"Generally speaking, the work that we do falls under the purview of the CFO," Sweeney says. But "compared to many of DLC's competitors, who offer broader services that extend beyond operational finance and accounting, DLC has maintained its decidedly narrow focus on serving the CFO." It supplies "traditional planning and analytics, accounting and reporting, financial systems implementation support, and transaction service support," according to the CEO. "On any given day our work could include a vast array of services like building a strategic planning process, filing an S-1 to take a company public, working on the largest SAP implementation in SAP history, preparing a company for sale, or integrating a merger."

Combining DLC's focused project approach with a "lean operating model provides client assurance that they are paying for results rather than overhead," he adds. Whatever the job its consultants do for companies, they always search for opportunities that involve "reengineering, streamlining, creating efficiencies, and eliminating redundant work streams."

DLC's current or past client list includes companies like Allergan, Avery Dennison, Exelon, Google, Kraft Foods, Levi Strauss, Oakley, Qualcomm, Quest Diagnostics, , Union Bank of California, Walgreens and Warner Bros. In addition, it serves a number of private equity clients, venture capital firms and hedge funds. "Private equity firms rely on us to provide interim CFO services, to build reporting capability and infrastructure, to assist with buy- and sell-side due diligence, and to integrate new acquisitions," says Sweeney.

A 10-year-old company headquartered in Woodland Hills, Calif. -- and with four of its offices in that state -- DLC currently maintains non-West-Coast outlets only in Dallas and Chicago, where Sweeney is based. (CFO Gray works from Woodland Hills.) "We definitely are pursuing a more national footprint," the CEO says. "Our mode is generally a local deployment of local talent," so the multiple-office structure is desirable for its growth. It aims to hire 55 new full-time DLC consultants in the next year, the opening shot of an aggressive five-year expansion designed to treble its overall employment base, while opening "at least one new market a year."