
Fast-growing companies often face a lag between when complexity increases and when headcount can keep up. A fractional accountant fills that gap immediately, with the flexibility to scale hours as the business grows.
Work with an accountant part-time for 30–60 days, evaluate performance, and convert to full-time if the fit is strong. This removes the largest risk of a traditional full-time hire: paying a significant salary for someone who doesn't work out.
Can they own a process without constant check-ins? A fractional hire who requires heavy oversight isn't saving you time.
Can they handle the accounting processes they're being asked to manage – accruals, reconciliations, a complete invoice cycle – without needing to be walked through it?
Are they already fluent in your ERP and accounting tools? Ramp time on software is expensive.
Remote fractional work depends on clear, proactive communication. Can they flag issues before they escalate and integrate into the team's cadence?
Fractional placements fail when the accountant treats the engagement as a lower-priority side commitment. MAVI's network is built of professionals who treat fractional work as their primary professional engagement.
MAVI supports both full-time and fractional engagements, with many senior finance leaders even starting with part-time hires then eventually transitioning to FTEs later on. Our flexible model allows you to start with a team that caters to your current needs, then build up as you scale. Book a call to learn more about how we can place pre-vetted, US-caliber fractional accountants into your team.
An experienced accounting professional who works part-time – typically 10–30 hours per week – as an integrated team member, owning real accounting responsibilities at a fraction of the cost and commitment of a full-time hire.
A bookkeeper manages transactional record-keeping – data entry, categorization, bank reconciliation. A fractional accountant has deeper technical expertise: month-end close, financial reporting, complex reconciliations, and process improvement work that requires accounting judgment.
Through MAVI, fractional accounting talent runs 50–70% less than US equivalent full-time rates, with no benefits burden, no placement fee, and no contract lock-in.
For companies whose workload genuinely requires less than full-time capacity, yes. Many companies that start fractional maintain that arrangement permanently because it matches their actual needs better than a full-time headcount would.
In as few as five business days from initial inquiry to onboarded and working.