Board-level financial leadership for growing UK businesses — without the £200k+ salary.
A fractional CFO — also known as a part-time finance director or part-time CFO — is a senior financial leader who joins your business on a flexible, part-time basis to provide the same strategic oversight as a full-time hire at a fraction of the cost. They move beyond bookkeeping and compliance to own your financial strategy, capital structure, investor relations, and board reporting. Whether your immediate priority is raising funding, improving cash flow, preparing for acquisition, or building the financial infrastructure to scale, a fractional CFO brings the experience of having guided many businesses through exactly those challenges before. Engagements typically run 2–8 days per month and can be scaled as your needs evolve.
A clear, board-aligned financial strategy covering capital allocation, growth funding, profitability improvement, and long-term planning. Your fractional CFO translates business goals into a financial roadmap that gives the CEO, board, and investors the confidence and clarity to make high-stakes commercial decisions with precision.
End-to-end support for equity and debt fundraising, including financial modelling for investor decks, due diligence preparation, data room management, term sheet negotiation, and ongoing post-investment reporting. Your fractional CFO becomes the primary financial interface between your business and its investors or lenders.
Timely, accurate board packs, management accounts, and KPI dashboards that give your leadership team genuine financial visibility. Your fractional CFO presents directly at board level, ensuring financial information is correctly interpreted and used to inform strategic decisions rather than simply recorded and filed.
Active management of cash flow forecasting, working capital cycles, and treasury position. Identifies liquidity risks before they become crises, optimises debtor and creditor terms, and ensures the business always has a clear, accurate, forward-looking view of its cash requirements and available headroom.
Establish or strengthen internal financial controls, audit readiness, and compliance frameworks appropriate to your stage and sector. Reduces financial risk, improves reporting accuracy, ensures regulatory obligations are met, and positions the business correctly for growth investment, due diligence, or a future exit process.
Expert guidance through acquisitions, disposals, and exit planning. Your fractional CFO leads financial due diligence, build-up and valuation modelling, vendor negotiations, and closing mechanics — ensuring you realise the maximum achievable value from every significant commercial transaction the business undertakes.
Leadership Services
per month — no recruitment fees, no long-term contracts
Full-Time Hire
per year plus benefits, recruitment fees, and on-costs
A fractional CFO provides board-level financial leadership on a part-time basis. Their responsibilities include financial strategy, investor relations, board reporting, cash flow management, financial controls, and M&A support. Unlike a management accountant or bookkeeper, a fractional CFO operates at the strategic level — advising the CEO, presenting to the board, and making decisions that directly influence how the business grows, funds itself, and manages risk.
A fractional CFO from Leadership Services starts from £1,500 per month, with engagements typically ranging from £1,500 to £6,000 per month depending on the number of days required and the complexity of your financial needs. This compares to a full-time Finance Director or CFO salary of £130,000 to £200,000 per year in the UK, plus employer on-costs, benefits, and recruitment fees — making the fractional model significantly more cost-effective for most SMEs.
The terms are often used interchangeably in the UK market, and the roles overlap significantly at SME level. A Finance Director traditionally focuses on financial operations, reporting, and compliance, while a CFO is typically a board-level role emphasising financial strategy, capital markets, and investor relations. Leadership Services provides fractional professionals who operate at both levels, bringing CFO-quality strategic thinking combined with hands-on finance director capability.
Most engagements begin within two to four weeks of an initial conversation. There is no lengthy recruitment process, no notice period to wait out, and no onboarding delays. Once we understand your business context, growth stage, and priorities, we match you with a fractional CFO from our network whose sector experience and technical background are directly relevant to your situation. Many clients have their fractional CFO attending their first board meeting within the first month.
For most UK SMEs with turnover up to £50 million, a fractional CFO provides everything they need. A full-time CFO is typically only justified when the business has highly complex multi-entity structures, requires daily on-site financial leadership, or is preparing for a major public market transaction. Until then, a fractional model delivers the same strategic expertise, board credibility, and financial oversight — with the flexibility to scale the engagement as your business grows.
Our fractional CFOs and part-time finance directors have sector experience spanning professional services, technology, financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, retail, education, and not-for-profit organisations. We match each client with a director whose sector background, regulatory knowledge, and growth-stage experience are directly relevant to your business — ensuring they can make an immediate and commercially meaningful contribution to your financial strategy from day one.
Book a free, no-obligation discovery call. We’ll match you with the right director within 5 business days.
