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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 15 D E C E M B E R 2 , 2 0 2 4 F O C U S B A N K I N G / F I N A N C E / I N S U R A N C E Accountant to offer a package of services from accounting to fractional CFOs. Santucci says Opus may also add other fractional services to its own offering, for example in marketing where there's growing demand. Accounting firms Outsourced accounting and advisory services are a growing area for Portland- based accounting firm Baker Newman Noyes, which formed a client account- ing and services practice in August. e three-person team is led by Boston-based Managing Partner Nick Sampson, who hopes to add a fourth by the end of this year. He says the firm is already seeing success at the controller level, helping bring clients' financials into GAAP compliance and effectively man- age their internal accounting resources. As the team adds C-suite assign- ments, it will nevertheless steer clear of doing so for clients being audited by the firm for the sake of professional independence. "We may be able to provide a lower- tiered service, depending on the scope of the work," Sampson explains, adding that "as much as we can, we want to be a full-service professional advisory firm for our clients. We proactively bring new opportunities and ideas and look for ways to further support their organiza- tion while adhering to strict and repu- table independent standards." BerryDunn strives to do the same in providing fractional financial analysis and advisory services to clients in a range of industries from real estate to health care. "We don't consider ourselves as an alternative to internal C-suite teams as we work to maintain our independence from management," says Sarah Belliveau, CEO of the Portland-based firm. Home-based entrepreneurs From her home in the Aroostook County town of Washburn, Karin Petrin leads a financial management and advis- ing firm she founded in 2006. Her varied career includes stints as a town manager, Tribal government CFO and manage- ment roles in several small businesses. At Karifin Partners LLC, she offers all functions of small business back-office business management, lately expand- ing into more strategic financial support and business advising as a contracted CFO. Her clients — more than 15 at the moment — include businesses, organiza- tions and government entities with up to $3.5 million in annual revenue, for whom a full-time CFO is typically out of reach. "e fractional space gives them an opportunity to tap somebody with expertise who can help for a few hours per week or month, with a project, or on an interim basis," she says. "If it›s done in small enough chunks, it's affordable." She's part of a team that also includes a part-time bookkeeper in Detroit, grant writer near Bangor and a local admin- istrator. For some nonprofit clients, the team has had to help rebuild their books so that Petrin could create better compli- ance and financial management strategies. "ey've got solid budgets, but there's no wiggle room," she says. "We need to be able to forecast, so we have to fix the messes to create better strategies." Andrew Marianski of Capitis Advisors also works independently, from his home in Yarmouth, as a part-time strategy consultant and fractional CFO for clients includ- ing Hyke, an insurance technology startup formed from last year's merger between MyHealthMath and a United Kingdom peer. He was originally hired by Bob Watterson, MyHealthMath's founder and former CEO. "In the beginning, I did that stuff myself because I'm financially conver- sant and then added in a very fractional bookkeeper just to take care of things like payroll," says Watterson. "As we grew and wanted more sophistication and experience in that area, we hired a fractional CFO. Whether you're a big or little company, it professionalizes the finance department with the fractional amount of money you have to spend." Besides Hyke, Marianski provides part-time CFO services to two other clients, and to some extent finds it easier not to be on staff when there's bad news to share. "You're not worried about losing your job," he says, "so you get a bit more independence … is is a gig and I'm here to help." Renee Cordes, Mainebiz senior writer, can be reached at rcordes @ mainebiz.biz CONGRATS maine laboratories! Scan to learn more GorhamSavings.Bank/LaunchPad Sincere thanks to the businesses, judges and attendees who helped us celebrate Maine entrepreneurs at the LaunchPad live pitch event. Alivo earned our $50,000 grant, and Maine Laboratories took home the $20,000 Emerging Business Award. Thanks to all the finalists for great presentations and for representing the innovation that's thriving in Maine. GSB CEO STEVE DECASTRO WITH AARON ERVIN OF MAINE LABORATORIES AND KATIE GRANT OF GSB Karin Petrin is a self-employed business consultant in the Aroostook County town of Washburn. P H O T O / C O U R T E S Y O F K A R I N P E T R I N

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