Leadership
Look for finance strategy, risk, funding and board decision support. Ask about the authority and information available.
Finance Sector · Manager to CFO
Fractional Finance Jobs · hire a fractional finance leader
Finance function fractional roles across the UK — fractional finance manager, FP&A, financial controller, FD and CFO opportunities.
Senior financial expertise at 1–3 days a week for scale-ups, SMEs, and growing companies seeking strategic finance leadership without full-time commitment.
The finance seatChoose the question to explore
Part 01 / 04
Strategy
Cash, funding and board decisions need a clear finance leadership brief.
Part 02 / 04
Function
Forecasts, reporting and team management need ownership and a working calendar.
Part 03 / 04
Control
Reliable accounts, reconciliations and systems are different tasks from broad executive strategy.
Part 04 / 04
Analysis
Planning and scenario work need sound inputs and a named decision maker.
£700–£1,400
Day Rates · fractional CFO
FD Capital, 2026
CFO/FD
Most Demand · board-level finance
1–3 d/wk
Typical Engagement · part-time leadership
On the board · last 3 months
Fractional finance jobs on the board
- FractionalSyndicatedPart time / Fractional Finance Director
PHIX · United Kingdom
est £650/day3 d/wk - FractionalSyndicatedAcquisition CFO / Finance Director (Fractional)
CivSec Group · London
est £1,500/dayLondon - FractionalSyndicatedFinancial Controller (fractional)
Fermtech · Oxford
est £550/dayOxford - FractionalSyndicatedFractional CFO
KeelCFO · England
Rate not statedEngland - FractionalSyndicatedFractional CFO
fin-house · London
£700–£1,000/dayLondon - FractionalSyndicatedFractional CFO
Amitours · United Kingdom
Rate not statedUnited Kingdom
01/ the board
What the board holds.
A read of the roles on the board above, counted as they stand: the seat, how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.
On this board, last 90 days · 6 roles · Fractional finance
Engagement
- Fractional6
Seat
- CFO4
- Finance director1
- Financial controller1
Days a week
- Stated in the posting1
- Not stated5
Day rate
- Verified rate1
- Estimated (est)3
- Rate not stated2
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote1
- Hybrid2
- On-site3
Newest posting on the board: 12 Oct 2026.
Postings per week on this board, last 90 days
5 postings on this board in the last 90 days, counted by the week each was published.
02/ the week
How a week divides.
Part of a week is the point of the model: each client buys days, the rest of the week goes to other clients. Move the days a week and the week redraws.
Your companyAnother clientA third client
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Illustration only: one way a fractional executive’s week can divide at 2 days a week for you. Each block is half a day.
03/ overview
Finance function fractional opportunities
The shape of fractional work in this market.
Finance suits a fractional seat: much of the work runs on a monthly and quarterly cycle.
Companies from Series A through mid-market increasingly hire fractional finance leaders for fundraising, board reporting, unit economics, and financial planning.
Key finance functions in demand: CFO/Finance Director, FP&A, Financial Controller, MLRO (for businesses covered by the Money Laundering Regulations), and specialist advisory roles including M&A support, due diligence, and investor relations.
Why finance works well fractionally
Finance leadership often requires strategic oversight rather than daily operational involvement.
Many finance tasks are periodic (month-end, board packs, fundraising) making part-time arrangements effective.
Companies get senior expertise for critical financial decisions without the cost of a full-time CFO, which FD Capital puts at £200,000–£350,000 a year in total.
Qualification and regulation.
Ask for a chartered qualification — ICAEW is one of the professional bodies — on any brief where statutory accounts or audit interaction is in scope.
ACCA and CIMA are the other two bodies most finance leaders qualify through.
Engagements run through the executive's own company, so HMRC's off-payroll working (IR35) rules applies.
For the specific seats, see fractional CFO jobs UK and fractional financial controller jobs UK.
04/ rates
Finance function day rates summary
Published bands only, each with its source. Type your own day rate to see where it sits.
Finance RoleDay Rate RangeTypical Scope
Fractional CFO£700–£1,400 (FD Capital, 2026)Strategic finance, fundraising
FP&A Manager (fractional)£425–£600 (FD Capital, 2026)Planning, forecasting, analysis
Fractional Financial Controller£450–£650 London/South East, £400–£550 regional (Accountancy Capital, 2026)Management accounts, process
Fractional MLRO (SME)£400–£650 (FD Capital, 2026)AML compliance, reporting
Published bands only, each from the source named in its row. Rates vary by company stage, sector complexity and seniority level.
05/ by function
Finance roles in highest demand
What hiring teams and candidates need to know, function by function.
CFO/FD£700–£1,400/dayfractional CFO (FD Capital, 2026) — fundraising, board reporting, investor relations
FP&A Manager£425–£600/dayfractional FP&A Manager (FD Capital, 2026) — forecasting, budgeting, business partnering
Financial Controller£450–£650/dayfractional FC, London and South East; £400–£550 regional (Accountancy Capital, 2026) — management accounts, process improvement
MLRO£400–£650/dayfractional MLRO at SME or start-up level, 1–2 days a week (FD Capital, 2026) — AML oversight for regulated financial services
06/ the seat
What a fractional finance leader is hired to own
"Fractional finance leader" is the label many briefs use before the title is settled — the company knows it needs senior finance help but not yet whether that means a controller, a finance director or a CFO.
The quickest way to settle it is to name the work.
ICAEW's finance function framework splits finance into accounting, compliance, management and control, strategy and risk, and funding.
If the gap is accounting and compliance — the close, the controls, the statutory filings — the seat is a fractional financial controller.
If it is management information, budgets and the board pack, it is a fractional finance director.
If it is strategy, investors and funding, it is one of the fractional CFO jobs.
A fractional finance manager sits below these seats, running the ledgers day to day.
For candidates, the same map is the best way to position yourself: say which of those activities you have owned, at what kind of business, rather than leading with a title that means different things to different employers.
Where you work through your own company, the off-payroll rules apply.
Medium and large clients decide IR35 status and must give you a status determination statement with reasons; with small clients the decision is yours.
HMRC's CEST tool helps either side test an engagement.
07/ the seats
Fractional finance roles — the seats this board covers
The fractional finance roles on this board sit in four seats: chief financial officer, finance director, financial controller and FP&A.
Each seat has its own hub with its own listings.
This board draws them together in one place.
When nothing in finance is open, it widens to other fractional executive roles and labels them as such.
A CFO owns strategy, funding and the investor relationship.
The listings sit on the fractional CFO jobs hub.
What the seat itself involves is set out on fractional CFO.
A finance director owns the management information, the budget and the board pack.
Those listings sit on fractional finance director jobs.
The seat is described on fractional finance director.
A financial controller owns the close, the controls and the statutory accounts.
See fractional financial controller jobs for listings.
See fractional financial controller for the seat.
An FP&A lead owns the forecast, the budget model and the analysis behind decisions.
Those roles sit on fractional FP&A jobs.
Two seats sit just below these.
A head of finance runs the team and the monthly numbers, often without a board seat; see fractional head of finance jobs.
A finance manager runs the ledgers and the month-end day to day; see fractional finance manager jobs.
A regulated firm that needs a money laundering reporting officer will find that seat on fractional MLRO.
08/ head of finance
Fractional head of finance roles
A fractional head of finance is usually the most senior finance person in a growing business that does not yet have, or need, a finance director on the board.
The role runs the finance team and owns the monthly numbers: the management accounts, cash flow monitoring and budgeting that the British Business Bank covers in its small business finance management guide.
The title matters less than the appointment.
A head of finance is normally not a statutory director; if the company does appoint them to the board, they take on directors' legal responsibilities for the company's records and accounts, and the brief should say so.
Head of finance roles can grow out of a finance manager seat and into a finance director one, so they are listed here alongside fractional finance manager and fractional FP&A jobs.
Where the work is mostly forecasting and investor reporting, check the FP&A roles too; where it is mostly controls and the close, compare the financial controller listings.
09/ accounting
Fractional accounting jobs and where they sit
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Fractional accounting jobs are the hands-on end of finance.
The work is the bookkeeping, the management accounts, the VAT returns, the year-end file and the payroll checks.
It is not the board pack or the fundraise.
It suits a business that needs the work done properly but does not need a full-time hire.
Those roles have their own hub.
Fractional accountant jobs lists them, and the same page explains how a company takes one on.
This board lists the leadership seats above them.
The line between an accountant and a financial controller is ownership.
An accountant prepares the numbers.
A controller owns the close and the controls, and signs off what the accountant produces.
If a brief asks someone to own the close as well as prepare it, it has become a fractional financial controller seat.
An accountant who provides accountancy services to clients through their own business is an accountancy service provider under the money laundering regulations.
HMRC's guidance for accountancy service providers explains who must register with HMRC for supervision.
It also lists the professional bodies, such as ACCA and ICAEW, that supervise their own members instead.
Check it before you take on a first client.
10/ the scope
How the work is scoped before the first day
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A finance engagement is scoped by the work first, then the days.
Start from the calendar the finance function already runs to: the month-end close, the board meeting, the VAT quarter, the year-end and the audit.
List what must be delivered in each cycle.
Then say who delivers it.
The fractional lead owns the output.
Someone in the team, or a bookkeeper, carries the routine work between days.
Then agree the days.
A close-heavy brief needs days early in the month.
A board-pack brief needs days before the meeting.
A fundraise needs more days for a fixed stretch, then fewer.
Write down the access the role needs from the first day: the accounting system, the bank, the payroll provider and the shared drive.
Agree a review point at which both sides look at the days and the scope again.
For candidates, the scope is also the test of the brief.
A role that lists every finance activity at once may be a full-time job described as a part-time one.
Ask which outputs matter first.
When a company hires through us, the shortlist of 3–5 is drawn against that written scope.
Each candidate comes with their day rate, availability and IR35 position, after our five-stage vetting.
11/ remote and hybrid
Remote and hybrid finance roles
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Where the ledgers, the bank feeds and the reporting run in cloud software, most finance work can be done from anywhere.
VAT-registered businesses must already keep digital VAT records and file their VAT returns from compatible software under HMRC's Making Tax Digital for VAT.
Some of the work is still better done in the room.
That includes the board meeting, the audit fieldwork and the first weeks with the team.
It also includes any hard conversation about cash with the founder or the bank.
A hybrid pattern puts those days on site and the rest remote.
A good brief says which days are in person, and where.
Candidates should ask before they agree a day rate.
For fully remote roles across every function, not only finance, see remote fractional jobs.
12/ the contract
How fractional finance jobs are contracted
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Where a fractional finance leader works through their own limited company, the off-payroll working rules are the test to run.
HMRC's guide to off-payroll working (IR35) sets it out.
The rules apply if the leader would have been an employee had they worked for the client directly.
That is decided by how the engagement runs, not by what the contract calls it.
A contract that describes defined outputs does not settle the question if, in practice, the leader works like a member of staff.
A medium or large client makes the status determination and must give a status determination statement with its reasons.
For a small client, the leader's own company decides.
HMRC's Check Employment Status for Tax tool helps either side test an engagement before it starts.
Scope the work by outputs, write down how it will actually run, and revisit both if the role changes.
When a company hires through us, each candidate's IR35 position is set out on the shortlist, so both sides start from the same facts.
Practical guide · Updated
Finance searches span different responsibilities: strategic decisions, management of the function, reporting control and analysis. Start with the work, then compare the advertised engagement and the evidence of experience.
The working brief · 01
Choose the responsibility before the title
ICAEW distinguishes leadership of the finance function from financial control. Use the actual responsibilities to decide where a posting belongs, as job titles vary between employers.
The decision
Function management
Look for budgeting, forecasting, team management and reporting ownership. Check who delivers the underlying accounting work.
Control and reporting
Look for reporting processes, transaction quality, systems and cash forecasts. Clarify the boundary with the finance leader.
The working brief · 02
Map the information chain
A finance brief needs more than a reporting deadline. Establish how reliable numbers reach the person who has to use them, and who fixes the gaps.
- 1
Inputs
Identify systems, transaction owners and data sources. Ask about reconciliations and unresolved accounting questions.
- 2
Preparation
Name who prepares accounts, cash forecasts and commentary. Distinguish preparation from review or challenge.
- 3
Decision
Identify who uses the output and what decision it supports. Record assumptions so that a report can be questioned constructively.
The working brief · 03
Match the calendar to the engagement
Recurring finance work, temporary cover and a continuing finance seat need different arrangements. The monthly calendar is a practical way to test whether the proposed availability works.
The decision
Recurring support
Map reporting and review windows to agreed working days. Name who covers urgent cash or approval questions between them.
Interim cover
Confirm the existing calendar, team responsibilities and transition work. Make the ending condition and handover explicit.
Permanent role
Set out continuing ownership, reporting line and employment hours. Keep full-time and part-time conditions clear.
The working brief · 04
Ask for evidence of the actual work
Use the finance responsibility to shape the interview. A broad qualification or title does not by itself establish experience of the particular problem.
- 1
Reporting example
Ask how the person improved or maintained reporting quality. Establish what they prepared, reviewed and delegated.
- 2
Decision example
Ask for a forecast, cash or investment decision and the assumptions behind it. Explore how uncertainty was communicated.
- 3
Team example
Ask how the work continued through the team. Check documentation, systems ownership and the handover to colleagues.
The working brief · 05
A fictional close-and-cash problem
Imagine a business with delayed accounts and a founder making spending decisions from an old forecast. This fictional example separates the control problem from the leadership decision.
- 1
Find the dependency
Establish whether incomplete transaction records or unreconciled balances explain the delay. Give the preparation work a named owner.
- 2
Restore the view
Agree how a reviewed forecast can be maintained from reliable inputs. Keep uncertain assumptions visible.
- 3
Use the information
Agree who decides on spending and what information they need. Do not treat a new job title as a solution to missing data.
The working brief · 06
Remote finance still needs access
Remote work can be practical only when the reporting systems, approvals and communication support it. These are questions to resolve with the employer, not claims about remote demand.
- 1
Systems
Confirm authorised access to accounts, forecasts and relevant documents. Avoid building an engagement around information sent to a personal inbox.
- 2
Approvals
Confirm bank, payment and spending permissions separately from reporting responsibility. Use the employer’s agreed control process.
- 3
Meetings
Confirm board and management meeting expectations, attendance and travel. Remote does not settle every location requirement.
The working brief · 07
Keep the posting’s pay separate
Compare the advertised pay with the actual engagement. Background salary and day-rate guides explain different measures; they do not establish a missing offer on a job.
The decision
Job terms
Use the posting’s verified pay, days and engagement where stated. Ask the employer about anything missing.
Salary guide
Use permanent base salary as its own measure. Pro-rata arithmetic remains arithmetic rather than an independently observed fractional rate.
Day-rate calculation
Use the stated day rate and agreed days for a cost calculation. It does not establish tax treatment, benefits or continuous availability.
The working brief · 08
Leave a finance function others can run
A handover should preserve the reporting process as well as the latest document. Plan the sequence around actual responsibilities, with no invented completion date.
- Stage 101
Document
Record the reporting calendar, sources, assumptions and open issues. Explain which controls must not be skipped. - Stage 202
Assign
Name the owner of each report, reconciliation and approval. Confirm the appropriate access before transferring responsibility. - Stage 303
Review
Walk through the work with the next owner. Test whether they can reproduce it and explain unresolved questions.
13/ questions
Frequently asked
Common questions about fractional work in this market.
The fractional finance roles listed here are CFO/Finance Director, FP&A Manager, Financial Controller, MLRO for regulated businesses, plus specialist roles in M&A, due diligence, and investor relations.
Fractional CFO £700–£1,400/day (FD Capital, 2026). Fractional FP&A Manager £425–£600/day (FD Capital, 2026). Fractional Financial Controller £450–£650/day in London and the South East, £400–£550 regionally (Accountancy Capital, 2026). Fractional MLRO £400–£650/day at SME or start-up level (FD Capital, 2026); FD Capital's £1,000–£1,500 for Tier 1 banks is an interim rate. Rates vary by company stage, sector complexity, and role seniority.
Fundraising periods, board reporting requirements, periods of rapid revenue growth, M&A activity, or when needing senior financial expertise without the cost of a full-time CFO (FD Capital puts that at £200,000–£350,000 a year in total).
It depends which part of the finance function is missing. Using ICAEW's finance function framework: a fractional finance leader covering accounting and compliance is a financial controller; one owning management information and the board pack is a finance director; one leading strategy and funding is a CFO. Settle which before you advertise or apply.
A senior finance lead engaged part-time who runs the finance team and the monthly numbers — management accounts, cash and budgets — usually without a board seat. If they are appointed a director, directors' responsibilities apply. Working through their own company, their IR35 status is set by a medium or large client, or by their own company for a small client (HMRC guidance).
Yes. Fractional accounting jobs cover the hands-on finance work — bookkeeping, management accounts, VAT returns and the year-end file — for a set number of days rather than full-time. They are listed on fractional accountant jobs. This board lists the leadership seats: CFO, finance director, financial controller and FP&A.
Yes, where the work allows it. If the ledgers, bank feeds and reporting run in cloud software, most of the work can be done from anywhere. Board meetings, audit fieldwork and the first weeks with the team are often better on site. A good brief says which days are in person. For remote roles in every function, see remote fractional jobs.
By the work first, then the days. List the outputs in each cycle — the close, the board pack, the VAT return, the forecast — and say who carries the routine work between days. Then agree the days and a review point. A brief that lists every finance activity at once may be a full-time role described as a part-time one.
Neither by default. Status is decided by how the engagement runs: the off-payroll rules apply if the leader would have been an employee had they worked for the client directly. A medium or large client makes the determination and gives a status determination statement with its reasons; for a small client, the leader's own company decides. See HMRC's guide to off-payroll working (IR35).
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a fractional executive
Tell us the seat, the days a week and the start date. We come back with candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role, the days and the start date
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
Fractional Quest is a fractional recruitment agency: send a brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five vetted candidates.
