Hannah Dunham
Hannah Dunham is the Owner and Fractional CFO at HanCole Financial Services. With over six years of experience in accounting, she made the transition from public accounting about a year ago to launch her own fractional CFO firm. Hannah works exclusively with small to medium-sized businesses and nonprofits, providing the same services expected from a full-time executive CFO—but on a flexible, part-time basis. Her services include bookkeeping, approvals, reconciliations, month-end processes, budgeting, forecasting, and audit preparation, as well as strategic guidance on software implementation, AI integration, controls, growth planning, and difficult financial decisions such as liquidation or exit strategies. Hannah’s firm has grown entirely through word-of-mouth, a testament to the trust she builds with her clients, and she recently welcomed her third full-time employee as her business continues to expand.
Opening her own business was deeply personal for Hannah. On November 3, 2024, she lost her father her mentor, best friend, and fellow accounting professional who had inspired her lifelong passion for finance. The two had shared a dream of opening a bookkeeping firm together to help small business owners navigate complex financial matters. Following his passing, Hannah honored his legacy by founding HanCole Financial Services, creating a firm dedicated to supporting business owners with clarity, strategy, and heart. Beyond businesses, she is also committed to helping elderly individuals in her community ensure their financial needs are met when they have no family to assist.
A graduate of the University of Memphis with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, Hannah combines technical expertise with compassion and a personal touch. She is passionate about helping clients thrive financially while providing guidance that goes beyond numbers. Her leadership philosophy centers on integrity, resilience, and service helping founders, nonprofits, and community members navigate financial challenges with confidence while building sustainable, meaningful legacies.
• QuickBooks Online Certification
• RAMP Certification
• University of Memphis - BBA, Accounting
• American Institute of CPAs (AICPA)
• Providing financial assistance to elderly individuals in Memphis with no family support
• Supporting nonprofits with accounting services
What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to my family and my daughter. Being able to prove to her that I'm determined to make this happen, and just because I'm a woman doesn't mean anything. I'm gonna make this happen, and being able to be a role model for her is so important to me. I want her to be independent when she grows up. I don't want her to be able to depend on a male to provide for her, I want her to provide for herself. My family really pushes me to achieve things that I probably wouldn't push myself normally to do.
What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I can give, which comes from my own experience, is to take the negativity and turn it into an opportunity. I've been told that I'll never have a career in accounting, and I've used that negativity to fuel me and empower me to prove them wrong. Another important piece of advice is that when you graduate from college or get your certificates, that's not everything. Does it help? Yeah, but it's not everything. What matters is your experience and the field experience that you gain from others. Learn from others' failures so you don't make the same mistakes. When I went into public accounting, I went in with the mindset that I needed to learn everything I possibly could and absorb as much as I could. They put me in a position where I was learning tax, audit, and doing miscellaneous things that others refused to do. Because of that experience and knowledge, I was able to bypass several of my peers and continue to grow in my career. The best advice I can give somebody is to absorb as much as they can in that entry-level role so that way you can grow and learn as much as you can. Also, after a year or maybe two years, switch to another job, switch to another industry, another place. You're gonna learn so much more in those first few years by job hopping than just staying in one spot and doing the same thing over and over.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
Take the negativity and turn it into opportunities. I've been told I'd never have a career in accounting, and I used that to fuel and empower me to prove them wrong. When you're starting out, absorb as much as you can in that entry-level role so that way you can grow and learn. Don't be afraid to do the miscellaneous things that others refuse to do, because that experience and knowledge will help you bypass your peers and continue to grow in your career. Also, don't be afraid to job hop after a year or two years. Switch to another industry, another place. You're gonna learn so much more in those first few years by job hopping than just staying in one spot doing the same thing over and over.
What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
Right now, there is such a need for accounting that the opportunities are just endless. The fact that I'm not doing any advertising right now and everything is just word of mouth shows how much need there is. There's a huge opportunity to get the word out for small to medium-sized companies that need help with bookkeeping or financial guidance. There's also an opportunity with AI and how I can better fast-track my bookkeeping services by implementing AI and make the process easier. As far as challenges, I think my biggest challenge right now is that I'm in the process of scaling my business and making sure that I have a process in place that is scalable, and a good project management software in place so I can keep track of my clients and projects. That's the biggest challenge I'm facing as I grow my business.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Integrity is 100% the most important value to me. I don't like lies, I don't like white lies. I tell my employees I don't even care what hours you work, as long as you work the full time and as long as you communicate with me. Just tell me what's going on and we'll work it out. Everything changes, you can't control everything in your life. There's just going to be so many miscellaneous variables that pop up, and that's okay. But being able to be understanding about the changes, being adaptable, but just having the integrity to be honest and truthful about what that looks like is the most important thing for me. From a client standpoint, I don't want to put myself in a position where any of my clients will second-guess their trust in me. When it comes to bank statements, I don't want to have access to transfer money out. I just want to be able to review bank statements. I want them to have full control over everything. I'm essentially their record keeper. I'm here to guide them, but they are in control of the seat. They are in control of their future, and the decisions that they make are fully up to them.