About
Batya Fildest
Fractional CFO
I hold a bachelor's and a master's degree in accounting and business administration, and I built my professional foundation in accounting firms - working across accounting processes, internal control, audit, and financial consulting. For the past six years I've worked with technology companies in fractional CFO roles, working closely with management teams and company owners on the financial and commercial management of the business. I founded PayChex CFO to give companies access to a senior, flexible CFO function that connects financial operations to business decision-making.
I offer audit and statutory-report signing as a complementary service, delivered through a licensed partner.
“Finance is not a function standing alongside the business - it is part of how the business is run.”
My work is highly hands-on, combined with a wide view of the business. Good financial work is not just accuracy in the numbers. It's understanding the business behind them: the model, the revenue drivers, the cost structure, the growth rate, the risk points, and how today's decisions land in the months ahead. The aim isn't only control over the numbers - it's a solid basis for decisions about tax, financing, risk, growth, and the structure of operations.
What the role covers
Planning & analysis
Cash planning and forecasting sit at the center of the work, alongside financing and lending - including working directly with banks and finance providers - and tax planning and optimisation. The aim is that every significant decision has current numbers, and a considered tax position, behind it before it is made.
Day-to-day oversight
Day to day, that means managing FX exposure, corporate structure and international operations, and profitability, together with finance processes - collections, payments, payroll, and the banking relationships - and the bookkeepers, accountants, and other financial providers who serve the business, so the whole function answers to one person.
Bookkeeping itself stays with the providers who do it today. I manage, review, and validate their work rather than redoing it.
The accountant is responsible for accounting and statutory reporting. I am responsible for the financial management of the company.
The involvement runs week to week, inside the decisions and the cash - not a monthly meeting and a slide deck.
Want to talk about your finance function?