How we work

Senior finance, delivered fractionally.

The capabilities behind every One Abacus engagement, from the executive seat to the general ledger. If the catalog on the services page tells you what we do, this page tells you how.

Advisor and executive reviewing financial planning documents together at a bright table.
Four capabilities

One firm. Four capabilities. All fractional.

Every engagement draws on one or more of these capabilities, sized to your board's ask. Cross-capability engagements are common.

Executive finance seats

Fractional CFO and COO leadership, executive coaching, and board-committee partnership.

See Fractional CFO & COO

Senior finance operations

Directors, Controllers, financial reporting, and interim coverage during transitions.

See Senior Finance Team

Accounting and ERP

Day-to-day accounting, written findings assessments, ERP optimization, and budget rebuilds.

See Accounting Optimization

Grants, AI, and HR

Fractional grant analysts, portfolio compliance, fractional CHRO, and HRIS rollout.

See AI, Grants & HR
The engagement rhythm

Four steps, same rhythm every time.

1

Free consultation

Thirty minutes with Lorin to diagnose the real question.

2

Discovery & scoping

A written scope with hours, outcomes, and a start date.

3

Fractional engagement

Month-end closes on time. Board packets ship a week early.

4

Ongoing partnership

Scale up, scale down, or hand off to the permanent hire we helped you find.

Diverse professional team meeting around a laptop in an open collaborative space.
What makes One Abacus different

Nonprofit-only. ERP-broad. Board-fluent.

Three things nonprofit executives keep telling us are hard to find in the same firm. We built the practice around them.

  • Nonprofit-only client roster. Every engagement is a 501(c)(3) or (c)(6), no exceptions.
  • Hands-on across NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Blackbaud Financial Edge, MIP, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and QuickBooks Online.
  • Board-committee comfort. Attending, presenting, and helping directors read the packet is part of the seat.
  • Interim and transition specialty. The seat stays covered through the search.
Client voices

Six named nonprofit leaders on the work.

Each proposal is paired with the specific engagement outcome it followed, so you can see the shape of the work, not just the sentiment.

Marjorie's calm confidence and friendly demeanor provided us with stability during our transition.
Outcome

Seamless interim Director of Accounting coverage during permanent recruitment. Month-end closes continued without a missed cycle.

AT
Allyson Tutor
CFO, San Diego Food Bank
Their expertise, efficiency, and calm command of the work immediately gave our staff and board confidence.
Outcome

Crisis-period finance leadership through complex audit preparation. Day-to-day operations covered without disruption.

AA
Adele Adkins
Managing Director, Laguna Playhouse
Their optimization of our NetSuite environment has significantly enhanced our reporting capabilities.
Outcome

NetSuite reconfiguration and executive-team financial literacy uplift during a leadership transition.

DJ
Dr. Jo-Elle Mogerman
President, Philadelphia Zoo
One Abacus' outside viewpoint and collaboration allowed us to create a more effective budgeting system.
Outcome

New budgeting system and cash-forecasting cadence delivered and adopted by the finance team.

IM
Ingrid M. Nyholm-Lange
COO, American Swedish Institute
They quickly mobilized a talented group of professionals who handled everything with expertise and ease.
Outcome

Day-to-day accounting and audit preparation carried through a critical grants-heavy period.

BS
Brenda Simmons
CEO, Institute for Public Strategies
Their expertise was instrumental as we rebuilt our financial operations from the ground up.
Outcome

Financial-operations reconstruction alongside an organizational restructuring.

KR
Kelly Ricker
COO, Global Technology Industry Association
Good to know

Questions we hear from nonprofit leaders.

The specifics behind the seat, before you book the consultation.

The free consultation starts with the question the board keeps asking. From that, we recommend the seat — Fractional CFO, COO, controller, grants, or HR — and the fraction of hours the engagement needs. Most engagements begin with a Fractional CFO seat or an Accounting Optimization sprint.
Both. Senior Finance Team engagements ride alongside a controller who is capable but stretched. Fractional CFO seats often cover interim windows during a permanent search. We say up front which shape fits the moment you're in.
Fixed monthly retainer for ongoing fractional seats. Defined-scope pricing for project work like ERP assessments, grants management sprints, or HRIS implementations. Written scope with hours and outcomes lands after the free consultation — no benefits, no recruiting fee, no mis-hire risk.
Deeply: NetSuite, Sage Intacct, Blackbaud Financial Edge, MIP, Microsoft Dynamics 365, and QuickBooks Online. Chart-of-accounts, workflow, integrations, board dashboards, and the reporting on top — we bring the seat and the tooling together.
Interim CFO coverage can start within a week. Scoped fractional engagements typically start two to four weeks after the free consultation so we can read the last three board packets and the last audit before landing the scope.

Ready to see how we would work together?