Most owners price the finance function one hire at a time, so the number that matters — what the whole thing costs once it can actually do the job — never gets written down. Pick what you need it to do. The seats that can own that work appear with market salary, payroll tax and benefits on top, and the monthly figure you would carry.
Where do I start?
The seven seats
Each group is one seat. Check what you need it to do and the role appears on the right.
Salaries are BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics medians, May 2025. The 42.9% default is BLS Employer Costs for Employee Compensation, June 2026: benefits averaged $14.07 an hour against $32.82 in wages for private industry workers, covering payroll taxes, insurance, retirement and paid leave. It is a different bundle from the 40% in the hiring calculator, which also carries tools, space and recruiting. Nothing here is a Countabl price.
A controller search runs weeks, and the good ones are already employed. Recruiting fees, your own time in interviews and the months the seat sits empty are all real, and none of them are in the salary.
Someone has to set the priorities, review the work and answer the questions. If that someone is you, the cost is your attention — and you are the most expensive person in the building.
One person is one point of failure. Vacation, illness and notice periods all land on a close that still has to happen on the same date.
A seat that does not work out costs the salary paid, the months lost and the mess left in the books — which is usually the expensive part.
Every capability on this page, delivered as one engagement rather than a payroll line — nobody to recruit, manage, cover or replace. What it costs depends on the business, so we scope it on a call rather than quote it on a page.