Last updated: 21 October 2026 | By Chris Barnard, Managing Director, Acenteus Accounting
This article is general guidance for UK businesses and is not financial, tax or legal advice. Day rates quoted are published market figures, not Acenteus prices, and the off-payroll working rules depend on your company’s size and the contract, so take advice before you engage anyone.
A fractional CFO is an experienced chief financial officer who works for your business part time, usually one to three days a week or on a monthly retainer, and gives you board-level financial leadership without the cost of a full-time hire. In the UK, published market rates put fractional CFOs at about £600 to £1,200 a day, so one day a week typically costs £2,800 to £4,300 a month. A full-time finance director on £90,000 costs well over £100,000 a year once employer National Insurance and pension are added.
But here is the part most fractional CFO firms will not lead with: many growing businesses are not ready for a CFO yet. If your month-end numbers arrive late, need adjusting or are not trusted, a CFO will spend expensive days fixing the basics. In that case you need a financial controller and reliable management accounts first, and a CFO once the numbers can carry the decisions you want to make. This guide explains the role, the cost and the order to build your finance function in.
Key takeaways
- What it is: a senior finance leader working part time, typically one to three days a week, focused on strategy, cash, funding and the board.
- What it costs: published UK rates run from about £600 to £1,200 a day. One day a week is roughly £2,800 to £4,300 a month.
- Who it suits: businesses that already have reliable monthly numbers and now face a funding round, lender, rapid growth, an acquisition or an exit.
- Who it does not suit yet: businesses whose books are behind or whose management accounts arrive weeks late. Fix that first with a controller.
- The ladder: bookkeeper, then financial controller, then fractional CFO. Skipping a rung usually means paying CFO rates for controller work.
What is a fractional CFO?
A fractional CFO is a qualified, experienced finance leader who takes on the chief financial officer role for several businesses at once, each on a part-time basis. “Fractional” means you buy a fraction of their time, usually a set number of days a week or month. In the UK the role is also called a fractional finance director, a part-time FD or an outsourced CFO, and the terms are used almost interchangeably.
The difference from a consultant is commitment. A fractional CFO joins your leadership team, attends board meetings, owns the financial plan and is accountable for it month after month. The difference from an interim CFO is time. An interim usually works full time for a fixed period, often to cover a gap, while a fractional CFO works part time on an ongoing basis.
What does a fractional CFO actually do each month?
A fractional CFO turns your numbers into decisions. In a typical month that means:
- Reviewing the management accounts with the leadership team and explaining what changed, why, and what it means.
- Owning the forecast: a rolling 12 to 18 month profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow forecast, updated as the business changes.
- Managing cash: watching the 13 week cash position, working capital, debtor days and supplier terms.
- Pricing and margin work: which products, customers or contracts make money, and which quietly lose it.
- Funding: preparing for bank finance, equity investment or grants, building the model and the data room, and handling lender or investor questions.
- Board and investor reporting: a monthly board pack with KPIs that the board actually uses.
- Building the finance function: deciding what the bookkeeper, controller and systems should do, and making sure it happens.
What a fractional CFO does not normally do is the bookkeeping, the bank reconciliations or the VAT returns. If they are doing that, you are paying the wrong rate for the work.
How much does a fractional CFO cost in the UK?
Published UK market data from April 2026 by FD Capital, a fractional CFO provider, puts day rates at £600 to £1,200, with most engagements in the middle of that range. The table shows what that means per month, from about £700 a day at the lower end to about £1,000 a day at the upper end.
| Commitment | Typical monthly cost (published market range) |
|---|---|
| Light advisory retainer (board meeting and calls) | £1,500 to £3,000 |
| 1 day a week | £2,800 to £4,300 |
| 2 days a week | £5,600 to £8,700 |
| 3 days a week | £8,400 to £13,000 |
Rates rise with seniority and sector. A CFO who has led private equity backed businesses or a listed company sits at the top of the range, and so does short notice interim cover. Treat these as market ranges, not quotes, and expect a fixed monthly retainer to be cheaper per day than ad hoc days.
How does that compare with a full-time finance director?
The comparison only works on full cost. Take an illustrative full-time finance director on a salary of £90,000. Using HMRC’s rates and thresholds for employers 2026 to 2027:
| Cost line | Full-time FD (illustration) | Fractional CFO, 1 day a week |
|---|---|---|
| Salary or fees | £90,000 | About £34,000 to £52,000 a year |
| Employer National Insurance (15% above £5,000) | £12,750 | None |
| Employer pension (3% minimum on qualifying earnings) | About £1,320 | None |
| Recruitment fee | Typically 20% to 30% of salary for senior roles | None |
| Benefits, equipment, bonus | Typically extra | None |
| Annual cost before recruitment and benefits | About £104,000 | About £34,000 to £52,000 |
A full-time FD makes sense when the business needs finance leadership every day: complex operations, several entities, a large finance team to manage, or investors who expect a full-time executive. Below that, a fractional CFO gives you the same seniority for the days you actually need it.
Fractional CFO, financial controller or bookkeeper: which do you need first?
This is the question that saves most businesses the most money. The three roles do different jobs, and you need them roughly in this order.
| Role | Main job | Typical sign you need it | Typical commitment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeper | Records every transaction, reconciles the bank, runs payroll and VAT | You are doing your own books at night | Weekly or monthly |
| Financial controller | Closes the month, produces management accounts, runs controls, cash reporting and the year-end file | Month-end takes more than two weeks, or the numbers need regular adjusting | Part time or outsourced, every month |
| Fractional CFO | Strategy, forecasting, funding, pricing, board reporting | You have reliable monthly numbers and a big decision coming | One to three days a week |
If month-end numbers are late or unreliable, start with a controller and management accounts. A CFO adds value once the numbers can be trusted. Paying a CFO to chase missing invoices and fix reconciliations is a common and expensive mistake in growing businesses.
Our guide to management accounts for UK businesses explains what a good monthly pack contains, and our article on real-time management accounts dashboards for SMEs shows how quickly the numbers can arrive once the process is right.
When should a UK business hire a fractional CFO?
Hire one when a decision is coming that is bigger than your current finance team can support, and your monthly numbers are already reliable. The most common triggers are:
- Raising money. Equity investors and lenders expect a credible model, a data room and someone who can answer their questions without guessing.
- Bank covenants or a refinancing. Covenant reporting and lender meetings need someone who understands both the numbers and the lender.
- Fast growth. When revenue is rising quickly, cash usually gets tighter, not looser. A CFO plans working capital before it becomes a crisis.
- Margins falling without a clear reason. A CFO can take the business apart by product, customer and channel and find where the money goes.
- An acquisition or an exit. Buying or selling a business needs financial due diligence, valuation work and negotiation support.
- The founder is the finance function. If every financial decision waits for the founder, a CFO frees them to run the business.
If none of these apply, and you mainly want accurate numbers each month and someone to talk them through, a financial controller or a strong outsourced finance function is likely to give you more for your money.
How do you hire a fractional CFO?
- Write down the job. List the three to five things you need the CFO to deliver in the next 12 months, such as a funding round, a new forecast or a margin review. That tells you the profile and the number of days.
- Check the foundations. Make sure your bookkeeping is up to date and your management accounts arrive on time. If not, fix that first or ask the CFO to price it separately.
- Look for relevant experience. A CFO who has raised money in your sector, or taken a similar business through the same stage, is worth more than a general CV.
- Check qualifications. Most UK fractional CFOs are chartered or certified accountants (ICAEW, ACCA, CIMA or ICAS). Ask for their membership number and check it.
- Agree scope, days and outputs in writing. Fix the monthly deliverables, the days, the notice period and how extra days are charged.
- Check the employment status. If your company is medium or large, the off-payroll working rules (IR35) mean your business must decide whether the engagement would be employment if the CFO were engaged directly. HMRC’s guidance on off-payroll working for clients explains who is responsible. Small companies are outside these rules, but the contractor still has to apply them.
- Review after 90 days. By then you should have a forecast you trust, a board pack you use and a clear view of the next big decision.
What should a fractional CFO deliver in the first 90 days?
A good fractional CFO should leave you with three things within a quarter: numbers you trust, a forecast you use and a clear plan for the decision that made you hire them. A sensible 90 day plan looks like this.
| Period | Focus | What you should have at the end |
|---|---|---|
| Days 1 to 30 | Review the books, the month-end process and the last 12 months of management accounts | A short list of what is wrong, what is missing and who will fix it |
| Days 31 to 60 | Build the rolling forecast and the 13 week cash view, agree the KPIs | A forecast the leadership team signs off, and a board pack template |
| Days 61 to 90 | Work on the main decision: funding, pricing, a lender, an acquisition | A funding or action plan with numbers behind it, and an agreed monthly rhythm |
Cash usually comes up first. If debtor days are drifting, a CFO will look at credit control before anything else, because it is the quickest cash a growing business can find. Our guide to accounts receivable management for UK SMEs covers the practical steps.
If the first month shows the books are not ready, a good CFO will say so and recommend fixing the foundations before spending more of their days. That honesty is one of the best signs you have hired the right person. If the fix is the monthly reporting itself, our article on cost-saving strategies for outsourcing management accounts explains how businesses get reliable monthly numbers without a full-time hire.
What are the alternatives to a fractional CFO?
There are four, and the right one depends on what is actually missing.
- An outsourced finance function. Bookkeeping, management accounts, payroll and controller-level reporting delivered as one monthly service. Best when the problem is reliable numbers, not strategy.
- A part-time financial controller. Owns the month-end close and controls. Often the right hire before a CFO.
- Your accountant’s advisory service. Many accountants offer forecasting, tax planning and funding support alongside compliance, which suits businesses that need advice a few times a year rather than every week.
- Project-based corporate finance support. For a single event such as a fundraise, acquisition or sale, specialist corporate finance help for the duration of the project may be more cost effective than a monthly CFO.
Our article on MIS reporting and management information systems explains how the reporting layer fits together, whichever model you choose.
How Acenteus Accounting helps
Many businesses that ask about a fractional CFO actually need two things first: books that are up to date every month, and management accounts they can trust. That is what our outsourced finance function for UK businesses delivers, from bookkeeping and payroll through to monthly management accounts and controller-level reporting, with one named contact.
When the numbers are reliable, our corporate finance services and tax advisory services help with the bigger decisions: forecasting, funding, restructuring and tax planning. The relationship is led from Brighton by Chris Barnard, a Chartered Certified Accountant and CIMA member with more than 14 years of experience, supported by our team of more than 100 accounting professionals.
Clients tell us the value is in the judgement as well as the numbers. “Financial planning can be overwhelming, but Chris guided us through with a unique blend of expertise and empathy,” says the Founder of Clera Healthcare Ltd. And at Immortal Games, the CEO told us Chris “helped us secure £20,000 more in R&D relief than our previous accountants.”
If you are not sure whether you need a CFO, a controller or both, book a short call and we will tell you honestly which rung of the ladder your business is on. You can also see our full range of accounting services for small businesses.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
A fractional CFO is an experienced chief financial officer who works for your business part time, usually one to three days a week or on a monthly retainer, and takes responsibility for forecasting, cash, funding, pricing and board reporting.
Market data published in April 2026 puts UK day rates at about £600 to £1,200. One day a week typically costs £2,800 to £4,300 a month, and two days a week about £5,600 to £8,700 a month.
If month-end numbers are late or unreliable, start with a financial controller and management accounts. A fractional CFO adds most value once the numbers can be trusted.
In practice, yes. In the UK the titles fractional CFO, fractional finance director and part-time FD are used for the same role, although some firms use CFO for more strategic, investor-facing work.
Most engagements are one or two days a week. Light advisory engagements may be a board meeting and calls each month, and busy periods such as a fundraise may need more days for a few months.
They can. If your company is medium or large, the off-payroll working rules require you to decide the CFO's employment status for tax. Small companies are outside the client-side rules, but the contractor still has to apply them. Take advice on the contract.
Most are qualified accountants with ICAEW, ACCA, CIMA or ICAS, and many have led finance in businesses of your size and sector. Relevant experience of the decision you face, such as a fundraise or an exit, matters as much as the qualification.
Many can for a defined period, such as the six months around a fundraise. For ongoing monthly reporting, an outsourced finance function or part-time financial controller usually gives a small business better value.
