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Permanent CFO · hiring brief

How to Hire a CFO

How to Hire a CFO: brief the finance role in your strategy, choose the route, check credentials with the professional body, assess on your own numbers and start with mandates in place.

Brief us on this role →See CFO roles

Reviewed by Fractional Quest · updated 28 October 2026 · 5 sources linked below

  • 3–5on every shortlist
  • 5stages of vetting
  • IR35set out on every brief
How to Hire a CFO: a finance leader reviewing a board pack with a finance manager (illustration)

On the board · last 90 days

Which CFO roles are on the board?

Permanent CFO roles first, then the seat in any engagement and the wider function when the board runs short.

Roles

See every role on the board →

Every fractional role in the UK is on the fractional jobs board.

In the press

The brief

How to Hire a CFO: what must the role own?

Say what finance must enable: a raise, a sale, growth or margin.

  • 01StrategySay what finance must enable: a raise, a sale, growth or margin.
  • 02ReportingSet board, investor and lender reporting.
  • 03TeamDescribe the finance team inherited.
  • 04BoardSay whether the CFO joins the board.

Role reference: ICAEW on the CFO role in strategy. ICAEW describes the CFO’s role in strategy, which is the heart of the brief.

How to hire

How to hire a CFO for a founder-led company

Founder-led companies need a CFO who adds structure without slowing decisions.

Ask candidates how they introduced controls in a founder-led business and what they chose not to change. Take a reference from a founder they worked with.

The working pattern

What changes when the CFO is permanent?

A permanent CFO owns finance strategy, reporting, funding and controls, and works alongside the CEO and board.

The illustrative brief: a founder-led company preparing to raise. The founder has run finance with a controller; investors want a CFO.

The appointment owns: The company hires a CFO to own the raise, reporting and the finance team.

Another owner retains: The founder keeps strategy; the board approves the raise.

The case is illustrative; it does not describe a Fractional Quest placement.

From brief to start

How do you hire a CFO, step by step?

The first three steps are ours; the last four are what has to be true before the first day. We don’t promise a shortlist by a date.

  1. Day 0
    01
    The 15-minute call
    What the CFO must own, the working pattern, the start date and the budget.
    You and us
  2. Week 1
    02
    Scope agreed in writing
    The outcome the seat exists for, the days, and how the engagement will run for IR35.
    Us
  3. Weeks 1–3
    03
    Search, references, shortlist
    We approach people who aren’t looking, verify tenure, take references ourselves and return three to five.
    Us
  4. Week 4
    04
    Offer
    Confirm authority, reporting and package.
    You
  5. Before day one · 2
    05
    Mandates
    Change bank and approval mandates.
    You
  6. Before day one · 3
    06
    Data
    Provide accounts and forecasts.
    You
  7. Before day one · 4
    07
    First 90 days
    Agree the finance plan for day 90.
    You

Your figures

What does part of a CFO’s week cost?

Rate × days × weeks, against a loaded full-time package. Move the sliders; the numbers redraw.

  • CFO band £700–£1,400 (FD Capital 2026)
Year-one cost, fractional
£96,600
2 days a week · 46 weeks · day fees, before tax · our arithmetic
Fractional executive£96,600
Full-time CFO, loaded£202,225£919 a day over 220 days · our arithmetic
Fractional costs less in year one by£105,625

Our arithmetic. £176,500 Robert Half 2026 median salary + employer NI at 15% above £5,000 (HMRC) = £202,225. Excludes pension, bonus and any search fee.

Assessment

How should you assess CFO candidates?

Put the same work and evidence in front of each candidate before comparing answers.

  1. Qualification
    Check membership on the professional body register.
  2. Founder fit
    Ask how they worked with a founder-led culture.
  3. Funding
    Ask for a raise or refinancing they led.
  4. Team
    Ask how they built a finance team.

Acas recommends a consistent, fair selection process: choosing who to interview.

Vetting

What happens before anyone reaches your shortlist?

Five stages before a candidate reaches a shortlist of three to five.

  1. Pedigree screen
    Tenure
    We verify prior tenure in the seat, at the scale and stage you need. No consultant presenting as an executive.
  2. Mandate fit
    Fit
    Fit to your stage, sector and the problem the seat exists to solve, not a CV keyword.
  3. Reference deep-dive
    Verify
    We take references ourselves, from recent clients and boards: what they delivered, not what they titled it.
  4. Shortlist
    Shortlist
    Three to five candidates, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
  5. Kick-off
    Start
    Scope, first-month outcomes and the contract agreed before day one.

The full process is on how we vet.

The right pattern

Does this hiring pattern fit the work?

Test the amount of the week, the expected end and the continuity needed before writing the contract.

Questions

How to Hire a CFO: questions, answered

A brief to hire a CFO begins with strategy: Say what finance must enable: a raise, a sale, growth or margin. Then a stated working pattern and the evidence you will ask every candidate to show.

Read next

Related hiring and role pages

Sources

Where does every reference on this page come from?

  • icaew.com
  • HMRC
  • legislation.gov.uk
  1. 1
    ICAEW on the CFO role in strategy icaew.com
  2. 2
    Rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027 HMRC
    Employer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year.
  3. 3
    Understanding off-payroll working (IR35) HMRC
    Status depends on how the engagement runs; medium and large clients make the determination.
  4. 4
    Check employment status for tax (CEST) HMRC
    HMRC’s own status check for each engagement.
  5. 5
    Employment Agencies Act 1973 legislation.gov.uk
    The law a recruitment agency works under; no fee to a work-seeker.

For hiring managers

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  1. A shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position
  2. Fractional, interim, part-time, temporary or permanent — and non-executive directors
  3. Every candidate through our five-stage vetting
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