---
type: role-brief
title: CFO Role Brief
aliases:
  - CFO brief
  - Squire CFO
  - the financial case
modified: 2026-04-07
tags:
  - role-brief
  - cfo
  - decision-maker
  - adoption-case
---

# CFO Role Brief

> The financial decision-maker view of SuiteCentral 2.0: a small, capped pilot with a transparent ROI model and a hard go/no-go gate at day 90.

## Who this is for

The CFO of Squire — the executive who must approve the pilot budget. Not named in the corpus; the CLAUDE.md operating manual identifies the approving leadership as "Jonyce Bullock (CEO of Squire & Company), Reuben Cook (President of Squire Technology), plus the CFO / CTO / COO who must approve any pilot."

This brief is structured as a pre-meeting cheat sheet, not a finance memo. It exists to give the CFO the three numbers and the three things to ask for.

## Decision frame (the three numbers)

| | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| **Pilot ask** | $50,000–$75,000 | [[sources/10-role-brief-cfo]], [[sources/01-executive-summary]] |
| **3-year ROI range (modeled)** | 25%–157% | [[sources/10-role-brief-cfo]], [[sources/01-executive-summary]] |
| **Payback signal** | ~6 months in model assumptions | [[sources/10-role-brief-cfo]] |

The pilot ask and ROI range are now confirmed across two independent sources in the corpus. The payback signal is single-source so far.

## What the CFO should validate (the three asks)

Before approval:

1. **Pilot cost is capped before any scale decision.** The $50–75K is the entire commitment — there is no automatic escalation. Whatever happens inside the pilot, the financial exposure stops at the pilot envelope.
2. **Scenario inputs are adjustable and transparent.** The ROI model is parameterized, not a fixed projection — the CFO (or finance) can stress-test assumptions. The interactive tool is presumably `04-ROI-CALCULATOR.md` in the notebook (not yet ingested).
3. **The day-90 gate includes both economics and adoption proof.** The pilot does not end with a vibes-based decision. At day 90, the go/no-go is gated on (a) the economics actually showing up against the model and (b) demonstrated user adoption, not just IT acceptance.

## Why this framing works for a CFO

- It respects the CFO's job: protect the firm's downside before chasing upside.
- It avoids the two failure modes of a typical software pitch:
  - **No "trust us" asks.** Every number is tied to a model the CFO can poke at.
  - **No open-ended commitments.** The capped pilot envelope means the worst case is "we spent $75K and learned." That's a bounded loss, not a strategic mistake.
- The 25–157% three-year ROI band is wide enough to be honest. A claim of "157% guaranteed" would be a red flag. The range signals scenario sensitivity, not overconfidence.

## What the CFO should ask for (open questions in the corpus)

- **The ROI calculator itself.** What are the input parameters? Which assumptions move the answer the most? — flag `04-ROI-CALCULATOR.md` for ingest.
- **The day-30 and day-60 gate criteria.** This brief only specifies the day-90 gate — but the [[pages/concepts/pilot-30-60-90|30/60/90 pilot]] structure implies earlier gates exist. Likely in `13-PILOT-30-60-90.md` (not yet ingested) and partially in [[pages/role-briefs/coo|the COO brief]].
- **The breakdown behind 25–157%.** Best case / base case / worst case. Not in this source.
- **The payback model assumptions.** What gets us to ~6 months? Front-loaded operational savings? License consolidation? Not in this source.

## Cross-role context

The CFO brief is one of three role briefs in the executive package — see also [[pages/role-briefs/cto|CTO brief]] and [[pages/role-briefs/coo|COO brief]]. In the live demo flow they appear as a **parallel choice in step 6 of Path B** (the leadership review path) — each reviewer reads the brief that matches their job rather than reading all three. See [[pages/concepts/three-review-paths|Path B]] for the full sequence.

The three briefs do divide the decision concerns cleanly: the CFO worries about *cost*, the CTO worries about *correctness*, and the COO worries about *throughput*. For one specific case — a reader who must reconcile all three perspectives, like the CEO of Squire & Company — see [[pages/synthesis/three-role-decision-frame|The Three-Role Decision Frame]] for the cross-role reconciliation view.

## Sources

- [[sources/10-role-brief-cfo]] — primary source, all six claims
- [[sources/01-executive-summary]] — claims 12 (pilot ask) and 13 (ROI range), independently confirmed
- [[sources/15-start-here-async-standalone]] — confirms the role briefs appear as step 6 of Path B as a parallel choice (corrected the original "read together" framing)
- [[sources/13-pilot-30-60-90]] — second-source for day-90 gate criteria; provides four Gate Metrics including "Economics: trend within approved ROI range" which sharpens the CFO's day-90 economics ask