Most business owners think they need a CFO. What they actually need is a controller.

In this episode of Beyond the Bottom Line, Miguel Centeno sits down with Nikole Mackenzie, founder of Momentum Accounting, to unpack why so many growing businesses hire the wrong financial help at the wrong time, and what actually causes a business to look profitable on paper while running out of cash in the bank.

For founders and business owners, this episode tackles one of the most common blind spots in running a company: assuming your P&L tells the whole story. Nikole breaks down why a business can show a profit and still have no cash at the end of the month, walking through the two biggest culprits, timing differences between when revenue is earned and when cash actually arrives, and balance sheet items like equipment purchases, debt principal payments, and owner distributions that never show up on the P&L at all.

The conversation also gets into the practical side of managing cash: how to read a cash flow statement, why days sales outstanding (DSO) is one of the most useful metrics for catching a collections problem early, and why chasing high-interest debt like credit card cash advances is usually a symptom of a business that isn't actually profitable, not just a timing issue. Nikole and Miguel also break down the real difference between a bookkeeper, a controller, and a CFO, and why most business owners skip a step they need.

Other insights from this episode include:

• Why "profitable on paper, no cash in the bank" usually comes down to timing differences or balance sheet items invisible on the P&L
• How to read a cash flow statement, starting with the operating activities section
• Why distributions and debt principal payments never appear on the P&L, and where they actually show up
• The tax consequence founders often miss: distributions taken in excess of income get taxed at 20%
• Why DSO (days sales outstanding) is a key early warning metric for collection issues
• How to tell the difference between a cash flow timing problem and a business that simply isn't profitable
• Why high-interest debt (credit card advances, quick-cash lenders) is often a red flag rather than a solution
• The real difference between a bookkeeper, a controller, and a CFO, and why most businesses need a controller before they need a CFO
• Why "CFO" is a title anyone can claim, while CPA is an actual certification

About Our Guest

Nikole Mackenzie is the founder of Momentum Accounting, a remote team of 12 working with small businesses across the U.S. to build out their full financial operating system, including bookkeeping, controller-level reporting, and CFO-level strategy. Momentum works with roughly 60 monthly recurring clients ranging from $1M to $10M in revenue, spanning SaaS, professional services, and trade industries like disaster restoration, HVAC, and plumbing.

Connect with Miguel Centeno on LinkedIn or reach out at [email protected]