Part-time CFO · UK
Hire a part-time CFO for your growth plan
A part-time CFO is a senior finance leader on a fixed share of your week — employed on a pro-rata contract, or engaged on a day rate through their own company.
We scope the seat with you in fifteen minutes and come back with a shortlist of three to five part-time CFOs, each with day rate or pay, availability and IR35 position set out.
- Shortlist of 3–5
- Pay or day rate, availability and IR35 on each
- Published UK rate bands
- A fixed share of the week
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 scope the role
Tell us the situation, the days and the start date. We come back with part-time CFO candidates, their day rates and availability.
- 0115 minutes, video or phone
- 02We scope the days and the pattern
- 03A shortlist of 3–5 after the call
- 04Fractional, interim, part-time and permanent briefs
Pick a day that suits · live availability
On the board · last 3 months
Part-time CFO and finance director roles on the board
No Part-time CFO and finance director roles on the board right now.
We only show real vacancies from the last three months, read from the Fractional Quest pipeline — we never pad the board. New roles appear here as the pipeline finds them.
Looking? Build your repo once on Fractional Quest and every role on the board is read against it.
Sign up now →01/ definition
What a part-time CFO actually does
A part-time CFO runs the finance function on agreed days each week, for one company, with the authority of the full seat.
They own the numbers the board relies on, the cash the business runs on and the relationships with the bank, the auditors and investors.
The difference from a bookkeeper or an outsourced accountant is accountability: the part-time CFO decides, and answers for the decision.
REPORTING
Makes the monthly numbers trustworthy
A close that lands on time, management accounts the board can read and a forecast that is updated rather than rebuilt. Most part-time CFO briefs start by fixing this.
Makes the monthly numbers trustworthy. A close that lands on time, management accounts the board can read and a forecast that is updated rather than rebuilt. Most part-time CFO briefs start by fixing this.
Takes control of cash and working capital. A rolling cash forecast, payment terms that work, credit control and a clear view of headroom against facilities. Cash decisions stop being made on instinct.
Builds the budget and the growth model. A budget tied to the strategy, pricing and margin analysis, hiring plans the business can afford, and a model the founders can use without the CFO in the room.
Prepares and runs a raise or a refinance. Investor or lender materials, the data room, diligence questions and the negotiation of terms alongside advisers. A part-time CFO can step up the days for the duration.
Builds the finance team and its systems. Chooses the accounting system, sets controls, hires a financial controller or finance manager and decides what to keep in-house and what to outsource.
02/ scope
What the part-time CFO owns
On part of the week, the line between the CFO and the rest of the finance team has to be clear.
Agree it before the first day.
- Management accounts and the board finance pack
- Cash forecasting and working capital
- Budget, forecast and the financial model
- Bank, lender, auditor and investor relationships
- Finance controls and approval limits
- Fundraising and refinancing on the finance side
- The finance team and its systems
- Bookkeeping, payables and receivables
- Payroll processing
- Tax compliance filings (to advisers)
- Statutory accounts preparation (to accountants)
- Legal drafting on transactions (to counsel)
03/ which model
Part-time, fractional or interim?
Set the slider to the days the finance seat needs and choose a term.
A fixed pattern of days for one company is part-time; a CFO who splits the week across several clients is a fractional CFO; four or five days on a fixed term for a gap or a crisis is an interim CFO.
The model that fits · CFO
Part-time
A fixed slice of the week on a set pattern — the same days each week, often on a part-time contract or a day-rate arrangement.
Book a call about a part-time CFO →Our framing, not a measured rule: the lines between the four models blur, and many briefs could run two ways.
04/ alternatives
Part-time CFO against the alternatives
The right answer depends on how much finance judgement the business needs, how often, and who carries the accountability.
→ Part-time while the work fits in part of the week; full-time once the finance function needs a leader every day.
05/ rates
Part-time CFO rates
No source we can verify publishes a separate part-time CFO band, so we show the nearest published UK figures — fractional CFO and finance director day rates — each with its source named.
Type your own day rate to see where it sits.
- Part-time / fractional CFO£700–£1,400FD Capital 2026
- Part-time / fractional Finance Director£600–£1,000FD Capital 2026
Bands are as each source publishes them; permanent day equivalents are the salary band ÷ 220 working days, our arithmetic. Recruiter guides are named, not linked. Rates vary with sector, scope and location.
06/ calculator
What a part-time CFO costs
Model a part-time CFO at the days you need against a permanent Chief Financial Officer.
The slider runs across the published band for a part-time CFO: £700–£1,400 a day (FD Capital 2026).
Cost over 12 months
£109,200
104 working days · 2 d/wk · 12 mo · before tax
Fractional costs less over 12 months£146,725
Part-time CFO, 12 months£109,200
Part-time CFO, a month at 2 d/wk£9,093
Permanent CFO, same period£255,925
Part-time CFO, 12 months$144,679
Part-time CFO, a month at 2 d/wk$12,047
Permanent CFO, same period$339,075
Converted from £ at $1.3249 per £1 (Bank of England spot rate), 2 Oct 2026. A conversion, not a US market rate. Source ↗
Part-time CFO, 12 months€128,266
Part-time CFO, a month at 2 d/wk€10,681
Permanent CFO, same period€300,610
Converted from £ at €1.1746 per £1 (Bank of England spot rate), 2 Oct 2026. A conversion, not a EU market rate. Source ↗
Our arithmetic, indicative. Permanent = the £176,500 Robert Half 2026 median salary pro rata for the same months, plus 15% employer NI, plus a 30% search fee on the annual base (UK retained search runs 25–35%, Headhunters.co.uk). Excludes pension, bonus and equity.
At 4.7 days a week a permanent hire costs less.
Our arithmetic. Permanent a month = the salary ÷ 12 plus 15% employer NI, plus the 30% search fee spread over 12 months — the calculator’s inputs. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for each step.
07/ over two years
Part-time, interim or permanent over 24 months
The same seat three ways, at the days a week and day rate set in the calculator. Each crossover is computed, not typed.
- The part-time CFO at 2 days a week never passes permanent inside 24 months.
- Interim passes permanent at month 8.
Our arithmetic, cumulative. Permanent = the salary’s 30% search fee in month 0, then salary ÷ 12 plus 15% employer NI each month. Interim = the midpoint of the published interim band (£1,100 a day, FD Capital 2026) × 5 days × 4.33 weeks. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for each month.
Illustration only: one way a part-time CFO’s week can divide at 2 days a week for you. Each block is half a day.
08/ decision
When a part-time CFO is needed
Four situations account for most part-time finance briefs.
If one of these describes your business, a senior finance leader on part of the week is worth a conversation.
Which sounds like you?
The accountant files the returns, but nobody owns the forecast, pricing or cash. Decisions are made on the bank balance. A part-time CFO puts a monthly rhythm in place and gives the founders their evenings back.
- → No reliable monthly numbers
- → Cash surprises
- → Pricing set by habit
A raise, a facility or a new board member brings questions the current team cannot answer with confidence. A part-time CFO builds the model, the materials and the controls those people expect.
- → Raise or facility ahead
- → Board asking for forecasts
- → Covenants to report against
A capable finance manager is handling the transactions but the business needs strategy, controls and someone to sit with the board. The part-time CFO leads and develops the existing team rather than replacing it.
- → Growing headcount
- → Multiple entities or currencies
- → Audit requirements arriving
Owners planning an exit need clean numbers, a credible forecast and someone to answer buyer diligence. Starting part-time a year or two ahead gives time to fix what a buyer would find.
- → Exit timeline under discussion
- → Records that need tidying
- → Advisers about to be appointed
09/ tax and IR35
How a part-time CFO is engaged
General position under UK rules, with the HMRC source for each point. Not tax advice — check your own case with your accountant.
01 · DEDUCTIBLE
Fees are a business expense
Fees, like a salary, are deductible against profits when incurred wholly and exclusively for the trade (HMRC BIM37000), with corporation tax at the 25% main rate.
02 · WHO DECIDES
Status turns on how the work runs
Medium and large clients make the off-payroll status determination themselves; for a small private-sector client, the executive’s own company does (HMRC off-payroll guidance).
03 · WHAT HMRC LOOKS AT
Substitution, control, mutuality
Whether a substitute could genuinely be sent, who decides how the work is done, and whether either side must offer or accept further work. HMRC’s CEST tool walks through the same questions.
04 · ON THE PAYROLL
A part-time employee is an employee
Hired on a part-time contract, the executive has the same rights as a comparable full-time worker, pro rata (gov.uk part-time worker rights), and you pay employer NI on their salary.
10/ guide
Hiring a part-time CFO: a practical guide
The question behind most part-time CFO searches is not “can we afford a CFO?” but “what finance decisions are we getting wrong, or not making at all?” Start there.
The answer tells you whether you need a strategist, a cash controller, a fundraiser or a function builder, and how many days a week the work really takes.
Decide how the CFO will be engaged.
An employed part-time CFO works on a pro-rata contract and has the same protections as full-time colleagues under part-time workers’ rights.
A day-rate CFO works through their own company; if your business is medium or large, you make the IR35 status determination, as HMRC’s off-payroll working guidance explains.
Status turns on how the engagement runs, not on what the contract calls it.
Fix the pattern of days and make it visible.
A part-time CFO who is in on the same days each week becomes part of the rhythm: the close, the board pack, the weekly cash call.
Agree how month-end and board weeks are handled, and when the days can flex up for a raise or an audit.
Be clear about the seat.
Some businesses need a CFO; others need a finance director who runs the function closely, and the two overlap.
Our part-time finance director page covers the second, and our parent company’s hire a part-time CFO guide covers the first in more depth.
On cost, compare like with like.
The bands above are published fractional CFO and finance director day rates, the nearest UK figures to part-time work; an employed part-time CFO costs a pro-rata share of a full-time salary plus employer NI and pension.
The calculator above runs both, and our part-time day rates page sets the seats side by side.
Finally, agree what success looks like by the twelve-month mark: a close in a set number of days, a forecast the board trusts, a facility in place, a finance team that runs without daily supervision.
If the business then needs a full-time CFO, the part-time CFO is well placed to help hire one.
We recruit part-time, fractional, interim and permanent finance leaders through our parent company’s fractional recruitment agency.
10.1/ rates
Part-time CFO rates and how to read them
Part-time CFO rates are quoted two ways.
A day-rate CFO charges for each day worked, and the nearest published figure is FD Capital’s 2026 guide, which puts fractional CFO day rates at £700–£1,400 and fractional finance director rates at £600–£1,000.
An employed part-time CFO is paid a pro-rata salary: take the full-time figure and multiply by the share of the week.
As a worked example, two days a week at the bottom and top of the FD Capital CFO band is £1,400–£2,800 a week — our arithmetic, not a quoted rate.
For an employed role, Robert Half’s 2026 guide puts full-time CFO salaries at £132,500–£220,500 (25th–75th percentile); two-fifths of that range is £53,000–£88,200 a year before employer costs, again our arithmetic.
Our part-time day rates page shows every seat on the same basis.
What moves a part-time CFO rate
The complexity of the business (entities, currencies, regulation), the situation (steady growth or a raise), sector experience, location and travel, and the number of days committed.
A CFO taking a long, settled part-time contract may price differently from one covering a short, intense period.
Part-time CFO salary
An employed part-time CFO salary is the pro-rata share of a full-time salary, with holiday, pension and other benefits on the same pro-rata basis.
Agree whether any bonus or equity is pro-rated too, and put the pattern of days in the contract.
10.2/ small business
A part-time CFO for a small business
For a small business, a part-time CFO is often the first senior finance hire: the person who turns the accountant’s year-end figures into a monthly view of how the business is actually doing.
One or two days a week is usually enough to set up the rhythm, the controls and the forecast; the days can rise if a raise or a sale arrives.
Keep the roles distinct.
Your accountant prepares the statutory accounts and tax returns — GOV.UK sets out what annual accounts a private limited company must file — while the part-time CFO looks forward: cash, pricing, margins, hiring and funding.
The two work best when the CFO briefs the accountant, not the other way round.
A small business looking for a part-time CFO near them can widen the search.
Much of the work runs on shared systems, so a CFO who is on site on board and month-end days and remote for the rest is a workable pattern.
Say what in-person time you need in the brief, and we search accordingly.
10.3/ for finance leaders
Part-time CFO jobs and how to find them
Part-time CFO jobs move quickly and many are filled through referral.
The board above reads the Fractional Quest pipeline daily; our parent site lists part-time CFO jobs alongside portfolio finance roles, and the wider part-time executive jobs board here covers every seat.
Hiring businesses read three things first: your days and availability, your rate or salary expectation, and the situations you have handled — raises, refinances, exits, systems moves.
Say whether you would take an employed part-time contract, a day-rate engagement or either.
11/ process
How we run the search
What we undertake on every brief, run by Fractional Quest, our parent company.
- 01
Brief
A scoping call on the role, the days a week, the start date and what the part-time CFO must have delivered.
DAY 0 - 02
Search
We search and screen against that brief: track record at your stage, in your situation, and references we take ourselves.
SCREENING - 03
Shortlist
Three to five candidates, each with day rate or salary, availability and IR35 position set out.
SHORTLIST OF 3–5 - 04
Start
You interview and choose. The executive you choose contracts with you.
YOU CHOOSE
12/ the family
Finance leadership across Fractional Quest
Part-Time Quest is part of Fractional Quest.
When the finance seat is portfolio, fixed-term or permanent, these pages cover it.
A CFO shared across a portfolio of clients: what it is and what it costs.
Full-time finance leadership on a fixed term, for a gap, a deal or a turnaround.
Fractional, interim, part-time and permanent executive search in one firm.
13/ questions
Questions, answered
For hiring managers, and for executives looking for the role.
Book 15 minutes · shortlist of 3–5
Start with the brief.
Fifteen minutes to scope the seat, the days and the start date.