CORAL GABLES, FL / ACCESS Newswire / October 7, 2026 / Sterling Equity Partners, the Miami-based financial advisory firm founded by Federico Nannini, today announced its fractional CFO services for owner-operated businesses that have outgrown basic bookkeeping but are not ready to hire a full-time chief financial officer. The firm works with companies typically between $5 million and $50 million in revenue, with a focus on construction companies, auto dealerships, and professional services firms.

The services address two pressures facing smaller companies. The first is talent: in a survey of middle-market CFOs at companies valued between $5 million and $250 million, national accounting and advisory firm Cherry Bekaert found that 42% cited skill gaps as a barrier to adopting automation, and the firm recommended bringing in external partners to close capability gaps. The second is cash: Intuit QuickBooks' 2026 Small Business Late Payments Report found that 59% of small businesses are carrying overdue invoices, and 39% of owners said a single late payment made it hard to cover payroll or bills in the past year.

"Most of the owners I talk to have a good bookkeeper or a solid controller. The books are right," said Federico Nannini, Founder and Managing Partner of Sterling Equity Partners. "What they don't have is someone whose job is to look forward: what cash looks like in six weeks, which jobs or products are actually making money, and whether the plan they made in January is working. That's the seat we fill."

Sterling Equity Partners is built around implementation rather than recommendations. At the start of every engagement, the firm agrees with the owner on a short list of measurable targets, such as cash released, faster collections, or margin improvement, and reports progress against them every month.

"A lot of advisors hand an owner a 40-page deck and leave. That's not how we work," Federico said. "If management can't point to a number that moved because we were there, we haven't done our job."

Experience in Practice

Federico works inside the businesses he advises, side by side with the owner, the controller, and the operations team, rebuilding forecasts, running collections and cost programs, and staying through execution until the results show up in the financials. In a previous role advising private equity-backed and middle-market companies, he worked directly on the kind of programs Sterling Equity Partners now delivers. Two examples:

Working capital at an architecture firm. A firm with approximately $20 million in revenue was collecting slowly from clients while paying vendors, subconsultants, and subcontractors ahead of their terms. Federico and his team built a structured collections program and realigned payments to vendor terms, releasing approximately $280,000 of working capital in about four months. The firm used the additional cash flow to pay off its revolving line of credit, reducing its interest expense.

Cost reduction at a roofing company. At a roofing company with approximately $33 million in revenue, Federico led a cost reduction initiative focused on insurance premiums and material costs that delivered savings equal to 92 basis points of EBITDA margin over one year.

"Neither of those required a new strategy," Federico said. "The cash and the margin were already in the business. The work was finding them, putting an owner and a deadline next to each one, and following through every week."

Core Services

Every engagement begins with an assessment of where the business stands today: its cash position, margins, reporting, and the priorities the owner wants to focus on, whether that is working capital, growth, cost, or an acquisition. From there, Sterling Equity Partners works with the owner, or with the CEO and CFO where the business has them, to set objectives that are realistic, measurable, and achievable, and builds a 100-day plan that defines where the business should be 100 days from now, the targets that will show it got there, and the steps to reach them. The work is scoped around where it will create the most value, whether that means a 13-week cash flow forecast for a cash-intensive business or a growth or acquisition plan for one that is ready to expand. The goal is to turn finance from a reporting function into a profit-driving function. The existing accounting team remains in place; Sterling Equity Partners works alongside the controller or bookkeeper rather than replacing them.

Working capital and cost improvement: Cash tied up in slow receivables, excess inventory, and bills paid ahead of terms is often the least expensive source of funding a business has. Sterling Equity Partners analyzes collections by customer, payments by vendor and subcontractor, and inventory by item to find where cash is trapped, then puts a program in place to release it: a structured collections process with clear follow-up, payments aligned to agreed terms, and inventory matched to actual demand. Cost reduction follows the same discipline. Spending is broken down by category, vendor, and owner, and each savings initiative is assigned an owner, a target, and a deadline, then tracked monthly until the results show up in the financial statements.

Growth planning and execution: Financial modeling for expansion, new locations, hiring, acquisitions, and financing decisions, built to show how each plan affects profit, the balance sheet, and cash together. Plans are tested against downside scenarios, such as a slower ramp-up or customers paying later than expected, before capital is committed, and growth spending is tied to milestones so each phase is funded once the previous one delivers. The firm prepares lender-ready forecasts to support financing and tracks results against the plan every month, so owners can adjust early rather than at year-end.

13-week cash flow forecasting: A rolling, week-by-week forecast of collections, payroll, supplier and subcontractor payments, and debt service, built from the company's own bank and general ledger data. Each week, the forecast is compared with actual results, variances are explained, and the next 13 weeks are updated, giving owners an early view of tight weeks and time to act before they arrive.

Monthly management reporting: A three-statement operating model, budget-to-actual variance analysis, and a short set of industry-specific KPIs, such as work-in-progress and gross profit fade for contractors, aged inventory and fixed-operations absorption for dealerships, and utilization and realization for professional services firms. Reports are delivered on a fixed monthly calendar, followed by a review meeting with the owner to agree on actions.

Transaction support: Quality of Earnings analysis, net working capital analysis, and post-acquisition integration planning for owners preparing to buy or sell a business.

Background

Federico Nannini founded the firm after a career spanning transaction advisory at Berkeley Research Group, where he worked on more than 25 transactions with an aggregate enterprise value of more than $3.5 billion; private equity at Ark; and the Office of the CFO and Turnaround and Restructuring practice at Impact Point Co., where he worked directly with management teams at private equity-backed and middle-market companies on cash flow, working capital, and cost reduction. He holds a Master of Science in Finance from Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Bentley University.

About Sterling Equity Partners

Sterling Equity Partners is a Miami-based financial advisory firm headquartered in Coral Gables, FL, and founded by Federico Nannini. The firm provides fractional CFO services, 13-week cash flow forecasting, monthly management reporting, working capital and cost improvement, growth planning and execution, and transaction advisory to owner-operated and private equity-backed businesses, typically with $5 million to $50 million in revenue. For more information, visit sterling-equity-partners.com.

Media Contact: Federico Nannini, Sterling Equity Partners, Federico@Sterling-Equity-Partners.com, (305) 798-0077

SOURCE: Sterling Equity Partners