The CFO who has also owned the business.
Michel Chelnokov, MBA, CPA. 20+ years in finance and accounting leadership. Owner and operator.
Two decades, both sides of the desk.
My career in finance started in banking, before I moved to the United States.
Once here, I earned my MBA and started over in accounting from the ground up. I closed books, reconciled accounts, and learned the mechanics of a finance function from the bottom.
I moved into accounting, earned my CPA and a Master’s in Accounting, and spent years in public accounting as an auditor. Audit trains you to read a set of financial statements the way an outsider does: looking for what does not hold up.
From there I moved into industry and have held finance leadership roles ever since: owning the budget, closing the month, and sitting in the room when pricing, hiring, and capital decisions are actually made. I also run my own business, so I’ve signed the payroll checks as well as closed the books.
That last part is the difference between an advisor and an operator, and it’s the reason founders bring me in.
Today I run MIV Partners, a CFO advisory practice serving founder-led companies between $1 million and $15 million in revenue.
What the dual read actually changes.
A CPA who has never priced a service will hedge on the pricing question. An operator who has never closed a month will hedge on the margin one. You don’t have time for either hedge.
What you get from me is a decision framed both ways, arrived at once, and explained in language you’d actually use with your team.
"Most accountants tell you what happened. I help you know what to do next."
Michel Chelnokov, MBA, CPAPrincipal, MIV Partners
Common questions.
Directly with me, on every call and every deliverable. No analyst hand-off, no rotating account manager. That’s the shape of the practice.
Good. Keep them. I work above the ledger, not on top of it. Your bookkeeper closes the books, your CPA handles the return, and I turn what they produce into decisions.
No. I don’t do bookkeeping, cleanup work, tax preparation, or tax advice. My work is CFO advisory: what the numbers mean and what to do about them.
Book a call.
A short call to see whether the shape of your business matches the shape of the work.