Interim CFO salary · day rates, 2026
What an interim CFO earns, by the day and by the assignment
An interim CFO is paid a day rate, not a salary.
The median interim CFO day rate is £1,200, from a May 2026 survey of 200 senior finance professionals reported by Leadership Services, with half the market between £1,000 and £1,500.
FD Capital puts complex mandates, such as turnarounds and listed companies, at £1,500–£2,500 a day.
The rate covers full-time work for a fixed period, with no salary, pension or paid holiday behind it.
When you hire an interim CFO through us, we send a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
How a brief runswhat we undertake
- 01Brief30-MINUTE SCOPING CALLDay 0
- 02Shortlist of 3–5VETTED · RATE BENCHMARK · IR35After the brief
- 03InterviewsYOU MEET THE SHORTLISTYour diary
- 04Scoped startFIRST-MONTH OUTCOMES AGREEDYou set the date
- 05Fractional, interim and permanentIR35 POSITION SET OUTOn every brief
Shortlist3–5
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire an interim CFO
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Interim CFO candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the role and the days a week
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
Interim CFO jobs on the board
No Interim CFO roles on the board in the last three months. Showing interim finance leadership roles instead.
Interim finance roles on the board
Fractional recruiting starts with the brief, not the CV pile. Send a Interim CFO brief and we come back with a shortlist of three to five candidates, each through five-stage vetting.
01/ the role
How an interim CFO is paid, and why the unit is the day
An interim CFO holds the finance seat full-time for a defined period: a departure, a fundraise, an acquisition, a turnaround or the run-up to a sale.
FD Capital says interim engagements typically run 3–9 months and are structured through a personal service company.
The interim invoices the business for the days worked.
That makes the day rate the real unit of pay.
There is no salary, no employer pension and no paid holiday, and the interim carries the gaps between assignments.
Across all functions, the Institute of Interim Management’s 2026 survey puts the average assignment at 10.0 months, the average gap between assignments at 3.2 months and the average days billed in a year at 148.
An interim who works through their own company pays themselves through salary and dividends from what the company earns, after its costs and Corporation Tax.
The day rate is the company’s income, not the interim’s take-home pay.
02/ scope
How to hire an interim CFO
1. Define the mandate and its end
Say what the interim must deliver and by when: a clean month-end, a refinancing, a sale process, a handover to a permanent hire.
Leadership Services notes that a defined mandate with a clear start date prices more competitively than a vague gap with no end point.
2. Decide IR35 status at the start
If your business is medium or large, you make the status determination for the engagement and give the interim your reasons.
Settle it before you go to market, because it changes the rate candidates quote.
3. Match the record to the mandate
Ask for outcomes from comparable assignments: cash position on arrival and on exit, the first close, the deal that completed.
A turnaround needs someone who has run one.
Roles on the board are on interim CFO jobs.
What we do on an interim brief
We recruit interim, fractional, part-time, temporary and permanent finance leaders, and non-executive directors.
We send a shortlist of 3–5, each with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, and every candidate goes through our five-stage vetting first.
If the seat needs a permanent owner after the interim, hire a CFO on that basis.
03/ the board
What the board holds.
A read of the roles on the board on this page, counted as they stand: how each is engaged, whether the posting gives the days and the rate, and where the work happens.
On this board, last 90 days · 2 roles · interim finance leadership
Engagement
- Interim2
Days a week
- Stated in the posting1
- Not stated1
Day rate
- Verified rate1
- Estimated (est)1
- Rate not stated0
Work arrangement (as the job feed classifies it)
- Remote1
- Hybrid0
- On-site1
Newest posting on the board: 12 Sept 2026.
04/ rates by stage
Interim CFO salary day rates by mandate and source
Day rates as each publisher states them, all 2026. Leadership Services’ mandate bands assume an outside-IR35 engagement through a personal service company and are its own reading of the market; its median comes from a named survey. FD Capital and Leadership Services are recruiters. The IIM figures cover every interim function, not finance alone.
05/ economics
Interim pay and IR35: who decides, and what it changes
Tax status turns on how the engagement runs, not on the title or the contract alone.
Under the off-payroll working rules (IR35), a medium or large client makes the status determination; for a small client outside the public sector, the interim’s own company decides.
The rules apply contract by contract, so one interim can have engagements on both sides.
It shows in the rates.
The IIM’s 2026 survey puts the average interim day rate at £949 outside IR35 and £830 inside, across all functions.
HMRC’s CEST tool gives its view on a specific engagement.
Our IR35 guide sets out the tests.
06/ vetting
How we vet interim CFOs
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Interim CFO tenure, sector context and stage fit.
SOURCING - 02
Mandate fit
Match to your situation — stage, board dynamics, timing.
MATCHING - 03
Reference deep-dive
We take references ourselves, from recent past clients — real outcomes, not titles.
VERIFY - 04
Shortlist
Three to five candidates with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5
07/ interim cfo day rate
Interim CFO day rate by mandate
The interim CFO day rate rises with the risk of the mandate.
Leadership Services puts an SME interim (£3m–£15m revenue) at £800–£1,100 a day and a mid-market one (£15m–£75m) at £1,000–£1,400.
A PE-backed portfolio company pays £1,200–£1,600, a turnaround £1,300–£1,800 and a pre-IPO or pre-exit mandate £1,400–£2,000.
Regulation adds to the rate.
Leadership Services puts an interim at an FCA-regulated firm, holding responsibility under the Senior Managers and Certification Regime, at £1,300–£1,800 a day.
The May 2026 survey it reports found 19% of the market below £1,000 a day and 11% at £2,000 or more.
FD Capital’s 2026 guide gives two sets of figures.
Its rates section puts full-time interim engagements at SME and mid-market businesses at £1,000–£1,500 a day and complex mandates at £1,500–£2,500.
Its summary list gives £700–£1,800 a day, depending on IR35 status.
08/ interim chief financial officer salary
Interim chief financial officer salary, annualised
An interim chief financial officer salary is a figure people search for, but no interim is paid one.
To compare, multiply the day rate by the days worked.
At the £1,200 median, 220 days would bill £264,000.
At the IIM’s all-function average of 148 days billed in a year, the same rate bills £177,600.
Both are our arithmetic, a comparison and not a salary.
A full month of interim cover, at about 22 working days and the £1,200 median, comes to £26,400 (our arithmetic).
That is the client’s cost.
The interim pays their own pension, holidays, insurance and the gaps between assignments out of it.
For scale, Robert Half’s 2026 median for a permanent CFO is £176,500 in base salary, before bonus, pension and employer’s National Insurance.
See CFO salary for the permanent benchmarks in full.
09/ the other routes
Interim, permanent or fractional: which pay basis fits
Interim cover buys a full-time finance chief for a fixed period.
A permanent hire is paid a salary and package; see CFO salary.
If the work fits into part of the week, a fractional finance chief on a day rate or retainer may cost less over the same months; see fractional CFO salary.
For what an interim holds the seat to do, see interim CFO.
10/ questions
Interim CFO salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in an interim CFO.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Bring the brief. We architect the team.
A shortlist of 3–5 with day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
