"I didn’t even know someone like you existed."

Those were the first words when we connected. A colleague had made the introduction. And honestly, it didn’t surprise me. Founders at this level are often so busy running their business they don’t look up long enough to notice what they actually need.

We started with a Financial Review, a deep dive offer where I go into the numbers looking for discrepancies, making sure the books and the tax return are telling the same story, finding the holes, closing the leaks. More often than not, I find something.

This time, what I found changed everything.

The founder had purchased the business five years earlier. They had a bookkeeper. They had a CPA. From the outside, the financial picture looked like a growing, functioning company, revenue climbing, a team in place, clients coming in. They had money in the bank.

When I got into the Financial Review, something didn’t add up. The purchase price they’d paid for the business, documented in the purchase agreement, wasn’t reflected correctly in the financials or the tax return. I flagged it directly. Here’s what I’m seeing. Here’s what the numbers are telling me. Take this back to your CPA and ask some questions.

They did.

"Oh, must have missed that. We’ll fix it next year."

Five years later.

So, I asked a simple question: "How much do you love your CPA?"

Turns out, not that much.

What surfaced when they dug in wasn’t a small oversight. It was a mistake that had been sitting in the financials for years, over a half million dollars that hadn’t been accounted for correctly. Once it was addressed, the founder saved $125,000 in taxes.

That $125,000 alone paid for me for several years. Not including the growth, the profitability, and the exponential growth that came after.

I can’t tell you how many times I hear this, daily, from women business owners: "I have a bookkeeper and a CPA. I’m covered."

If you’re at multi-six and seven figures… you’re not.

A bookkeeper records what happened. A CPA files what’s required. But neither of them is sitting inside your business with a strategic lens, asking where the money is going, whether the business is actually profitable as it grows, and what the numbers are trying to tell you before it becomes a problem.

That’s a different role entirely. And for most growing businesses at this size, it’s the role that’s been empty.

And that was just the beginning. Next week I’ll share what happened when someone with a CFO-level lens stayed inside this business and what the numbers looked like four years later.

A Financial Clarity Session is a free session where we get to know each other, see if we are the right fit, and look at where you are and what you actually need. We’ll know by the end of that session what the right next step is.

You can book yours at AudreyFaust.as.me/FinancialClarity.

The only CFO-trained strategist who partners with women business owners at $250K–$3M to scale their business by mastering their numbers, their relationship with money, and leading as an empowered CEO.