About the firm
A finance team for companies that are not quite ready for one.
Folistead Advisory was founded on a simple observation: most growing companies need a real finance function years before they can justify hiring one. We built the firm to be that function — bookkeeping, controller and CFO — for a flat monthly fee.
Our story
Started by a CFO who kept being asked the same question.
Before founding the firm, Eleanor Marsh spent a decade as a finance leader inside growing companies. Founders she met at events asked the same thing: “Is there someone who can just run this properly for us — without the full-time salary?”
There was not, at least not in a form she would have hired herself. So in 2016 she started Folistead Advisory with one client, one bookkeeper and a rule that still holds: the close lands on the tenth business day, every month.
Today the firm works with founder-led companies across software, healthcare, professional services and the trades — from a first clean-up to a Series B.
How we think
Three principles behind every engagement.
01
Numbers exist to make decisions
A report nobody acts on is a cost. Every statement we send comes with a plain-English summary and, where it matters, a recommendation.
02
Rhythm beats heroics
A close that lands on a fixed day, a forecast updated every Friday, one batched list of questions a week. Boring, reliable, and the reason nothing slips.
03
Say the uncomfortable thing early
If the books are not ready for a CFO, we say so. If a raise is premature, we say so. Our clients pay us for judgment, not agreement.
Values
What we hold ourselves to.
Precision
Reconciled means reconciled. Every account agrees with the outside world before a statement leaves the building.
Candor
Clear recommendations, honest scoping and no surprises in the invoice.
Calm
Deadlines, raises and audits are our normal week. We bring the pace down, not up.
Service
A named team, a business-day response, and someone who picks up the phone.
Team
The people you will work with.
Our standards
The standards behind the work.
Your data
How we protect your financial information.
Read-only connections to your bank and accounting platforms wherever the provider supports them.
Two-factor authentication on every system, for every member of the team.
Documents move through an encrypted client portal, never as email attachments.
Access is limited to the people assigned to your engagement and reviewed quarterly.
A written security and confidentiality policy, available on request.