Malikov Group | Fractional CFO & Finance Advisory

Said Malikov

CPA · MBA, UCLA Anderson · Deloitte Alumni

Active CPA UCLA Anderson MBA Deloitte Alumni Global Operations

About the Practice

A finance partner who's been in the seat before

Malikov Group is led by Said Malikov — a CPA, UCLA Anderson MBA, and Deloitte-trained auditor who has served as CFO, Controller, and trusted advisor to companies ranging from early-stage startups to global enterprises. He has supported multiple successful exits on both the buy and sell side, led complex post-acquisition integrations, and guided companies through fundraising, restructuring, and operational transformation.

We work alongside a carefully curated network of senior advisors across the United States and dedicated operations teams in Mexico and the Philippines. This gives clients immediate access to experienced financial leadership and scalable operational capacity — without the overhead and timeline of full-time hiring.

Whether you're a founder who needs a strategic right hand, a PE sponsor trying to get visibility into a fragmented portfolio company, or a management team preparing for a transaction — we bring the experience, urgency, and hands-on approach to get it done.

What We Do

Finance leadership when it matters most

We don't just advise — we embed with your team, roll up our sleeves, and build the systems, processes, and visibility you need to operate with confidence.

Fractional CFO & Strategic Leadership

We serve as a hands-on extension of your executive team — not a consultant who drops in once a month. Think of us as the CEO's right hand on all things financial and operational.

Financial strategy and decision-making support
Vendor negotiations and contract review
Cash management and treasury oversight
Board, investor, and lender communications
Review and advise on key strategic initiatives
Cross-functional leadership across finance, HR, IT, marketing, and sales

M&A Support, Due Diligence & Integration

We support transactions on both the buy and sell side — with particular depth in post-close integration work, where most deals actually succeed or fail. We coordinate across all diligence workstreams and help PE sponsors and management teams get to the real numbers.

Buy-side target analysis and financial diligence
Sell-side preparation and data room management
Coordinate with legal, tax, and compliance advisors
Purchase price accounting and NWC adjustments
Post-acquisition integration and consolidation
Reorganizing messy multi-entity structures

Reporting, KPIs & Financial Visibility

Building the dashboards, metrics, and reporting cadence that let leadership see what's actually happening — and make decisions with confidence.

Custom KPI frameworks for management and board
Investor-grade financial reporting packages
Lender covenant compliance modeling
Interim reporting tools and automated dashboards

Accounting Cleanup & Stabilization

When the books are behind, reconciliations haven't been done in months (or years), and nobody trusts the numbers — we untangle the mess and build a clean foundation.

One-time reconciliations and historical cleanups
Month-end close process redesign
Accrual conversions and technical accounting
Audit preparation and readiness

IPO Readiness & Standardization

Preparing your finance function for the scrutiny of public markets, institutional investors, or PCAOB audits — building the processes, controls, and documentation that stand up to diligence.

Public company standards implementation
Process standardization across entities
SOX compliance and internal controls
PCAOB audit preparation

ERP & Systems Architecture

Organizing and upgrading the systems your finance team runs on — building a more robust infrastructure that supports the scale and complexity of your business.

ERP selection, migration, and optimization
Multi-entity consolidation design
NetSuite, SAP, QuickBooks, Anaplan
Chart of accounts and data structure redesign

Operational Excellence & Team Building

Finance doesn't operate in a vacuum. We bring structure, project management discipline, and accountability frameworks across your entire organization to get stakeholders on the same page.

Coach, mentor, and develop your existing team
Implement PM and collaboration tools
Cross-functional operational alignment
Offshore team setup and management

Interim Leadership & Outsourced Accounting

Need a CFO, Controller, or an entire accounting function yesterday? We step in immediately and own the outcomes — titles and org charts are secondary to getting things done. When the time is right, we help recruit the right permanent hire and ensure a clean handoff before we step back.

Interim CFO and Controller placements
Fully outsourced accounting operations
Permanent hire recruiting and onboarding
Structured transition and knowledge transfer

Who We Work With

Every engagement is different

We work with companies across stages, sizes, and industries — wherever there's a critical financial moment that demands experienced hands.

PE-Backed Companies

Sponsors and portfolio company management teams who need to stabilize post-acquisition, consolidate fragmented entities, clean up the books, and build reporting that satisfies lender and board requirements.

Founder-Led Businesses

Founders who've outgrown their current finance function and need a strategic partner — someone who can own the numbers, negotiate with vendors, and be a trusted voice in the room when it matters.

Companies in Transition

Businesses navigating M&A, fundraising, restructuring, or rapid growth — moments where financial visibility and operational rigor determine whether the outcome is a success or a setback.

Companies Preparing for Exit or IPO

Management teams getting their financial house in order ahead of a sale, fundraise, or public offering — from process standardization and diligence preparation to presenting the story that maximizes value.

How We Work

Embedded, not outsourced

We join your team — not as outside consultants handing you a binder, but as operators who sit in the meetings, get into the systems, and own the outcomes.

Diagnose the Reality

A focused assessment of your financial operations, reporting, systems, team, and immediate risks. No boilerplate audit — just an honest read on what's actually broken and what's most urgent.

Stabilize & Execute

We fix the urgent problems first — close processes, cash visibility, messy reconciliations, compliance gaps, stakeholder alignment. We bring project management discipline and get everyone on the same page. Relief in weeks, not quarters.

Build & Transition

Once stable, we architect the systems, reporting, KPIs, and team capabilities that let the finance function run without us. We coach your people, implement the right tools, and ensure lasting operational excellence across finance and beyond.

Aligned incentives, not billable hours

Wherever possible, we scope engagements on a fixed-fee basis — not open-ended hourly billing. We assess the project upfront, define clear deliverables, and price accordingly. If something takes longer than planned, that's our problem, not yours. This means we have real skin in the game: we're incentivized to work efficiently, solve problems quickly, and stay focused on outcomes rather than utilization. When our interests are aligned with yours, better results follow.

Technology & AI

We don't just fix the process — we accelerate it

We bring best practices from the fastest-growing pre-IPO startups and the most organized consulting firms — and combine them with the latest AI and automation tools to eliminate bottlenecks across your entire business, not just accounting.

AI That Actually Moves the Needle

We're not selling AI as a buzzword. We've seen firsthand how even targeted implementation of AI tools into day-to-day workflows — finance, operations, sales, HR — drives measurable productivity surges without additional headcount. We help your team work 3x faster by training them on tools like Claude for Excel, Claude for PowerPoint, and agentic AI models purpose-built for specific roles and tasks.

Digitize What Matters Most

AI is only as good as what you feed it. The real value isn't in digitizing invoices and tax returns — it's in capturing the decision-making logic, evaluation criteria, and institutional knowledge that currently lives in your team's heads and nowhere else. We help identify, extract, and structure that critical information so it becomes a durable asset, not a single point of failure.

Unified Systems & Best Practices

We help implement and integrate the right systems for your stage and complexity — ERP, CRM, project management, documentation, and reporting — so your teams operate from a single source of truth. We bring proven playbooks for team communications, calendar integration, documentation standards, and cross-functional workflows that eliminate the chaos.

Tools & platforms we implement and train teams on:

Claude AI Notion AI NotebookLM Agentic AI Workflows ERP Integration CRM Automation Automated Reporting Process Documentation

Finance leadership that moves as fast as your business demands.

Big 4

Multiple

25+

Global