Part-time financial controller · Interim financial controller
Hire a Part-Time Financial Controller — part-time financial controller jobs
A part-time financial controller runs your month-end close, controls and management accounts on fixed days each week, as an employee or a contractor. To hire a part-time financial controller, decide the days, the scope and the engagement route first. This page covers each step, what the market pays, and live roles.
On every brief we send a shortlist of 3–5 candidates, each with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
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
In the press
FM Magazine (AICPA & CIMA) How to make the fractional CFO-client relationship effective · 20 May 2026
Written about fractional CFOs, but its practitioners make the point that matters most for any part-time finance leader: agree the scope, the access and how you will communicate before the first day. Settle those three and fixed days a week can work.
15 minutes · video or phone
Book 15 minutes to hire a part-time financial controller
Tell us the scope and the days a week. We come back with Part-time Financial Controller 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
Live roles · last 3 months
Live Part-time financial controller jobs
No live Part-time financial controller roles in the last three months. Showing live financial controller roles instead.
Live financial controller and finance leadership roles
How fractional recruitment agencies compare is set out in one place, including how we work: a Part-time Financial Controller brief and a shortlist of three to five.
01/ the role
What a part-time financial controller does, and how it differs from fractional
A financial controller owns the numbers below board level: the month-end close, the balance sheet reconciliations, the controls over payments, the management accounts and the audit file. Behind all of it sits a legal duty. The Companies Act 2006, section 386 requires every company to keep adequate accounting records, sufficient to show and explain its transactions and to disclose its financial position with reasonable accuracy at any time. A part-time financial controller does that work on set days each week.
Part-time or fractional: the difference
A part time financial controller works fixed days for one business, either as a part-time employee or as a contractor. The role is defined by the days: Tuesday and Thursday, say, every week. A fractional financial controller holds an ongoing senior share of the finance function, usually through their own company, often alongside other clients, and is defined by the outcomes they own. If that second model fits better, hire a fractional financial controller instead.
Check the level too. If the need is strategy, investor reporting or a seat at the board, you may want to hire a part-time finance director or a fractional finance director. If the need is processing, a bookkeeper may be enough.
02/ scope
How to hire a part-time financial controller
1. Fix the days and the scope
Write down which days, what must be done by when (the close, the payment run, the board pack), and what is out of scope. Fixed days suit this role because the close runs to a calendar.
2. Choose the engagement route
As a part-time employee, the controller is protected from less favourable treatment than a comparable full-time worker. GOV.UK lists pay rates, pensions, holidays, training and selection for promotion among the areas covered, some applied pro rata; the rules are the Part-time Workers (Prevention of Less Favourable Treatment) Regulations 2000. As a contractor through their own limited company, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) may apply. Status is decided by how the engagement runs: in most cases the client decides, and a medium or large client makes the determination, while a small client outside the public sector leaves it to the worker’s own company. GOV.UK notes that employers must work out each worker’s status in both employment law and tax law.
3. Check qualifications and conduct
Ask which professional body the candidate qualified with, then check. ICAEW offers verification of membership to employment agencies and new employers, and every ICAEW Chartered Accountant is bound by a Code of Ethics based on five fundamental principles: integrity, objectivity, professional competence and due care, confidentiality and professional behaviour. The ACCA Qualification combines exams, ethics and professional experience. Ask each candidate to walk you through a close they ran and a control they introduced.
4. Budget against published rates
We know of no verified benchmark for part-time controllers as such. The closest we can verify is Accountancy Capital’s Fractional Financial Controller Market Report 2026, which puts fractional FC day rates at £450–£650 in London and the South East and £400–£550 regionally, and, for regulated or complex work, £550–£750 in London and £475–£650 regionally. On retainer, one day a week runs £1,800–£2,800 a month in London and £1,600–£2,400 regionally. For comparison, the same report puts a £90,000 permanent Financial Controller at roughly £108,000 to an employer once National Insurance, pension and benefits are added, before recruitment cost or notice period. For the senior finance hire above a controller, see finance director recruitment.
03/ vetting
How we vet part-time financial controllers
What we undertake on every brief, before a candidate reaches you.
- 01
Qualification screen
Verify Part-time Financial Controller 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
04/ part time financial controller jobs
Part-time financial controller jobs: what candidates should know
Part time financial controller jobs come in two shapes. Some are part-time employment: a contract for set days, PAYE, and pro-rata holiday and benefits. Others are contracts for services, where you invoice through your own company for the days you work. Ask which one a role is before you apply, because it changes your rights and your tax.
Hirers will ask about the closes you have run, the systems you know, the audits you have taken a business through, and which days you can commit to. The board on this page shows live financial controller and finance leadership roles from the last three months, labelled as what they are. For finance roles across every engagement type, see fractional finance jobs; for more senior part-time roles, see part-time CFO jobs.
05/ interim financial controller
Interim financial controller: full-time cover for a fixed term
An interim financial controller works full-time for a fixed period: covering a vacancy or parental leave, taking the business through its first audit, or running a systems change. A part-time controller works fewer days on an ongoing basis. The first answers a gap; the second answers a need that does not fill a week.
An interim can be engaged through their own company, through an agency, or on a fixed-term employment contract. GOV.UK says an employee is on a fixed-term contract when the contract ends on a particular date or on completion of a specific task, and gives cover for maternity leave as an example. A temporary financial controller brought in through an agency is not a fixed-term employee of yours.
For interim cover above controller level, see interim finance director jobs. On interim, part-time and permanent briefs alike, we send a shortlist of 3–5 with pay or day rate, availability and IR35 position set out, after five-stage vetting.
06/ questions
Part-time financial controller FAQ
The questions people ask before bringing in a part-time financial controller.
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.
