Skip to content

BOSTON · AUSTIN · EST. 1998

Tax strategy, fractional CFO advisory, and exit planning for owners who treat the business like the asset it is.

GD Financial is a partner-level firm for established business owners between $1M and $50M in revenue — combining CPA-grade tax work with CFO-level strategic counsel under one roof, so every decision is read for both this year's return and the next decade's exit.

Schedule Your Strategy Call Or speak with the partners: (617) 555-0248
Founded
1998
Continuous practice
26 years
Client entities
1,800+
States served
38
Senior partner of GD Financial seated at a partner's desk in the Boston office, photographed for the firm masthead.
Gregory D. Fennell, CPA Founder & Managing Partner — formerly of Deloitte Tax LLP

Three Practices, One Senior Team

The work runs on three integrated practices, not a menu of disconnected services.

Every engagement is staffed by a partner-led team that handles tax strategy, fractional CFO advisory, and exit planning in concert — so the answer to a tax question already accounts for the next valuation, and the answer to an exit question already accounts for this year's return.

  1. 01

    Tax Strategy

    Multi-year tax planning built around owner compensation, entity structure, R&D credits, and state nexus — designed to keep an average of 23.4% more of what our new business-owner clients earn in their first 12 months, against a 7–9% industry benchmark. More than 22,000 federal and state returns filed since 1998, with a 0.00% IRS penalty rate across the last eleven filing seasons.

    • In-house team of 12 licensed CPAs
    • Former IRS Senior Revenue Agent on staff
    • Representation & resolution support before the IRS

  2. 02

    Fractional CFO

    A senior finance partner embedded into your operating cadence — building the rolling forecast, KPI dashboards, and quarterly business-review rhythm that institutional buyers, lenders, and acquirers expect to see. Delivered on a fixed-fee engagement model with scope quoted up front and delivered 99.2% of the time over the last five years.

    • 3 credentialed CFAs on the team
    • 24-hour response guarantee via client portal
    • Real-time quarterly business-review dashboards

  3. 03

    Exit Planning

    A proprietary seven-step Exit Readiness Framework used across 140+ successful business sales, with clients averaging 2.3x EBITDA at close — engineered in parallel with the tax and CFO work so the sale is structured cleanly, the basis is staged properly, and the proceeds are deployed with a written wealth plan on the other side.

    • 5 credentialed financial planners on staff
    • 2 JDs coordinating with M&A counsel
    • Through-affiliate RIA coordination for post-sale wealth strategy

By the Numbers

Twenty-six years of continuous practice, measured in outcomes rather than slogans.

A practice is a long, quiet argument with itself about what a client deserves — and the only evidence that matters is what shows up on the engagement letter, the return, and the day of close.

— G.D. Fennell, on the occasion of the firm's twenty-fifth anniversary

Founded
1998
A quarter-century of continuous practice under the same firm name.
Active client entities
1,800+
Engagements currently in good standing across 38 states.
First-year tax-savings identified
23.4%
Average for new business-owner clients in their first 12 months, measured against a 7–9% industry benchmark.
Returns filed
22,000+
Federal and state returns prepared since inception, with a 0.00% IRS penalty rate across the last eleven filing seasons.

Aggregate client revenue under advisory now exceeds $2.1 billion, with a 96% year-over-end client retention rate measured across the 2021–2024 fiscal periods.

From the Desk of the Managing Partner

"After ten years at Deloitte advising public companies on complex multi-state tax structures, I opened this practice in 1998 with a single conviction: that the owners who build America's working businesses deserve the same caliber of advisory the Fortune 500 take for granted — partners in the room, not hand-offs down a chain. Every engagement I sign today still carries that standard, and every senior partner on this desk has been chosen to defend it."

Gregory D. Fennell, CPA Founder & Managing Partner · Former Senior Manager, Deloitte Tax LLP

G.D.F.

The Advisory Menu

Six coordinated practices, one partner-level standard.

We organize the work around six specialty practices that travel together — so tax strategy, financial leadership, and exit readiness are planned as a single arc, not negotiated as separate engagements. Begin where the question is sharpest; the rest of the desk is already in the room.

Signature Engagement

The Partner-Level Tax & CFO Retainer

Tax, accounting, fractional CFO, and exit-readiness advisory, integrated under a single fixed-fee engagement.

Our flagship relationship is built for owners between $1M and $50M in revenue who want the depth of a Big Four tax practice and the strategic seat at the table of a CFO — without building an internal finance department. Quoted scope is delivered 99.2% of the time across the last five years.

  • Annual proactive tax planning and filing representation
  • Quarterly fractional CFO review with real-time dashboards
  • 7-step Exit Readiness Framework, on demand
  • Direct partner access — 24-hour response guarantee
Begin a conversation →

Private Wealth & Multi-Generational Transfer

Estate, trust, and generational wealth strategy for founders whose personal balance sheet mirrors the company's.

Coordinate GRATs, dynasty trusts, and charitable vehicles with the operating company's tax structure, so the personal plan and the business plan land on the same page at exit.

Explore private wealth →

Real Estate Syndicators & Developers

Cost segregation, 1031 exchanges, and partnership accounting for active syndicators and operators.

From land flips to stabilized multifamily portfolios, we handle the depreciation studies, return preparation, and investor K-1s that syndication deals actually require.

Real estate practice →

Healthcare Practices & Professional Groups

Practice management tax strategy for dental, medical, and specialty groups between $2M and $40M in collections.

We routinely work with multi-partner groups on compensation modeling, ancillary income planning, and the entity restructuring that precedes a practice sale or DSO transaction.

Healthcare practice →

Founder-Led SaaS & Technology Operators

R&D credit capture, ASC 605 / 606 revenue recognition, and equity planning for venture-backed founders.

Built for technical founders who have raised institutional capital and now need a finance function that speaks both GAAP and venture — without an in-house controller.

Technology practice →

Family Offices & Non-Profit Organizations

Single-family offices, private foundations, and 501(c)(3) entities requiring independent audit and tax oversight.

We serve as outside tax preparer and, where qualified, independent accountant — providing the clean, audit-ready work product that trustees and boards require.

Family office & non-profit →

Not seeing your situation listed? Half of our active client base came to us outside the typical "accounting firm" profile. Bring us the question.

Standing Invitation

Read the firm's thinking before you hire it.

Twice a month, our partners publish what we are seeing across the desk — and every month we open the room to owners who aren't clients yet. No gated downloads, no email harvesting. Just the work, in the open.

Senior partner seated at desk, editorial portrait in warm parchment tones

Featured Essay · Forbes Finance Council

The Quiet Cost of a Passive Tax Return

A long-form argument for treating the annual return as a strategic deliverable, not a compliance chore — and the four questions owners between $1M and $50M in revenue should be asking their CPA every January.

By Gregory D. Fennell, CPA · 9 minute read · Forbes Finance Council, March 2024

Read the essay →
Editorial photograph of an empty partner conference room at golden hour

Owner Operator's Playbook · Monthly Webinar

Sell the Company, Keep the Wealth: Sequencing the Tax Tail

A working session on how owners approaching an exit should sequence QSBS, installment sales, charitable structures, and personal wealth transfer in the 24 to 48 months before close. Live Q&A with the partner desk.

Next session · Third Thursday of the month · 12:00 PM ET · Open seating, no fee

Reserve your seat →
Editorial still life of a fountain pen on cream ledger paper

CFO Brew · Q&A Column

When the Fractional CFO Outgrows the Fractional Seat

A practitioner's note on the inflection point where a growing company should hire its first full-time controller, what the fractional CFO should hand off, and what should never leave the partner's desk.

By the Partner Desk · CFO Brew, October 2023 · 6 minute read

Read the column →