Books That Tell The Truth —And Profit He Didn’t Know He Had
Phillip Sparks didn’t have a clear read on his real numbers. In a matter of months, SMB Team’s fractional CFO cleaned up his financials, surfaced profit he didn’t know he had, restructured his debt into far better terms, and helped him land an 88% rate increase with his largest client — putting the firm on a path to nearly triple its growth goals.
“For the first time, I actually know my numbers — and I know what my next move should be.”
Phillip Sparks, Founder
Fighting for Children with Disabilities
The Law Offices of Phillip Sparks, APC is a California firm focused entirely on special education law. The team helps families and children with disabilities fight for a free, appropriate public education — guiding parents through IEPs, mediations, assessments, and litigation when school districts fail to comply. Phillip has worked in special education law since 2008, founded his firm in 2014 and has had more than 25 years in the legal field overall. The firm runs out of Riverside and also serves clients in Cerritos, Arcadia, and La Palma, with a team of about 15 people including seven to eight attorneys.
A profitable firm he couldn’t see
Phillip was running a profitable firm and didn’t have a clear way to see it. His financials weren’t giving him the picture he needed to make confident decisions — and the numbers on the page weren’t the numbers the firm had actually earned.
“The problem I had before I hired a CFO was we didn’t know our numbers. We didn’t have any idea what it was costing for us to make what we were making.”
The core issue was timing and accuracy. Revenue wasn’t being recorded when the work was done, so monthly reports didn’t reflect what the firm had earned. The way certain costs were recorded made the books harder to read and obscured true profitability.
Like a lot of growing firms, Phillip had also taken on financing to manage cash flow, and the structure of that debt was heavier than it needed to be. Without clean numbers, it was tough to know exactly where things stood — or what to prioritize first.
What we put in place
Financial clarity, then financial leverage
Full financial analysis and cleanup
The CFO went through every line of Phillip’s financials, reconciled the income statements, and cleaned up the balance sheet — then built a monthly review comparing performance year to date, against last year, and against budget.
Accurate bookkeeping
We corrected the way the firm’s finances were recorded so revenue landed when the work was done. That cleanup alone surfaced meaningful profit Phillip didn’t realize he had.
Debt restructuring
We connected Phillip with a lender who specializes in reorganizing business financing. He consolidated existing debt into a single, much cheaper loan — cutting monthly payments and freeing up cash flow.
A real budget and growth plan
Phillip and his CFO built a budget targeting $3.5M for the year, with a clear, reverse-engineered view of how to get there.
Rate strategy
With real cost-to-serve numbers in hand, the CFO helped Phillip secure an 88% rate increase from a large client — a conversation he couldn’t have had without clean books.
Ongoing financial leadership
Twice a month, the CFO walks Phillip through the financial review — including how to grow the share of revenue that doesn’t depend on one payer.
From financial fog to financial clarity — in months
“You’re not paying the big budget amount for a full-time role — you’re paying a fraction of the cost for the same great service. And everyone I’ve worked with there is just good to work with. They’re always coming up with new ways to grow the firm, so I’m planning to expand what we do together.”
Phillip Sparks, Founder — The Law Offices of Phillip Sparks, APC See how a fractional CFO would work in your firm
