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Steven Alexander CPA Inc.accounting. advisory. growth.
Resources · Organizational chart
Who holds what

Nine functions. Five shapes. From solo to a company.

Every business does all nine of these from day one. Growth does not change the work. It changes whose name is on it.

Functions still held by the owner

9Solo
1 person
7First Hires
2–4 people
4The Crew
5–9 people
3The Team
10–19 people
1The Company
20+ people

Four to three is the step that surprises people. A real team takes one function off your desk, not three. The other two were never handed to anyone, and what nobody was given is still yours.

The five shapes

Every business does all nine. Growth just changes whose name is on them.

Find the chart your business resembles, then look at the next one. The gap between the two is usually the conversation you have been putting off.

00

Solo

1 PERSON

You are all nine.

Owner / Operator Leadership & Strategy Sales & Estimating Marketing Operations & Delivery Project Management Customer Experience Finance & Admin People & Safety Systems & Technology ALL NINE Steven Alexander CPA Inc. Systems setup · Initial process BUILT RIGHT ONCE, AT THE START NO REPORTING LINES · NOBODY TO REPORT TO
The business runs at exactly the speed of one calendar. This stage is supposed to look like this.

What is true here

Every hour on one function is an hour off the other eight. Nothing is delegated because nothing can be afforded yet.

What falls back to you

All of it. There is nowhere else for it to go. This is the one stage where that is the right answer, not a finding.

Next hire

Whoever frees the most hours only you can work. That is delivery help, not admin. Hiring admin first feels productive and moves nothing.

CPASystems setup, initial process, year-end and tax
LawyerIncorporation, standard terms
BankerA business account
01

First Hires

2–4 PEOPLE

The standard leaves your hands.

Owner / Operator Leadership · Sales & Estimating · Marketing Project Mgmt · Customer · People · Systems SEVEN OF NINE Field / Delivery Hire Operations & Delivery STILL SHARED WITH THE OWNER Administrator Finance & Administration PART-TIME Steven Alexander CPA Inc. Bookkeeping · Payroll BESIDE BOTH, INSIDE NEITHER FIRST PAYROLL · FIRST SOURCE DEDUCTIONS
Delivery only half leaves. The owner is still on the tools beside the hire, which is why this stage feels busier, not lighter.

What is new

Your standard has to be taught, not performed. Most owners find out here that they never put it into words.

What falls back to you

Quality control. Nobody was given it, so you still check everything yourself. That is why the hire freed less time than you expected.

Next hire

A lead hand who can run a whole job without you on site. Not another pair of hands.

CPABookkeeping and payroll, beside the owner
LawyerEmployment and subcontract terms
BankerA small operating line
02

The Crew

5–9 PEOPLE

Someone else runs the day.

Owner / General Manager Leadership · Sales · Marketing · Systems FOUR OF NINE Lead Hand / Foreman Operations & Delivery Project Management PEOPLE & SAFETY, DAY TO DAY Office Administrator Invoicing · Receivables Customer Experience DAY-TO-DAY ADMINISTRATION Crew ×3–5 Steven Alexander CPA Inc. Bookkeeping · Payroll Financial reviews Tax & compliance ASSISTS OWNER AND OFFICE ONE PERSON NOW STANDS BETWEEN OWNER AND WORK
Delivery, project management and day-to-day safety all move in one step. Pricing does not. It stays in the owner's head, and that is where the margin problem starts. This is also the size where the finance function is worth handing over whole.

What is new

You stop directing tasks and start directing the person who directs them. A different skill, and nobody taught you it.

What falls back to you

Pricing. You still quote by feel, at night. Nobody checks what the job actually cost, so the estimating never improves.

Next hire

An estimator if you cannot win the right work. An operations manager if you cannot run what you win. Backwards costs a year.

CPAThe whole finance function, assisting owner and office
LawyerContract review, liens and holdbacks
BankerLine sized to receivables, equipment finance
03

The Team

10–19 PEOPLE

The first shape that survives you.

Owner Leadership & Strategy ONE OF NINE · BY DESIGN Estimator Sales & Estimating OWNER STILL CLOSES Operations Manager Delivery · Project Mgmt People & Safety Office Manager Finance & Administration Customer Experience Steven Alexander CPA Inc. Payables · Payroll — shared Controllership · Close ASSISTS ALL THREE Foreman ×2 SUPERVISORS Bookkeeper RECEIVABLES — IN HOUSE Crews ×6–12 Marketing Systems & Technology NO SEAT WAS NAMED, SO THEY STAY THE OWNER’S BY DEFAULT, THEY COME BACK HERE
Finance splits on the natural line. Receivables stay in house with the customer relationships. Payables, payroll and the close are run jointly. Marketing and systems get no name at all — and an unassigned function is not an absent one. It stays where it already was.

What is new

Named accountability. Every question has an obvious person to ask, and your calendar stops being the routing table.

What falls back to you

Marketing and systems. No seat was named for either. Nobody decides which software is the system of record, so two disagree, neither is trusted, and both land back on you.

Next hire

The finance seat above bookkeeping. At this size, not knowing your job margin costs more than the seat does.

CPAControllership beside your bookkeeper, not above them
LawyerNegotiation, shareholder agreement
BankerStructured facilities and covenants
04

The Company

20+ PEOPLE

You stop touching the work.

Owner Leadership & Strategy ONE OF NINE Fractional CFO Steven Alexander CPA Inc. BESIDE THE SEAT, NOT BENEATH IT Sales Manager Sales & Estimating Marketing General Manager Operations & Delivery Project Management People & Safety People & Safety Systems liaison Controller Finance & Administration In house — or ours OR OURS Estimators ×2 Superintendent ×1 Project Mgrs ×2 AP / AR / Payroll ×2 Crews / Field ×10–14 TWO LAYERS · THE OWNER NOW MANAGES MANAGERS
Every function has a name against it and the owner holds one. The fractional CFO sits beside that seat, not beneath it — an extension of the owner, not another report.

What is new

Two layers. A scorecard stops being a nice idea and becomes the only way you know anything.

What falls back to you

Succession. Every key seat is one deep with no backup, so the continuity risk is still yours. The last thing nobody was given.

Next hire

Depth, not breadth. A credible second in every critical seat. The instinct is to add a department. The need is to stop being one deep.

CPAFractional CFO, and the controller seat if you want it
LawyerGovernance, succession, transactions
BankerFull facility, growth capital

Who holds what

Read across to watch a function change hands.

Function 00 Solo 01 First Hires 02 The Crew 03 The Team 04 The Company
Inside
Leadership & Strategy OwnerOwnerOwnerOwnerOwner
Sales & Estimating OwnerOwnerOwnerEstimatorSales Manager
Marketing OwnerOwnerOwner Ownerwith helpSales Manager
Operations & Delivery OwnerField hireForemanOperations ManagerGeneral Manager
Project Management OwnerOwnerForemanOperations ManagerProject Managers
Customer Experience OwnerOwnerAdministratorOffice ManagerGM and Sales
Finance & Administration OwnerAdministratorAdministratorOffice ManagerAR in house · AP and payroll sharedController
People & Safety OwnerOwnerForemanOperations ManagerCoordinator
Systems & Technology OwnerOwnerOwner Ownerwith helpCoordinator
Outside
CPA Systems setup, year-end, taxBookkeeping, payrollThe whole finance functionControllership — AP and payroll sharedFractional CFO — or the controller seat
Lawyer IncorporationEmployment termsLiens and holdbacksShareholder agreementGovernance, succession
Banker Business accountSmall operating lineEquipment financeCovenantsGrowth capital
The owner holds it A named seat

Scroll the table sideways to follow one function across all five stages.

Reference shapes, not prescriptions. Match a client to the chart they resemble, then show them the next one. The delta is the conversation they have been avoiding.

Headcount is a symptom, not the stage. A fourteen-person business whose owner still prices every job is a Crew carrying Team payroll. Naming that is often the whole review.

Where this goes next

The chart says who. The next two say how.

Every chart above hands the same three functions — bookkeeping, financial reviews, tax and compliance — to the same dotted-line box. These two pages open that box: the people inside it, and the systems they run.

The people

The bookkeeping process

Four seats — administrator, bookkeeper, controller, CFO — and what each one is actually accountable for. The stage where a function stops being yours is the stage a seat has to exist.

Read the roles The systems

Your finance department

The five software layers those seats run on, what feeds them, and the weekly and monthly rhythm that keeps the numbers current enough to decide from.

Walk the system
The Operating Review

Which chart are you, and which one is next?

Headcount is a symptom, not the stage. Naming which functions never got handed to anyone — and what it is costing to leave them on your desk — is usually the most useful hour of the year.

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Reviewed by Steven Alexander, CPA · Updated