Steady Hands for Your Housing Authority’s Finances: CFO and Controller Help When You Need It

If you are a housing authority CFO or controller, you probably feel the tension between “we are getting the bills paid” and “are we truly in control of this operation.”

You are balancing HUD compliance, shrinking admin fees, legacy systems, and staff turnover, all while your board and executive director expect clean audits and no surprises.

That is exactly the gap where outsourced or fractional CFO and controller services can make a real difference. You are not just buying more hands. You are bringing in a partner whose full-time job is to build and oversee the internal controls, review processes, and financial discipline your mission deserves.

The risk environment you are operating in is not theoretical. The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners has long estimated that organizations lose around 5 percent of revenue to fraud each year, and public sector and nonprofit entities are consistently represented in their case studies. HUD’s Office of Inspector General regularly reports millions of dollars in questioned costs tied to weak internal controls in procurement, rent calculation, and Housing Assistance Payment administration. As a CFO, you are the one who has to sign off that your internal controls are sound. Having an experienced outside CFO or controller on your side gives you a second set of eyes that has seen how issues surface in other housing authorities before they become findings in yours.

At Procuris Consulting, our CFO and controller services for housing authorities focus on three things: tightening internal financial controls, building practical review processes, and giving leadership clear, decision-ready information. In practice, that means we help design segregation of duties that actually work in a small or mid-sized housing authority, not just on an org chart. We map how money and data move through procurement, HCV and public housing, HAP and landlord payments, capital funds, and development projects, then build specific checkpoints and approvals that are realistic with your staffing. We also put structure around monthly close, bank reconciliations, journal entry approval, and variance analysis, so you have a repeatable rhythm instead of a scramble every quarter or at year-end.

Just as important, we act as an accountability partner for your review processes. Many housing authorities have policies that look good on paper but are applied inconsistently because no one has clear ownership. As your outsourced CFO or controller, we help set up a simple control and review calendar that spells out who reviews what, how often, and how exceptions are handled. That might include monthly exception reports on HAP payments by landlord, vendors by spend, or adjusting entries by preparer, along with regular reporting to your executive director and board finance or audit committee. Over time, that consistent structure builds trust with auditors and regulators and reduces the stress you feel each time a monitoring visit or audit is announced.

If you are in the CFO or controller seat today and feel that your internal controls and review processes are too dependent on a few key people, or you are worried that “we do not know what we do not know,” this is the right moment to bring in help. An outsourced CFO or controller relationship does not replace your team. It supports them, mentors them, and gives you a strategic partner who lives in the details of HUD compliance and housing authority finance every day. If you want to explore what that could look like for your organization, Procuris Consulting is built specifically for housing authorities that want stronger controls, clearer reviews, and fewer headaches in the finance office.