Fractional leadership · Controller
Fractional controller for med spas and aesthetics practices.
A controller is the person who makes the numbers right and keeps them right: the close happens on a date, every balance sheet account reconciles, the package liability ties to the point-of-sale report, inventory is counted and the two entities in an MSO structure settle with each other every month. Balance Partners provides fractional controller services to med spas nationwide, led by Jenny Gao, CPA, EA — for practices that have outgrown a bookkeeper but are not ready to hire a full-time controller.
Who this is for
What happened — verified, reconciled and on time.
Best fit: med spas past roughly $1 million in annual revenue, with two or more locations, or with an MSO alongside a professional entity — and owners who want a finance leader in the room without a full-time hire.
Not a fit for pre-revenue startups, practices that only want a tax return filed, or owners shopping on price alone. Those needs are better served by Med Spa Core or by a local preparer.
What you receive
Deliverables, not hours.
Ownership of the monthly close
A close calendar with a date, a checklist that is actually completed, and financial statements delivered by the tenth business day with every balance sheet account reconciled.
MSO / professional-entity books
Two sets of books kept in parallel, the management fee billed and settled monthly, Due to / Due from accounts netted to zero, and payroll split correctly between the entities.
Package, membership and gift card rollforward
Opening liability, sales, redemptions, expirations and closing balance, tied to the POS outstanding-balance report every month.
Inventory and cost of goods sold
Injectables by unit, retail by SKU, clinical supplies by par level: counts reconciled, shrink investigated, cost of goods booked as product is used.
Provider pay tie-outs
Commission accruals built from the production report and tied to payroll, so provider cost lands in the same month as the revenue.
Cash and internal controls
Daily deposit reconciliation, dual approval over refunds and discounts, vendor and payroll change controls, and a review of who can do what in the POS and in QuickBooks.
Sales tax and payroll compliance oversight
Retail sales tax reconciled from the POS tax report to the return in every state you sell in; payroll tax deposits and quarterly filings reviewed, not just filed.
Lender, landlord and investor reporting
Covenant calculations, rent-percentage reports and investor packages produced from the same closed books, on the same calendar.
In practice
What a fractional controller engagement looks like in practice
An illustration, not a client: a practice with an MSO and a professional corporation has a bookkeeper who records what hits the bank. The management fee has not been invoiced in five months, the intercompany balance is a $212,000 plug, injectables have never been counted and the POS says $96,000 of packages are outstanding while the balance sheet shows $31,000. The controller work is a ninety-day rebuild — count, reconcile, document the fee under the management services agreement, book the rollforward — and then a monthly rhythm in which every one of those numbers is tied out before the owner sees a P&L. The owner's time commitment is one review meeting a month; the bookkeeper keeps the day-to-day job.
How it starts
Diagnostic first, then a written scope.
Fit call
Twenty minutes on locations, entities, providers, systems and the decisions in front of you.
Diagnostic
We read the QuickBooks file, POS exports, payroll and prior returns and tell you in writing what has to be fixed before leadership-level work is worth paying for.
Written scope and flat fee
Deliverables, cadence, what you provide, and one monthly fee. Month-to-month after onboarding, thirty days' written notice.
Cadence
Close by the tenth business day, then the monthly or quarterly meeting with a one-page summary of what was decided and what happens next.
How pricing works
Scoped after a diagnostic. One flat monthly fee.
We do not publish a price for fractional leadership work because the fee depends on entities, locations, states, inventory and the cadence you want. Every engagement gets a written scope and a flat monthly fee before work starts, month-to-month after onboarding with thirty days' written notice. The foundation tier, Med Spa Core, starts at $1,500 a month; see how pricing works.
Questions
Common questions
What is the difference between a bookkeeper, a controller and a CFO for a med spa?
The bookkeeper records transactions daily. The controller owns the close, the reconciliations and the controls — making sure what was recorded is complete and right, on a date. The CFO uses those closed numbers to forecast and decide. Many med spas have the first and need the second long before they need the third.
How much does a fractional controller cost?
Fractional controller engagements are scoped after a diagnostic and quoted as a flat monthly fee under a written scope; we do not publish a price because the work depends on entities, locations, inventory and the state of the books. Med Spa Core starts at $1,500 a month and already includes a controller-reviewed close for single-entity practices; the controller tier is for MSO structures, multiple locations and practices that need controls and lender reporting.
Can you work with our existing bookkeeper?
Yes — that is the normal arrangement. Your bookkeeper or front-desk lead keeps recording; we design the close, review the work, book the month-end entries that med spa books need and own the reconciliations.
Do you handle the MSO management fee and intercompany accounting?
Yes. We invoice and settle the fee monthly under the management services agreement your attorney drafted, keep Due to / Due from in balance, split shared costs and payroll between the entities and prepare both sets of books for tax. Whether the fee is fair market value is a question for your attorney and valuation support; our job is that it is booked and paid the way the agreement says.
How quickly is the close done?
By the tenth business day after month-end once the rhythm is established, with a written open-items list for anything we are waiting on from you. The first two or three closes take longer while the rebuild is completed.
Is a fractional controller the same as outsourced bookkeeping?
No. Outsourced bookkeeping records; a controller verifies, reconciles and controls. If your current provider cannot show you a package liability rollforward that ties to the POS, an inventory reconciliation and a signed-off balance sheet each month, you have bookkeeping without a controller.
The other two roles
Fractional leadership, three ways.
Each role can be engaged alone or together as a single med spa finance office — controller, CFO and tax director under one fee, with Med Spa Core as the base.
From the library
Guides that go with this work
Request a fit call
Twenty minutes on your practice and the decisions ahead of it. If the leadership tier is more than you need, we will say so and point you to Med Spa Core.
Request a 20-Minute Fit Call →