AlpyneBryan McGowanFractional CFO
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Fractional CFO and accounting for solar installers

I'm Bryan McGowan. I've been a CFO for 15 years, and I'm an engineer. I run finance and accounting for solar installers, and I build the systems underneath it on software I wrote. Reconciliation that runs on its own. Your cash exposure on any day. Funders ranked by what they really cost you. Gross margin on every job.

I've worked with a variety of solar companies, and they have similar challenges.

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Free intro call · From $3,000 a month · Month to month

Lenders I reconcile:GoodLeapEnFinPalmettoand others

Illustrative example
  1. Funder portal
  2. Bank
  3. CRM/Ops
  4. Ledger
Four-way reconciliation, running on its ownReconciled on its ownTue Nov 4
  1. GoodLeap deposit $91,5504 jobs matched, 1 clawback posted, net of dealer fees
  2. J-2214 PTO expected, not in depositFlagged for review
  3. J-2203 reached Install complete in CRMRevenue booked
  4. Payroll postedLanded in jobs and departments
  5. J-2244 closed at −2.3% gross marginLabor includes a roof rework

J-2231 cash out ahead of funding, today−$15,106

What you get.

Solar lender reconciliation that just works.

Four systems have to agree: the funder portal, the bank, your CRM and the ledger. When people tie them out by hand, you pay for the hours, the data is wrong in between, and close and reporting run weeks behind.

Here it runs on its own. Every deposit is matched to its jobs and posted, net of dealer fees. Revenue books off the job's stage in your CRM. You see the exceptions, and nothing else needs a person. At one installer, every lender was reconciled within two weeks, about $500K of unbooked revenue turned up, and the close went from 25 to 30 days to daily.

Illustrative example
GoodLeap deposit · Nov 4$91,550
Illustrative example: one lender deposit matched to the jobs it funds, including a clawback
JobMilestoneAmountDealer feeNetLedger
J-2187Install$31,500−$6,930$24,570 matched
J-2191PTO$28,400−$6,250$22,150 matched
J-2203Install$36,900−$8,120$28,780 matched
J-2210Install$26,100−$5,740$20,360 matched
J-2176Clawback−$5,500$1,190−$4,310 posted

J-2214 · PTO expected Nov 3 · not in this deposit · flagged for review

4 jobs matched · 1 clawback posted, dealer fee reversed · 1 exception for review

  1. Sold
  2. NTPNotice to proceed
  3. Revenue books hereInstall complete
  4. PTOPermission to operate

Lender milestone funding

Set by your revenue policy. Install complete or PTO are common. The point is that the job's stage in your CRM triggers it.

Cash exposure on every job, any day you ask.

Milestone funding means cash trails installs by weeks, and dealer fees and holdbacks shrink what arrives. Meanwhile equipment, crews and commissions come due on their own schedule.

You see what's in the bank, what funders owe you for work already done, what you've committed to pay, and what's actually free, today and across the next 13 weeks. Check it before every distribution and every big equipment order.

Illustrative example
J-2231 · contract $42,000 · dealer fee 21.5%$32,970 funded in three milestones
Illustrative example: one solar job's cash position by day, from sale to final lender funding
DayWhat happensCashNet positionExposure
0Sold, loan approvedNo cash moves yet$0
21NTP · first milestone funds20% of the net amount$6,594$6,594
35Equipment delivered and paid−$13,400−$6,806
48Install complete · crew payroll, half the commission−$8,300−$15,106
58Second milestone funds60% of the net amount$19,782$4,676
95PTO · final commission−$2,100$2,576
105Final milestone funds20% of the net amount$6,594$9,170

Deepest exposure −$15,106 on day 48, for 10 days, until the install milestone lands

Ends at the job's gross margin, $9,170. Milestone split and timing vary by lender; this one funds 20% at NTP, 60% at install and 20% at PTO, each about ten days after the milestone.

Know which solar lenders are worth it.

Every lender charges its own dealer fee and funds on its own schedule. Without the numbers side by side, lender choice comes down to habit.

For each funder you see the effective dealer fee, the days from milestone to cash, and what's still outstanding. Steer sales toward the lenders that cost least and pay fastest, and walk into every rate conversation with your own data.

Illustrative example
Illustrative example: solar lenders compared by effective dealer fee, days to cash and amount outstanding
FunderEffective dealer feeFeeDays, milestone to cashDays to cashOutstandingOwed
Lender A21.5%6$142,000
Lender B24.0%11$201,300
Lender C19.8%18$155,500
Total outstanding$498,800

Lowest fee and fastest funding marked.

Gross margin on every solar project.

Company margin hides the jobs that lose money. A single roof rework or an oversized commission can wipe out a job, and at month end it disappears into the total.

Every job carries its contract value net of dealer fee, equipment, labor and commission. Roll it up by rep, lender, market or system size and see which work makes money. That changes how you price, how you pay commission and which markets you chase.

Illustrative example
Illustrative example: gross margin on four solar jobs after dealer fee, equipment, labor and commission
JobContractDealer feeEquipmentLaborCommissionGross margin
J-2231$42,000−$9,030−$13,400−$6,200−$4,200$9,170 · 21.8%
J-2235$38,500−$9,240−$12,900−$5,800−$3,850$6,710 · 17.4%
J-2240$45,200−$8,950−$14,600−$7,900−$4,520$9,230 · 20.4%
J-2244$36,000−$8,640−$13,200−$11,400−$3,600−$840 · −2.3%

J-2244 · Labor includes a roof rework

Available with each engagement

Payroll integration
Payroll journals post automatically and land in the right jobs and departments.
General accounting and bookkeeping
Transactions coded, accounts reconciled, month end closed.
Cash forecasting
A rolling 13-week cash view, checked before every distribution and every big equipment order.
Financial modeling
A dynamic, rolling three-statement forecast: income statement, balance sheet and cash flow, driven by your pipeline and install schedule.
System implementation, migration and integration
New accounting, CRM and payroll systems set up, history migrated, and everything connected so it reconciles.
Capital advisory and fundraising support
Working capital lines, equity and debt raises, with the model and diligence answers that hold up.

Recognize your books in this? Bring them to the call.

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A CFO who writes software.

Everything on this page runs on Alpyne, software I wrote for my own practice. It takes feeds from your funder portals, your bank, Salesforce, RepCard and Paylocity and keeps them agreeing without anyone re-keying.

What makes it fit an installer is configuration. Funders, milestones, dealer fees and job stages are mapped once. From then on the reconciliation, the cash view, the funder scorecard and the margin by job run from your QuickBooks and your CRM.

I'm the person who built it and the person who runs your numbers on it. When your business does something the software doesn't, I change the software.

Case study

A residential solar installer, $30 to 50M a year.

The company had outgrown its outsourced accounting firm. I took over the books and had the full system running in two weeks.

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Full system running
2 weeks
Revenue recovered that had never been booked
~$500K
Close, before and after
25–30 days → daily
Reconciled
Every lender

The two weeks describe that project. Yours depends on your books and your systems.

What a fractional CFO for solar costs.

A fixed-fee setup, then a monthly fee, month to month. You get the scope, price and timeline in writing before anything starts.

Setup

Fixed fee from $5,000

Handover from your current bookkeeper or firm, lender reconciliation, revenue rules tied to project stage, and the close. The last one took two weeks.

Ongoing

From $3,000 a month, month to month

I run the finance function, keep the systems current and meet with you on cash, margin and decisions.

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The same terms as for any other business: how I work with any company. No long-term contract.

Bryan McGowan, fractional CFO

Meet Bryan McGowan.

I've been a CFO for 15 years and have raised more than $250M. I founded Open Water Power, an energy hardware company, and sold it to L-3. Before that I was an engineer at Intel. Cornell engineering and MBA. I've worked with a variety of solar companies, and I write the software my practice runs on.

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Questions solar owners ask first.

What does a fractional CFO do for a solar company?

A fractional CFO runs the finance function part time: the books, the close, cash forecasting, project margin and the numbers behind decisions. For a solar installer that also means reconciling lender funding, tying revenue to project stage, and building the reporting that shows which reps, lenders and markets make money.

How do you reconcile solar lender payments?

Match four sources: the lender portal's funding detail, the bank deposit, the job in your CRM and the ledger. Lenders such as GoodLeap, EnFin and Palmetto fund by milestone, net of dealer fees, often with several jobs in one deposit. I automate the match job by job and route only the exceptions to a person.

What is a solar loan clawback, and how should it be booked?

A clawback is a lender taking back funding it already paid on a job, usually because the loan was cancelled or the project missed a milestone deadline. It is normally netted against a later deposit, often with the dealer fee on that milestone reversed. I match each clawback to its job, reverse what was booked against that milestone under your revenue policy, and flag the job so someone finds out why.

When should a solar installer recognize revenue?

Your revenue policy sets the milestone, commonly install complete or permission to operate. Confirm the policy with your CPA. Whatever it is, the trigger should be the job's stage in your CRM, so revenue never depends on someone remembering to invoice.

How do you calculate gross margin per project?

Start with the contract value, subtract the dealer fee for that job's lender, then equipment, labor and commission tied to the job. Done at the job level, it rolls up by rep, lender, market or system size.

Do you replace our bookkeeper or accounting firm?

I can take over from an outsourced firm, which is how my last solar engagement started, or work alongside an in-house team and build the systems they run.

What if I already have a CFO?

Then I work with them. I work alongside in-house CFOs all the time, and the point is to make yours more effective. I take the reconciliation, the close and the reporting off their desk, so their time goes to decisions instead of tying out lender deposits. They also get a platform that keeps the numbers reliable and scales as you add crews, markets and lenders.

What happens to the systems if we stop working together?

They keep running. You can keep the system on its own for $499 a month: the reconciliation, cash view, funder scorecard and job margin stay live, and your books stay in your QuickBooks. Nothing is locked to me.

What systems do you work with?

All the major accounting systems, including QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite and Zoho. All the major CRMs, including Salesforce, HubSpot and RepCard. Nearly every bank and nearly every payroll provider, plus the major solar lender portals. If a system has an API, or any other way to get the data out, I can build a custom integration for it.

How long does setup take?

Most setups take two to four weeks. My last solar installer was fully running in two.

How much does it cost?

Setup is a fixed fee from $5,000. Ongoing work is from $3,000 a month, month to month.

Anything not answered here, ask me directly.

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Book a free call with Bryan.

Thirty minutes. Tell me how you handle lender deposits and revenue today, and I'll tell you straight whether I can help.

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