Fractional Finance Director Recruitment

Fractional FD Executive Search

A fractional Finance Director (FD) provides board-level financial leadership on a part-time or flexible basis — giving your business the financial strategy, reporting discipline, and commercial insight it needs without the cost or commitment of a full-time hire. Exec Capital places experienced fractional Finance Directors with growth businesses, PE-backed companies, and founder-led organisations across the UK. Every search is run by our specialist team, with Adrian Lawrence FCA overseeing each mandate.

A fractional Finance Director typically works one to three days per week, operating as a genuine member of your leadership team and providing the financial oversight your business needs to grow with confidence. We agree the search timetable with you at the briefing stage, and we tell you honestly how deep the candidate market is for your particular brief before you commit.

What Is a Fractional Finance Director?

A fractional Finance Director is an experienced senior finance professional who works with your business on a defined part-time basis — typically one to three days per week — providing board-level financial leadership without the cost or commitment of a permanent appointment. The role covers strategic financial planning, management reporting, cash flow management, financial controls, investor and lender relations, and finance team leadership.

In UK businesses, Finance Director and CFO are often used interchangeably at SME level. Both titles describe the most senior finance leader in the organisation — the individual accountable to the CEO and board for the financial performance and strategic financial management of the business. Exec Capital and our sister practice FD Capital recruit across both titles and can advise on which profile best fits your requirement.

Fractional Finance Directors typically work across a portfolio of clients simultaneously. This breadth of experience — from different business models, sectors, and growth stages — makes fractional FDs particularly valuable to businesses that need not just financial management but the commercial pattern recognition that comes from working across multiple organisations.

It also helps to be clear about what a fractional FD is not. A fractional FD is not an outsourced bookkeeper, and it is not the same as the year-end accountant who prepares statutory accounts and the corporation tax return. Nor is the role a part-time Financial Controller. A Financial Controller owns the accuracy of the numbers — the ledgers, reconciliations, month-end close and the control environment that sits underneath reporting. A Finance Director owns what the numbers mean and what the business does about them: the plan, the forecast, the funding, the board conversation and the decisions that follow. Many businesses that think they need a fractional FD actually need both, with the FD setting direction and an in-house or outsourced controller doing the processing. Our guide to the differences between a Financial Controller and a Finance Director sets out the split in more detail, and we will tell you at briefing if we think your gap is really at controller level rather than FD level.

The fractional model works because most of the value a Finance Director adds in a smaller business is concentrated in a limited number of activities: designing the reporting, setting the budget and forecast, preparing for and attending the board, managing the bank and investors, and making a small number of high-consequence decisions on pricing, investment, funding and cost. Those activities do not need five days a week in a business with a few million pounds of revenue. They do need someone who has done them many times before.

Fractional FD, Interim FD, and Part-Time FD — What’s the Difference?

Exec Capital recruits across all four models. Our sister practice FD Capital specialises in fractional, part-time and interim FD and CFO recruitment and has a large network of available finance leaders across the UK.

Other ways to hire a Finance Director or CFO

This page covers fractional Finance Director appointments: an ongoing, part-week senior finance leader embedded in your leadership team. If that is not quite the shape of your requirement, our sibling pages cover the other formats. For a fixed, lighter commitment measured in days per month, see part-time Finance Director recruitment. For full-time cover over a defined period — a departure, a transaction or a turnaround — see interim Finance Directors. Where the brief is CFO-level — institutional investors, multi-entity groups, an exit process — see fractional CFO, part-time CFO and interim CFO appointments. If you want a permanent, full-time hire, our Finance Director recruitment service runs a retained search.

How It Works

Every fractional FD search follows the same six stages. The detailed version, including what we need from you at each point, is set out further down this page under the search process. We agree the timetable with you at briefing, because the right pace depends on how specific the brief is and how quickly your side can interview.

1. Brief. A call with our team to understand the business, the finance function as it stands, the trigger for the hire, the days per week you can fund and what success looks like twelve months in.
2. Search. We search our own network and FD Capital’s specialist pool of fractional finance leaders, and approach people who are not actively looking where the brief calls for it.
3. Shortlist. You receive a short list of assessed candidates, each with a written summary explaining why they fit, their availability, their working pattern and their day rate.
4. Interviews. We arrange interviews, brief candidates on your business, gather feedback from both sides and handle referencing.
5. Offer. We help agree scope, days, rate, notice and the contracting route, including the IR35 position, so the engagement letter reflects what both sides expect.
6. Onboarding. We stay in touch through the first reporting cycle and the first review point, and we remain your contact for the life of the engagement.

When Does a Business Need a Fractional Finance Director?

Growing beyond founder-level finance management

Many businesses reach a point — typically £1m to £5m revenue — where the founder is no longer able to manage the finance function effectively alongside the demands of running the business. Bookkeepers and accountants handle the compliance, but strategic financial leadership is absent. A fractional FD takes ownership of the finance function, introduces proper management reporting, and gives the CEO the financial clarity they need to make better decisions faster.

Preparing for investment or fundraising

Investors expect board-ready financial reporting, robust forecasting models, and a credible finance function before they will commit capital. A fractional FD prepares the business for fundraising — building investor materials, stress-testing financial models, managing financial due diligence, and providing the lender or investor-facing credibility that founders often cannot provide themselves. Many businesses appoint a fractional FD six to twelve months before a funding round for exactly this reason.

Finance Director departure or leadership gap

When a Finance Director leaves unexpectedly or gives notice, the business needs experienced financial leadership in place while a permanent replacement is found. A fractional FD maintains continuity — managing the finance team, ensuring reporting continues on schedule, and preserving investor and lender confidence — without the time pressure of hiring a permanent replacement under duress.

Strengthening financial controls and governance

Businesses that have grown quickly often have financial controls that have not kept pace with scale — informal approval processes, inconsistent reporting, weak cash flow visibility, and governance structures that would not stand up to investor scrutiny. A fractional FD audits the existing control environment, implements proper governance frameworks, and builds the financial discipline that the business needs for its next stage.

Managing a turnaround or financial restructuring

Businesses facing cash flow pressure, covenant breaches, or financial restructuring need experienced financial leadership that can move quickly and think commercially. A fractional FD with turnaround experience manages lender relationships, builds credible cash flow forecasts, identifies financial improvement opportunities, and provides the board with the financial clarity needed to navigate a difficult period.

Preparing for exit or acquisition

Exit preparation demands a higher standard of financial reporting, clean data rooms, and credible financial narratives. A fractional FD leads this process — managing advisers, preparing financial information, and supporting negotiations — typically working more intensively in the twelve to twenty-four months before a transaction and ensuring the financial story told to acquirers is both accurate and commercially compelling.

Signs the timing is right

Beyond these triggers, a handful of everyday symptoms usually tell a business it has outgrown its current finance arrangements:

• Management accounts arrive weeks after month end, or not at all, so decisions are made on bank balances and instinct.
• Nobody can say with confidence what cash will look like in thirteen weeks’ time.
• The bank, an investor or a large customer has started asking questions the business struggles to answer.
• Pricing and margin by product, customer or site are not understood, so growth is not translating into profit.
• The founder or CEO is spending evenings on spreadsheets rather than on customers and people.
• The external accountant is being asked to make forward-looking decisions that are outside a compliance engagement.

If two or three of these are true, the business is usually ready for a fractional FD. If most of them are true and the business is also preparing to raise money or sell, the brief may need more days, or a fractional CFO profile rather than an FD profile.

Permanent, Interim, Fractional or Part-Time Finance Director: Which Format Fits?

The comparison above sets out the basic models. In practice, the choice usually comes down to four questions: how many days of senior finance work the business genuinely has each week, how long the need will last, how urgent it is, and whether the person needs to be a long-term member of the executive team. The table below shows how we help clients think it through at briefing.

A few rules of thumb come up repeatedly. If the work is urgent and needs someone on site most of the week, interim is usually the right answer, even if the longer-term solution is fractional. If the business cannot yet fill two days a week with genuine FD-level work, a part-time arrangement with fewer days per month is often better value than a fractional appointment that drifts into processing work. If the board expects a full-time finance leader within eighteen months, consider whether a fractional FD should be engaged with an explicit option to move to permanent, or whether the business should run a permanent search now and use fractional support as a bridge. And if the need is mainly about investors, debt or a sale, check whether the profile you want is really a CFO rather than an FD.

None of these formats is permanently fixed. Many of the businesses we work with start with a fractional FD, increase days during a fundraise or acquisition, and later appoint a permanent FD — sometimes the same person. What matters is choosing the format that matches the next twelve to eighteen months, not the next five years.

What a Fractional Finance Director Delivers

Strategic financial leadership

• Develop financial strategy aligned with business objectives and growth plans
• Support CEO and board with commercial financial insight and scenario modelling
• Build long-term financial models and forecasting frameworks
• Provide strategic input on pricing, investment, capital allocation, and expansion

Management reporting and financial controls

• Build and improve management reporting packs and board-ready financial information
• Strengthen financial controls, approval processes, and governance frameworks
• Ensure reliable, accurate, and timely financial reporting across the organisation
• Implement KPI frameworks that connect financial performance to commercial objectives

Cash flow and working capital management

• Improve cash flow visibility, forecasting, and working capital management
• Identify opportunities to improve margins, reduce costs, and improve cash conversion
• Manage banking and lender relationships and ensure covenant compliance
• Support financial stability during periods of rapid growth or commercial pressure

Fundraising and investor relations

• Prepare investor-ready financial models and fundraising materials
• Support fundraising, lender negotiations, and due diligence processes
• Manage investor reporting and financial communication throughout the investment period
• Prepare businesses for acquisition, refinancing, or exit events

Finance team leadership

• Lead, develop, and manage the finance team and finance function
• Improve finance processes, systems, and workflows
• Support the recruitment and development of finance staff
• Build a finance function capable of supporting the business at its next stage of growth

What a Fractional Finance Director Typically Delivers in the First 90 Days

Because a fractional FD is in the business for a limited number of days, the first three months need a clear plan. The best candidates arrive with one, and we encourage clients to agree it in writing as part of the engagement. The detail varies with the brief, but a typical first 90 days looks like this.

Days 1 to 30: diagnose

• Meet the CEO, board members, key managers, the external accountant, the bank and any investors.
• Review the last twelve to twenty-four months of management accounts, the statutory accounts, the chart of accounts, the systems in use and the month-end process.
• Build or rebuild a thirteen-week cash flow forecast so the business knows its short-term position.
• Map the control environment: who can commit spend, who can pay, how revenue is recognised and where the obvious risks sit.
• Agree a short list of priorities with the CEO, ranked by value and urgency.

Days 31 to 60: fix the basics

• Introduce a consistent monthly management pack with a fixed timetable and a small set of KPIs the board agrees matter.
• Tighten approvals, payment controls and reconciliations, working with whoever does the processing.
• Start the budget or reforecast for the current year, linking it to the commercial plan rather than last year’s numbers plus a percentage.
• Take over the day-to-day relationship with the bank or lender, and check covenant headroom.
• Identify any gaps in the finance team or systems and set out options, including costs and trade-offs.

Days 61 to 90: look forward

• Deliver an integrated profit, balance sheet and cash flow forecast the board can use for decisions.
• Present a first board paper on financial strategy: funding needs, pricing or margin actions, and investment priorities.
• Begin the main project behind the hire — investment readiness, a refinancing, an exit timetable, a systems change or a cost programme.
• Hold a formal review with the CEO on scope, days per week and priorities for the next quarter.

At the 90-day review, most clients either confirm the original days, step them up for a defined project, or reduce them because the basics are now in place. Building that review into the engagement from the start keeps the arrangement honest on both sides. If you want a fuller view of the responsibilities the role should carry, our Finance Director job description is a useful starting point for the scope document.

Fractional Finance Director vs Financial Controller vs Fractional CFO

These three roles are often confused, and choosing the wrong one is the most common reason a fractional finance engagement disappoints. The table sets out the main differences as we see them in practice.

In a smaller business a good fractional FD will do some controller work in the early weeks, because someone has to. The risk is that the arrangement settles into that pattern permanently, which is poor value. If the processing load is heavy, budget for a part-time bookkeeper or controller alongside the fractional FD, and let the FD spend the agreed days on the work only a Finance Director can do.

Fractional Finance Director Day Rates and Cost

Fractional Finance Directors are engaged on a day rate, and the total cost is simply the rate multiplied by the number of days agreed each week or month. We do not publish day-rate bands on this page, because they move with the market and vary widely between briefs; instead we give you current, brief-specific guidance on the briefing call, based on the candidates we are actually speaking to. Where we introduce an interim or fractional FD, the day rate we quote includes our fee, so there is no separate invoice for the placement.

The main factors that move a fractional FD’s rate are:

• Qualification and track record. Chartered accountants (ACA, ACCA or CIMA) with prior FD or CFO appointments sit above those stepping up from Financial Controller.
• Complexity. Multi-entity groups, international operations, regulated activity, complex revenue recognition and project accounting all narrow the field.
• Transaction exposure. Experience of fundraising, refinancing, private equity ownership or a sale commands a premium, especially when the project is live.
• Sector knowledge. Specific experience — SaaS metrics, construction contracts, healthcare funding, FCA-regulated reporting — reduces the learning curve and is priced accordingly.
• Location and attendance. Roles requiring regular on-site days in London or with significant travel cost more than largely remote engagements.
• Days and flexibility. A predictable commitment of one or two days a week is easier to fill, and to price, than a pattern that swings week to week.

The useful comparison is not day rate against salary but total cost against value delivered. A permanent Finance Director costs salary plus employer National Insurance, pension, benefits, bonus and recruitment, every week of the year. For context, the Office for National Statistics’ provisional Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings 2026 puts median full-time gross annual pay for financial managers and directors at around £80,000 — a broad occupation group that includes many roles below board level, so experienced Finance Directors are typically paid more. A fractional engagement replaces that fixed annual cost with a variable one, sized to the work. For more detail on senior finance pay, see our CFO salary guide. Exec Capital and FD Capital can provide remuneration benchmarking as part of the initial briefing call.

Engagement and Fees

How we are paid depends on the format you choose, and we set it out in writing before any search starts. We agree the fee structure with you at briefing; it is never a surprise.

Interim and fractional appointments

For fractional and interim Finance Directors, the engagement runs on a day rate for the days the FD actually works. That day rate includes our fee. You approve timesheets or an agreed schedule, and you are invoiced on that basis. Notice periods, minimum days, expenses and the review point are agreed upfront and written into the engagement terms, so both sides know how the arrangement can be scaled up, scaled down or ended.

Permanent appointments

If you decide the right answer is a permanent Finance Director, we run the search on a retained or contingent basis depending on the role and the market. Retained search suits senior, confidential or hard-to-fill appointments where you want a dedicated process and a full market map; contingent can work for more straightforward briefs. Our guide to retained vs contingent executive search explains the trade-offs.

What is included

• A structured briefing call and a written role scope covering responsibilities, days, reporting lines and success measures.
• Search across our own network and FD Capital’s specialist fractional finance pool.
• Assessment of technical depth, sector fit, working style and availability, with a written summary on every shortlisted candidate.
• Interview coordination, candidate briefing and feedback in both directions.
• Referencing and checks on qualifications and professional body membership.
• Support agreeing scope, rate, notice and the contracting route.
• Ongoing contact through the engagement, including the first review point.

IR35 and Contracting a Fractional Finance Director

Most fractional Finance Directors work through their own limited company, and some through an umbrella company. That makes the off-payroll working rules, usually called IR35, part of every engagement. Under the current rules, a medium or large client outside the public sector is responsible for deciding whether the off-payroll rules apply and must issue a status determination statement; where the client is small, the worker’s own company decides. HMRC’s guide to understanding off-payroll working (IR35) sets out who is responsible in each case.

One point causes confusion. The Companies Act size thresholds were raised for financial years beginning on or after 6 April 2025, which in time will take more clients into the “small” category. However, HMRC’s April 2025 Employer Bulletin says the change has no practical impact for off-payroll working until 6 April 2027 at the earliest. Until then, assess company size for IR35 on the basis that applied before the change, and take advice if you are near a threshold.

Status turns on the real working arrangement, not on the label. A fractional FD who works for several clients, controls how the work is done, agrees deliverables and can send a substitute looks different from someone embedded five days a week under line management. We help clients and candidates think through the factors at offer stage, but the determination itself is yours or the contractor’s to make. Our guide to IR35 rules for senior executive engagements covers the practical points in more depth.

FD Capital — Our Sister Specialist Practice

For businesses whose primary requirement is a fractional Finance Director or fractional CFO, we recommend also speaking with FD Capital — our specialist sister practice that focuses on fractional, part-time, and interim FD and CFO placements. FD Capital has a large network of available senior finance leaders in the UK, with experienced candidates available across all sectors and business stages.

Exec Capital and FD Capital work in parallel and share candidate pools where appropriate. If you brief Exec Capital on a fractional FD requirement, we will identify whether FD Capital has immediately available candidates who meet your brief, which can shorten the search.

The Fractional Finance Director Search Process

How to Assess a Fractional Finance Director

Most fractional FD candidates look strong on paper: qualified, experienced, with a list of previous clients. The differences that matter show up in how they have worked as a fractional leader rather than as a full-time employee. These are the areas we probe, and the ones we suggest clients focus on at interview.

Evidence of doing the same job before

Ask for specific examples of businesses at a similar size and stage, with a similar problem, and what changed while the candidate was there. A fractional FD who has taken three founder-led businesses through their first institutional fundraise brings something different from one whose experience is mainly year-end and tax.

How they manage limited days

Good fractional FDs are disciplined about how they use their time. Ask how they structure a typical week, how they stay in touch on the days they are not in, how they handle urgent issues, and how they decide what not to do. Vague answers here are a warning sign.

Capacity and other clients

Ask how many other clients they work with, how many days each, and whether any are entering a busy period such as a transaction. A candidate with too many commitments will struggle to give you priority when it matters. Equally, check there are no conflicts, such as a competitor or a key supplier on their client list.

Systems and hands-on skills

In a smaller business, the FD will need to work directly in the accounting system and the forecast model. Check familiarity with the software you use, or the willingness to learn it, and ask to see an anonymised example of a management pack or cash flow model they have built.

Credibility with your stakeholders

If the role involves a bank, investors or a board with non-executive directors, the FD needs to be credible in those rooms. Where possible, involve the chair or a lead investor in the final interview.

Questions worth asking at interview

• Talk me through the first month in your last fractional FD role. What did you find, and what did you change first?
• Tell me about a time a forecast you owned was badly wrong. What happened and what did you do?
• How would you split two days a week across our priorities in the first quarter?
• When would you tell us we need more of your time — or less?
• What would you need from the CEO and the team to succeed here?

Who We Place Fractional Finance Directors With

Our fractional FD clients share a common position: they need senior finance judgement but do not yet need, or cannot yet justify, a full-time Finance Director. Within that, the client types we work with most often are:

• Founder-led and owner-managed businesses where the founder has run finance alongside everything else and now needs to hand it to a professional.
• Venture-backed and early-stage companies preparing for a seed, Series A or later round, or needing to report credibly to investors after one. For earlier-stage CFO-level needs, see our startup CFO recruitment service.
• Private equity-backed portfolio companies, particularly smaller ones, where the investor wants a stronger finance function without the cost of a full-time CFO in the early part of the hold, or needs cover while a permanent hire is made. Our private equity recruitment team works with sponsors on these appointments.
• Family-owned businesses moving from a long-serving finance manager or external accountant to board-level financial leadership, often ahead of succession.
• Charities, social enterprises and membership bodies that need professional financial governance and funder reporting on a limited budget.
• Businesses in a period of change: a refinancing, an acquisition, a systems implementation or a recovery plan that needs experienced finance leadership for a defined stretch.

Fractional finance leadership in FCA-regulated firms

Regulated firms need extra care. Under the FCA’s Senior Managers and Certification Regime, a Finance Director who sits on the board of a solo-regulated Core firm as an executive director will usually hold SMF3 (Executive Director), which requires FCA approval before they start. The separate SMF2 Chief Finance function applies only at banks, insurers and Enhanced firms. Our SMF3 executive director hiring guide explains what that means for the hire. The FCA’s published median for senior manager approvals was about 25 days in 2025/26, and the statutory limit is three months from receipt of a complete application; our guide on how long FCA SMF approval takes covers the detail. Payment and e-money institutions sit outside the SMCR — the FCA assesses the persons responsible for their management at authorisation, but not as senior managers.

For many smaller regulated firms, the more pressing gap is not finance but compliance. Fractional SMF16 (Compliance Oversight) and SMF17 (Money Laundering Reporting Officer) appointments are among the most common requests across our group, and both functions remain subject to FCA pre-approval. If that is your need, see fractional compliance officer and fractional MLRO appointments, or our fractional CCO and interim CCO services for broader compliance leadership.

Sectors We Place Fractional Finance Directors In

• Technology, SaaS and software businesses — investor-facing finance, ARR reporting, and fundraising preparation
• Financial services and fintech — FCA-regulated businesses with complex financial reporting and compliance requirements
• PE and VC-backed portfolio companies — businesses at value creation stage requiring investor-grade financial management
• Professional services — law firms, consultancies, and advisory businesses managing complex revenue recognition and partner economics
• Manufacturing and engineering — businesses with complex cost structures, inventory management, and capital investment requirements
• Healthcare and life sciences — businesses with grant funding, regulatory reporting, and complex cost management
• E-commerce and retail — businesses managing working capital, margin, and multi-channel financial complexity
• Not-for-profit and social enterprise — organisations requiring professional financial governance and funder reporting

Sector experience matters most where the business model has its own financial language. A SaaS business needs an FD who understands recurring revenue, churn, cohort economics and deferred income. A construction or engineering business needs someone comfortable with contract accounting, retentions, work in progress and project cash flow. A healthcare provider may need experience of public funding and regulatory returns. We weight sector fit according to how much of the role depends on it, and we will tell you when a strong generalist is a better choice than a weaker specialist.

Making a Fractional Finance Director Engagement Work

Fractional engagements succeed or fail on a few practical decisions made at the start. These are the points we raise with every client.

Agree the scope in writing

Write down what the FD owns, what they do not, the days per week, which days are fixed, how they will be contactable outside those days, and the priorities for the first quarter. Revisit it at each review point.

Decide on the title and board status

Some fractional FDs are appointed as statutory directors; many are not. A statutory appointment brings the general duties in the Companies Act — including the duty under section 172 to promote the success of the company — and raises questions about directors’ and officers’ insurance and the contractual route. A non-board “Finance Director” title with a standing invitation to board meetings is often enough, and is simpler. Decide deliberately, and take advice if the FD will be a statutory director.

Give access and authority

The FD needs full access to systems, bank portals, contracts and people, and the authority to change processes. A fractional FD who has to ask permission for every change will spend the agreed days waiting.

Support the processing

Make sure there is someone — in-house or outsourced — doing the bookkeeping and day-to-day transactional work, so the FD’s days go on leadership rather than data entry.

Plan the end as well as the start

Agree how the engagement will change as the business grows. Common outcomes are an increase in days, a move to a permanent appointment, or a handover to a permanent FD recruited with the fractional FD’s help. Building that into the plan avoids an awkward conversation later.

The Benefits of a Fractional Finance Director

• Board-level financial leadership at significantly lower cost than a permanent hire
• Faster financial clarity — a search run to a timetable agreed at briefing, and contribution from the first weeks
• Flexible engagement that scales with your financial needs and business stage
• Qualified, credentialled financial leadership (ACA, ACCA, CIMA) accessible to businesses at all sizes
• Investor and lender credibility — a named FD with a relevant track record
• Cross-sector experience from multiple businesses at different growth stages
• Bridge leadership while a permanent Finance Director search is conducted

Are you a fractional Finance Director?

If you are an experienced Finance Director or CFO looking for fractional, part-time or interim work, please register with us as a candidate and browse our current opportunities. We keep in touch with available finance leaders so that we can introduce them quickly when a brief fits.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a fractional Finance Director?

A fractional Finance Director is a senior finance professional who works with your business on a part-time or defined-day basis — typically one to three days per week — providing board-level financial leadership without the cost or commitment of a full-time permanent appointment. The role covers financial strategy, management reporting, cash flow management, financial controls, and finance team leadership.

What is the difference between a Finance Director and a CFO?

In most UK businesses, Finance Director and CFO describe the same role — the most senior finance leader in the organisation. CFO is more commonly used in larger businesses and by PE-backed or US-influenced organisations. Finance Director is the more common title in UK SMEs and professional services firms. Exec Capital and FD Capital recruit across both titles and can advise on what is appropriate for your business stage.

How much does a fractional Finance Director cost?

Fractional Finance Directors charge a day rate, so the cost is the rate multiplied by the agreed days per week or month. Rates depend on the FD’s qualifications, sector experience, transaction exposure and the complexity of the brief. We give current, brief-specific guidance on the briefing call, and where we introduce a fractional FD the day rate includes our fee. Compared with a permanent Finance Director, you avoid employer National Insurance, pension, benefits and bonus, and pay only for the days the business needs.

How quickly can you place a fractional Finance Director?

We agree the timetable with you at briefing, because it depends on how specific the brief is, how much availability candidates have, and how quickly your side can interview. Our access to FD Capital’s specialist candidate pool means we can often introduce fractional FDs who are already assessed and have capacity, which shortens the search for urgent requirements.

What qualifications should a fractional Finance Director have?

Most businesses look for an FD who is ACA, ACCA, or CIMA qualified — these are the recognised professional qualifications for senior finance roles in the UK. For regulated businesses or those preparing for institutional investment, ACA (ICAEW) qualification is typically preferred. Exec Capital assesses all candidates against the specific qualification and experience requirements of your brief.

What is the difference between a fractional FD and an interim FD?

A fractional FD works part-time across multiple clients on an ongoing basis — typically one to three days per week. An interim FD is usually full-time for a defined period — typically three to twelve months — engaged to manage a specific leadership transition, fundraising process, or financial challenge. If you need part-time ongoing financial leadership, fractional is usually the better fit. For full-time temporary cover, interim is the right model.

Do you also recruit interim and permanent Finance Directors?

Yes. Exec Capital recruits across all three models. For specialist fractional and part-time FD recruitment, see FD Capital — our sister practice which focuses on this area. For permanent Finance Director appointments, see our Finance Director Recruitment page.

Can a fractional Finance Director be a statutory director of the company?

Yes. A fractional FD can be appointed to the board as a statutory director, in which case they take on the same legal duties as any other director, regardless of how many days they work. Many businesses instead give the fractional FD the Finance Director title without a statutory appointment and invite them to board meetings. The right choice depends on what investors, lenders and the board expect; we discuss it with you at briefing.

Does IR35 apply to a fractional Finance Director?

It can. If the FD works through their own limited company, the off-payroll working rules apply to the engagement, and a medium or large client must make the status determination. Many fractional FDs work for several clients with genuine control over how they deliver, but status depends on the actual arrangement. The change to the company size thresholds has no practical effect for off-payroll working until 6 April 2027 at the earliest.

Can a fractional Finance Director become our permanent FD?

Sometimes, and it can work well because both sides already know each other. Many fractional FDs prefer a portfolio career, though, so if a permanent move is a likely outcome, say so at briefing and we will look for candidates who are open to it. Alternatively, the fractional FD can help define and assess the permanent hire when the time comes.

Related Executive Recruitment Services

• FD Capital — specialist fractional and part-time Finance Director and CFO recruitment
• Finance Director Recruitment — permanent Finance Director search
• Part-Time Finance Director Recruitment — set days per month for a lighter finance need
• Fractional CFO — CFO-level fractional leadership for scaling businesses
• Part-Time CFO — CFO-level support on a part-time basis
• Interim Finance Directors — rapid placement for defined-period requirements
• Fractional CEO — chief executive leadership on a fractional basis
• Fractional COO — operational leadership on a fractional basis
• Fractional C-Suite — all fractional C-suite roles
• C-Suite Recruitment — full executive team placement