Controller or CFO for a franchise owner, by number of locations
Updated 16 October 2026
A controller runs the monthly close and keeps the books accurate. A CFO, or chief financial officer, plans cash, borrowing and growth from those books. A franchise owner usually needs a controller first and a CFO as locations are added. The worked examples below use fee and sales figures from brands' 2026 Franchise Disclosure Documents (FDDs). The FDD is the document a franchisor gives a buyer before a sale.
Who does which task
| Task | Controller | CFO |
|---|---|---|
| Close the books by a set date each month | Yes | Reviews |
| Match royalty and brand fund charges to the franchisor's statements | Yes | Reviews |
| Produce a profit and loss statement for each location | Yes | Uses |
| Build a 13-week cash forecast | Updates | Builds and owns |
| Report to a lender | Prepares | Presents |
| Model a new location against the brand's FDD | Supplies figures | Builds the model |
| Prepare the books for a sale | Cleans up records | Leads |
The FDD's fee and sales figures are the comparison point for both roles. The controller checks that each month's charges match the FDD rates. The CFO uses the same rates to model the next location.
Woodhouse Spa charges a 6% royalty, a 1.75% brand fund, 1.75% local advertising and a $550 monthly technology fee. On the $2,406,193 average sales of its 81 reporting franchised spas, that is $144,372 of royalty, $42,108 to the brand fund and $42,108 of local advertising a year. The technology fee adds $6,600. A Woodhouse controller matches each of those four lines to the franchisor's statement every month.
The work at one, three and ten locations
Every location produces its own brand charges each month. The median brand in Averan's library of 431 FDDs charges a 6.50% royalty, a 2% brand fund contribution and a $388 monthly technology fee.
| Locations | Fee statements to reconcile a year | Typical finance work |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 12 | Bookkeeping and a monthly close |
| 3 | 36 | A controller: location statements, a set close date, cash by location |
| 10 | 120 | A controller and a CFO: lender reporting, opening models, a cash plan across entities |
The count of statements grows with each location. The CFO work starts when the owner borrows to open, or plans more than one opening a year.
Mathnasium reports average sales of $384,874 per center and charges fees totaling 12% of sales. An owner of three Mathnasium centers at that average runs $1,154,622 of sales and pays $138,555 a year in brand fees. That owner reconciles 36 monthly fee statements a year across the three centers.
When the CFO work starts
A lender asks for a model of the new location, a cash plan for the build and monthly reports after it opens. Those three tasks sit with a CFO. An owner opening one location a year with savings can often run them with a controller's figures. An owner opening two a year on borrowed money needs them done as a separate job.
The Goddard School lists a cost to open of $1,003,500 to $8,908,000 in its 2026 FDD. A Goddard owner financing a second school at any point in that range brings a lender a revenue model, a build budget and a cash plan. Goddard's own figures supply the model: $2,507,631 in average revenue and a 21.8% profit margin at the average mature school.
Part-time roles
A fractional controller or fractional CFO works part-time for more than one company. A franchise owner with three locations pays for part of a role, billed monthly, and the role covers the same close and reports a full-time hire would produce. That owner hires full-time staff once the hours fill a week.
Three locations at the library median of $748,885 run $2,246,655 of sales a year. Ten run $7,488,850. The close, the fee statements and the location reports grow with each one, while the CFO tasks grow with each opening and each loan.
How Averan provides both
Averan Advisors provides bookkeeping, controller and fractional CFO work for franchise owners.
What this means for an owner
One location needs bookkeeping and a monthly close. Three locations bring 36 fee statements a year and a profit and loss for each location, which is controller work. Borrowing to open, or opening more than one location a year, adds lender models and cash plans, which is CFO work. At Woodhouse Spa's rates, four fee lines cost the average spa about $235,188 a year, and each one is checked against the franchisor's statement. A part-time role covers both jobs until the hours fill a week.
Check one location
The Franchise Numbers Check is a free tool on this site. It takes one location's figures and sets them against the brand data Averan has published.
Where to next
Want the books off your plate?
Book a short call, and we'll give you an expert view of your situation.
Free Consult →Want this handled? Averan does the bookkeeping for franchise owners and multi-unit operators.
Planning another location? Fractional CFO covers the forecast and the cash plan behind it.
If you want this done for you
What happens next
Reading about it and having it done are different things. Here is exactly what happens if you want the second one.
- The call takes thirty minutesYou describe the business and where the numbers are letting you down. We give you an expert view of your situation, and what we would start with. There is no pitch deck.
- We look at the fileYou give us read access to the books as they are. We come back with what is wrong, what it will take to fix, and whether the answer is bookkeeping, controller work, or something else.
- We send a written scope and a priceIt lists what we do each month, what you get, the date it lands and the fee. We agree it before anything starts, and it does not change unless you agree.
- We take over the books and close the first monthWe set up access and systems and enter the opening balances. The first close lands on the date in the scope, and every one after it does too.