Interim head of finance salary · day rates, 2026
What an interim head of finance earns, by the day and by the assignment
An interim head of finance is paid a day rate, not a salary.
FD Capital puts interim or contract heads of finance at £400–£750 a day.
Accountancy Capital’s 2026 guide gives £380–£660 a day in London and £320–£560 outside it, depending on the profile.
The interim head of finance salary is that rate times the days worked.
The rate covers full-time work for a fixed period, with no salary, pension or paid holiday behind it.
When you hire an interim head of finance 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 head of finance
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Interim Head of Finance 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 head of finance jobs on the board
Interim finance roles on the board
How fractional recruitment agencies compare is set out in one place, including how we work: a Interim Head of Finance brief and a shortlist of three to five.
01/ the role
How an interim head of finance is paid, and why the unit is the day
An interim head of finance holds the finance seat full-time for a defined period: a departure, parental leave, an audit, a systems change or the gap before a permanent hire.
FD Capital describes interim cover as fixed-term, for maternity, sick leave or a gap, typically lasting three to twelve months.
For the seat itself, see what a head of finance does.
Most interims invoice through their own company, which 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 and the average days billed in a year at 148.
An interim who works through their own company pays themselves through salary, dividends or benefits from what the company earns, after its costs and tax.
The day rate is the company’s income, not the interim’s take-home pay.
Some businesses fill the gap with an employee on a fixed-term contract instead.
GOV.UK counts a contract that ends on a date, or when a task such as maternity cover finishes, as fixed-term.
That person is paid a salary, not a day rate, and has employment rights.
02/ scope
How to hire an interim head of finance
1. Define the mandate and its end
Say what the interim must deliver and by when: a clean month-end, an audit signed off, a new system live, a handover to a permanent hire.
A defined end date is what makes the role interim.
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 profile to the work
A head of finance covering a controller-level seat costs less than one facing investors or running a group.
Ask for outcomes from comparable assignments: the first close, the audit, the cash position on exit.
Roles on the board are on head of finance 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.
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 head of finance
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 head of finance salary day rates by profile and source
Day rates as each publisher states them. Accountancy Capital’s profile bands come from its 2026 head of finance guide; its rate card gives one band for interim and fractional work. Morgan McKinley’s figures are contract daily rates, by its experience bands. IT Jobs Watch counts advertised contract rates. Accountancy Capital, FD Capital and Morgan McKinley 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 head of finances
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Interim Head of Finance 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 head of finance day rate
Interim head of finance day rate by profile, place and sector
The interim head of finance day rate rises with the scope of the seat.
Accountancy Capital puts a head of finance covering a controller-level role at £380–£500 a day in London and £320–£430 outside it.
A PE-backed or investor-facing role pays £450–£600 in London, a multi-entity group role £480–£640 and an FCA-regulated firm £500–£660.
Sector and experience move it further.
Morgan McKinley’s 2026 contract guide puts a head of finance in London banking at £500–£600 a day with up to three years’ experience and £800–£1,200 with five or more.
For a commerce and industry SME in the Northern Home Counties, it gives £350–£400 rising to £500–£625.
Advertised rates are thin.
IT Jobs Watch found a median of £550 a day, but from only four quoted rates in ten contract ads over six months.
Treat it as a glimpse, not a benchmark.
08/ interim head of finance salary
Interim head of finance salary, annualised
An interim head of finance salary is a figure people search for, but no interim is paid one.
To compare, multiply the day rate by the days worked.
At FD Capital’s £400–£750, 220 days would bill £88,000–£165,000.
At the IIM’s all-function average of 148 days billed in a year, the same rates bill £59,200–£111,000.
Both are our arithmetic, a comparison and not a salary.
A full month of interim cover, at about 22 working days and £400–£750 a day, comes to £8,800–£16,500 (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, IT Jobs Watch’s median advertised salary for a permanent head of finance is £85,000, before bonus, pension and employer’s National Insurance.
See head of finance 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 head of finance for a fixed period.
A permanent hire is paid a salary and package; see head of finance salary.
If the work fits into part of the week, a fractional head of finance on a day rate or retainer may cost less over the same months; see fractional head of finance salary.
10/ questions
Interim head of finance salary FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in an interim head of finance.
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.
