Finance directors · the career path
How to become a finance director
The short answer · updated
Most finance directors qualify as accountants through the ICAEW ACA, ACCA or CIMA, then move up the finance function: management or financial accountant, finance manager, financial controller, then finance director. The step to FD comes from running month-end, audit, budgets and cash, leading a team, and reporting to the board with judgement, not just numbers.
The routes in: accountant, financial controller, FD
The National Careers Service sets out how most finance careers start: a degree followed by a graduate training scheme, an apprenticeship, or work combined with a professional accountancy qualification. With experience, it says, a management accountant could become a finance manager, a chief financial officer, a finance director or a chief executive.
The usual ladder is qualified accountant, finance manager, financial controller, then finance director. The ICAEW’s profile of one finance leader shows the pattern: a finance manager role that combined financial controller and business partner work, then promotion to finance director, then CFO.
Some finance directors trained in audit practice and moved into business as a financial controller. Others came up through management accounting and business partnering. Both routes lead to the same seat; what differs is whether your strength is control and reporting or commercial insight, and the best FDs build both.
Qualifications: ACA, ACCA, CIMA
Most finance director roles ask for a professional accountancy qualification. Three bodies cover most of them, and each combines exams with practical experience.
Where the FD sits on the board, company law applies too. Every director owes the general duties in the Companies Act 2006, and Companies House is clear that a director who hires an accountant is still legally responsible for the company’s records and accounts.
- ICAEW ACA. The ICAEW Chartered Accountant qualification combines technical exams, practical work experience and professional skills. It is the common route for those who train in audit practice.
- ACCA. The ACCA Qualification combines exams, an ethics module and a period of professional experience, and can be taken in practice or in business.
- CIMA. CIMA’s CGMA Professional Qualification runs through Operational, Management and Strategic levels, with practical experience requirements. It is built around management accounting and business partnering.
The experience employers look for
The ICAEW lists what the top finance role involves: leading and mentoring the finance team, overseeing budgeting, forecasting and planning, identifying financial risks, reporting to the board and external stakeholders, and making sure the business complies with financial regulation. Its qualities are communication, leadership, a strategic mindset, critical thinking and the ability to delegate.
In practice, a hiring board wants evidence that you have run the finance engine: month-end and year-end close, the audit, the budget and forecast, cash and banking, VAT and payroll, and the finance systems. Then it wants evidence of judgement: board papers you wrote, a decision your analysis changed, a lender or investor you dealt with.
The board is where the role changes. ICAEW’s profile describes the move to finance director as a shock: suddenly being tested by the board. Support your FD or CFO at board meetings before you take the seat. In a larger company, the FD is often also the senior accounting officer, the director or officer with overall responsibility for the financial accounting arrangements.
Fractional, interim and part-time FD work as a route in
Smaller companies often need a finance director for a few days a week, not five. For an experienced financial controller, a fractional FD role is a way to hold the full remit, including board reporting, sooner than a full-time promotion would allow.
See fractional finance director roles for part-week work, interim finance director roles for full-time cover through a transition or a transaction, and part-time finance director roles for a fixed number of days. A fractional financial controller role is often the step before.
If you work through your own company, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply. Status is decided by how each engagement runs, and a medium or large client makes the determination. Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
What a finance director earns
Finance director pay depends on the size and stage of the business, its sector, whether it is owner-managed or investor-backed, and whether the role carries a board seat.
Our fractional finance director salary page sets out pay and day rates, each figure with its source.
Where to find finance director roles
Our fractional jobs board lists live senior roles across functions, and the fractional finance director jobs page lists FD roles. Many first FD seats are filled by promotion from financial controller, so a controller role in a growing business is itself a route.
We recruit fractional, interim, part-time, temporary and permanent executives. For permanent FD hiring, see finance director recruitment. For the role itself, read what a finance director does.
The next step after FD is usually CFO: see how to become a CFO. If running the whole operation interests you more, see how to become a COO.
Questions people ask
Do you need to be qualified to become a finance director?
No law requires it, but most finance director roles ask for a professional accountancy qualification: the ICAEW ACA, ACCA or CIMA. A director who uses an outside accountant is still legally responsible for the company’s records and accounts.
What job comes before finance director?
Usually financial controller or finance manager, sometimes head of finance or a senior finance business partner. See what a financial controller does.
Is ACA, ACCA or CIMA better for a finance director?
All three lead to FD roles. The ACA is common for those who trained in audit practice, ACCA is taken both in practice and in business, and CIMA leans towards management accounting and business partnering. Choose the one that fits the job you are training in.
What is the difference between a finance director and a CFO?
The ICAEW treats them as the most senior role in the finance function. In larger or investor-backed businesses, a CFO usually owns funding, investor relations and strategy, and an FD may run the finance function beneath them. See how to become a CFO.
Can you become a finance director without audit experience?
Yes. ACCA and CIMA can both be taken while working in business, and many finance leaders come up through management accounting rather than audit. You will need to show you can run a year-end and an external audit from the company’s side.
How do you get your first finance director role?
Run the finance function as a financial controller, write board papers, and lead a system change, a refinancing or an acquisition. A fractional or interim FD role in a smaller business is one of the faster ways in. See fractional finance director roles.
