Which fractional CFO and outsourced accounting firms do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? (October 2026)
When US founders ask AI engines which fractional CFO or outsourced accounting firm to use, startup specialists come back first. Kruze Consulting was named most often, in 34 of 59 answers (57.6%), followed by Pilot (29) and Burkland (22). All 59 answers named at least one firm, and 114 different firms were named in total, 68 of them only once.
By Frederik Jakobsen, founder of Danish Lead Co and SourceRank AI. Measured 10 October 2026, published October 2026.
The firms AI named most often
Share of all 59 answers that named the firm as a provider, and how many answers on each engine named it. An answer counts once per firm however often it repeats the name.
100.0%
Answers that named at least one provider firm: 59 of 59. Every answer named firms.
114 firms
Distinct firms named across all 59 answers. 68 of them were named in only one answer.
24.1%
Share of all 353 firm mentions taken by the three most named firms, Kruze Consulting, Pilot and Burkland.
| # | Firm | Answers naming it | Engines | ChatGPT of 12 | Gemini of 12 | Copilot of 12 | AI Mode of 12 | AI Overviews of 11 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kruze Consulting | 34 of 59 57.6% | 5 of 5 | 7 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 4 |
| 2 | Pilot | 29 of 59 49.2% | 5 of 5 | 9 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 2 |
| 3 | Burkland | 22 of 59 37.3% | 4 of 5 | 6 | 5 | 0 | 4 | 7 |
| 4 | inDinero | 20 of 59 33.9% | 5 of 5 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 2 | 1 |
| 5 | Graphite Financial | 16 of 59 27.1% | 5 of 5 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 2 |
| 6 | Bookkeeper360 | 11 of 59 18.6% | 5 of 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 2 |
| 7 | FocusCFO | 9 of 59 15.3% | 5 of 5 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 |
| 8 | Paro | 8 of 59 13.6% | 4 of 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 9 | G-Squared Partners | 7 of 59 11.9% | 4 of 5 | 1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 10 | Fondo | 7 of 59 11.9% | 5 of 5 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 11 | Preferred CFO | 7 of 59 11.9% | 5 of 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 |
| 12 | Zeni | 6 of 59 10.2% | 4 of 5 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| 13 | Anomaly CPA | 6 of 59 10.2% | 4 of 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| 14 | AccountingDepartment.com | 6 of 59 10.2% | 3 of 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| 15 | NOW CFO | 6 of 59 10.2% | 3 of 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
Top 15 of 114 firms. Engine columns show answers naming the firm out of that engine's measured answers. Firms with the same count are listed in the order the data was read.
What the answers show
- +Kruze Consulting was named in 34 of 59 answers, 57.6%, Pilot in 29 of 59 answers, 49.2%, Burkland in 22 and inDinero in 20.
- +Each engine has its own favourite. ChatGPT named Pilot most (9 of 12), Gemini and AI Mode named Kruze Consulting most, Copilot named inDinero most (6 of 12), and Google AI Overviews named Burkland most (7 of 11). Only 8 of 12 questions had two engines agree on the first firm.
- +Directories barely figure: a directory, review or analyst site was cited in 3 of 43 answers with sources. Blog roundups and the firms' own pages carry this category.
What each engine named
The most named firm per engine. Four different firms led on the five engines.
| Engine | Answers | Named a provider | Distinct firms | Most named firm on that engine |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 41 | Pilot (9 of 12) |
| Gemini | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 46 | Kruze Consulting (10 of 12) |
| Microsoft Copilot | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 56 | inDinero (6 of 12) |
| Google AI Mode | 12 | 12 of 12 100.0% | 30 | Kruze Consulting (8 of 12) |
| Google AI Overviews | 11 | 11 of 11 100.0% | 32 | Burkland (7 of 11) |
First-pick agreement: in 8 of the 12 questions where at least two engines named a firm, two or more engines named the same firm first. Kruze Consulting was named by 5 of 5 engines. Google showed no AI Overview for 1 of the 12 questions; those are not counted as answers.
The sources behind the recommendations
Most cited domains in the 43 answers that showed a source list.
| # | Cited domain | Kind | Answers citing it |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | institutionhq.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 12 of 43 27.9% |
| 2 | gofractional.com | A named firm's own website | 10 of 43 23.3% |
| 3 | worldmetrics.org | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 6 of 43 14.0% |
| 4 | graphitefinancial.com | A named firm's own website | 6 of 43 14.0% |
| 5 | anomalycpa.com | A named firm's own website | 6 of 43 14.0% |
| 6 | kruzeconsulting.com | A named firm's own website | 6 of 43 14.0% |
| 7 | cfoadvisors.com | A named firm's own website | 5 of 43 11.6% |
| 8 | ecaplabs.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 5 of 43 11.6% |
| 9 | solutionscout.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 5 of 43 11.6% |
| 10 | pearltalent.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 4 of 43 9.3% |
| 11 | neowork.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 4 of 43 9.3% |
| 12 | bennettfinancials.com | Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 3 of 43 7.0% |
Out of the 43 answers that carried a source list (124 distinct domains). Sources per engine: ChatGPT 0 of 12, Gemini 9 of 12, Copilot 12 of 12, AI Mode 11 of 12, AI Overviews 11 of 11.
| Source kind | Answers citing at least one |
|---|---|
| Other (blogs, listicles, publishers, other vendors) | 38 of 43 88.4% |
| A named firm's own website | 35 of 43 81.4% |
| Social and video | 3 of 43 7.0% |
| Directory, review or analyst site | 3 of 43 7.0% |
| Community forum | 1 of 43 2.3% |
An answer can cite several kinds, so the rows do not sum to the total. "A named firm's own website" means the domain matches the name of a firm named in this category.
How a firm in this category gets named
Being named depends on what the engines read. In this category, of the 43 answers that showed their sources, 35 cited a named firm's own website and 3 cited a directory, review or analyst site. Roundup articles (institutionhq.com was the most cited domain) and firms' own explainer pages carry most of the weight. Being included, accurately, in the roundups the engines already read, and publishing a plain page per buyer situation (Series A, multi-entity, exit preparation), are the two levers. This is the work SourceRank AI does, described on the services page. The free site readiness check shows whether your site is structurally ready to be cited; it checks your site, it does not measure answers like the ones on this page. To see where your own firm stands in these answers, book a call.
Exactly what was measured
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Date | 10 October 2026, one run |
| Buyer questions | 12, each phrased as a buyer asking for a provider, varied by size, budget, situation and switching. Full list below |
| Answer engines | 5: ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Mode, Google AI Overviews |
| Engine cells | 60. One question on one engine |
| Answers measured | 59 of 60. The denominator for every share on this page. 1 Google search showed no AI Overview |
| Market | United States, English. Google AI Mode and AI Overviews were queried with a US location. ChatGPT, Gemini and Copilot were not given a location, the same as in our client measurement runs; Copilot answers that assumed a buyer abroad are excluded |
| Sources | Cited sources come from Gemini, Copilot, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews. ChatGPT's answers in this run came back without a machine-readable source list, so ChatGPT is not in the source tables |
| Firm extraction | One language model call per answer listed the firms the answer named as providers, excluding directories, publications, citation labels and tools. Names were normalised and aliases merged. A hand check of 20 answers across the study is reported on the hub page |
| Not measured | Location personalisation for the chat engines, logged-in or personalised sessions, run-to-run variation (this is a single run, and the same question asked again can return different firms), and model versions, which change without notice |
All 12 buyer questions
- Best fractional CFO services for a venture-backed startup
- Which outsourced accounting firm should a Series A startup use?
- Top outsourced bookkeeping and accounting services for startups in the US
- Best fractional CFO firm for a SaaS company preparing to raise a Series B
- We have outgrown our bookkeeper. Which outsourced accounting firm should we switch to?
- Recommend an outsourced CFO service for a company doing $5 million in revenue
- Which startup accounting firms handle bookkeeping, tax and R&D credits together?
- Best affordable outsourced accounting service for a seed-stage startup
- Top fractional CFO companies in the United States
- Which outsourced finance and accounting firms are best for ecommerce companies?
- Best part-time CFO services for a founder-led business preparing for an exit
- Which outsourced accounting providers are best for multi-entity companies?
Cite this research
Journalists, analysts and writers are welcome to quote, chart and republish the figures on this page. Please credit SourceRank AI and link to this page as the source. For the underlying data, a comment from Frederik Jakobsen or a category we have not covered, see the press page.
Suggested citation
SourceRank AI (2026). Which fractional CFO and outsourced accounting firms do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? Measured 10 October 2026. https://sourcerankai.com/research/who-ai-recommends/fractional-cfo-outsourced-accounting/
Link to copy
<a href="https://sourcerankai.com/research/who-ai-recommends/fractional-cfo-outsourced-accounting/">Which fractional CFO and outsourced accounting firms do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend? (SourceRank AI, October 2026)</a>Where to go next
All 22 category studies
Who AI recommends across 22 B2B categories, with the cross-category findings and the full method.
What AI engines cite by industry
The source mix behind AI answers in ten industries, from our September 2026 measurement runs.
AEO for this industry
What we do for firms in this space, and the questions their buyers ask AI.
Common questions
Which fractional CFO and outsourced accounting firms does ChatGPT recommend?
In this October 2026 run ChatGPT named Pilot most often, in 9 of its 12 answers. Across all five engines the most named were Kruze Consulting (34 of 59 answers), Pilot (29) and Burkland (22).
Do ChatGPT, Gemini and Google AI recommend the same fractional CFO and outsourced accounting firms?
Partly. Kruze Consulting was named by 5 of the 5 engines, and in 8 of the 12 questions at least two engines named the same firm first. Below the top few names the lists diverge: 68 of the 114 firms were named in only one answer.
How was this measured?
12 buyer questions asking for fractional CFO and outsourced accounting firms were put once to ChatGPT, Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, Google AI Mode and Google AI Overviews on 10 October 2026, from a US English context. 59 answers were measured, and the firms each answer named as providers were extracted and counted once per answer. It is a single run, and the same question asked again can return different firms.