Illustrative Examples
Project Ideas
These are examples of the kinds of projects fraction-ao consultants have tackled for small and medium-sized businesses across Texas and the United States. They are not packaged offerings. Every engagement is scoped against your specific situation. Read these to picture how a placed consultant might help with similar work at your company.
Illustrative Project 01
Agentic AI Reconciliation
Stop paying senior people to match transactions in spreadsheets.
The Scenario
Most SMBs run reconciliations in Excel because they think enterprise software is out of reach. It is not anymore. Cloud-based AI agents can match bank, credit card, and intercompany transactions automatically, at a price point that makes sense for a $5M to $50M business.
What a Placed Consultant Might Do
In an engagement like this, the placed consultant typically selects the right vendor, deploys it, integrates it with QuickBooks, NetSuite, or Sage, and tunes it for your transaction patterns.
How PA&A Fits In
PA&A reviews exceptions and signs off on month-end reconciliations after a thorough review of the consultant work, and ensures audit-ready documentation.
Past Outcomes
JPMorgan COiN reduced 360,000 hours of annual review to seconds. Siemens SHERPA X achieved 97% reduction in manual tasks. BlackRock Aladdin manages reconciliation at $21.6 trillion scale. Mid-market clients see 70-95% manual effort reduction and 78% plus error reduction with the same methodology, sized for SMBs.
Illustrative Project 02
AI-Driven Close Acceleration
Compress your monthly close from 12 days to 5.
The Scenario
Your monthly close drags into the second week. The senior accountants who should be advising the business are stuck preparing journals and reconciling. You have no real-time view of cash and margin.
What a Placed Consultant Might Do
In an engagement like this, the placed consultant typically maps the close calendar, identifies the 3 to 5 critical-path bottlenecks, and deploys AI orchestration: continuous reconciliation, intelligent journal automation, intercompany elimination logic, and real-time variance flagging.
How PA&A Fits In
PA&A runs the close every month, signs the financial statements, and ensures every close package is audit-ready.
Past Outcomes
Unilever ran the global close from 12 days to 5 days using close orchestration. SMBs typically go 10 days to 4 days with the right talent to deliver the right outcomes on the project. Deloitte's 2024 AI in Accounting Report shows 20-40% close acceleration is the median outcome.
Illustrative Project 03
Continuous Fraud and Anomaly Monitoring
Move from reactive audit to proactive AI prevention.
The Scenario
SMBs lose more per dollar of revenue to occupational fraud than larger organizations, primarily because they cannot afford the controls. Vendor irregularities, expense abuse, and journal entry manipulation often go undetected for years.
What a Placed Consultant Might Do
In an engagement like this, the placed consultant typically deploys continuous AI transaction monitoring calibrated to your transaction patterns. The system flags anomalies in real time: unusual vendors, off-pattern amounts, suspicious timing, duplicate submissions.
How PA&A Fits In
PA&A investigates flagged anomalies forensically, documents findings, and builds the control improvements that prevent recurrence.
Past Outcomes
ACFE's 2024 Report to the Nations: SMBs lose a median of $150K per fraud event. Continuous AI monitoring reduces detection time from 14 months to under 30 days. PA&A's forensic team investigates what AI flags.
Illustrative Project 04
Intelligent AP Automation
Cut cost per invoice by 80%. Capture every early-pay discount.
The Scenario
Your AP team is always behind. Late fees pile up. Early-pay discounts go uncaptured because there is no time to optimize payment timing. Three-way matching is a wish, not a process.
What a Placed Consultant Might Do
In an engagement like this, the placed consultant typically selects, deploys, and tunes an AI AP automation platform: invoice capture, GL coding, three-way match, exception routing, and payment optimization.
How PA&A Fits In
PA&A takes over the supervised AP function: vendor management, 1099 compliance, dispute resolution, and monthly accruals.
Past Outcomes
A $52M food distributor (case study above) cut cost per invoice from $14 to $1.80 and captured $145K in early-pay discounts in year one. SMB payback is 2 to 4 months. Three-year ROI of 1,000% plus is the norm, not the exception.
Illustrative Project 05
ASC 606 Revenue Recognition
Make your auditor say yes the first time.
The Scenario
If your revenue model mixes fixed-fee, time-and-materials, success fees, subscription terms, or milestones, ASC 606 is a quarterly nightmare. Restatements cost trust with lenders and investors.
What a Placed Consultant Might Do
In an engagement like this, the placed consultant typically deploys an AI contract analysis tool that reads engagement letters, classifies performance obligations, flags variable consideration, and posts the appropriate recognition pattern to the GL.
How PA&A Fits In
PA&A authors the technical accounting memos, reviews every classification quarterly, and prepares the audit-support documentation. Clean audit, every time.
Past Outcomes
An $18M consulting firm (case study above) cut quarterly ASC 606 review time from 60 hours to 18 and earned a clean audit after two restatements in three prior years.
Illustrative Project 06
Fractional AI Leadership
A fractional AI-fluent finance leader on your team for as long as you need one.
The Scenario
You are too small for a full-time CFO with AI fluency. Your existing controller is great at the books but cannot evaluate AI vendors or design an AI roadmap. You need a part-time leader, not a full-time hire.
What a Placed Consultant Might Do
In an engagement like this, the placed consultant typically fraction-ao places a fractional finance leader (controller-level or CFO-level) with both deep finance background and AI fluency. They run the AI roadmap, evaluate vendors, lead deployments, and train your team.
How PA&A Fits In
PA&A handles the underlying compliance, audit, and tax work so the fractional leader can focus on strategic projects and not get pulled back into transactional work.
Past Outcomes
Across 30+ SMB engagements, the fractional pattern (1 to 2 days per week) consistently delivers full-time CFO-class outcomes for 30 to 40% of full-time cost.
Have something similar in mind? Tell us about it.