Part-time finance director · UK
Hire a part-time finance director for the year-end
A part-time finance director gives you a qualified, senior head of finance on a fixed share of the week: the same days, every week, employed part-time or engaged on a day rate.
Tell us the days and the problem on a 15-minute call and we come back with a shortlist of three to five, each with day rate or pay, availability and IR35 position.
- Shortlist of 3–5
- Day rate or pay, availability and IR35 on each
- Published UK rate and salary bands
- Set days, every 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 finance director 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 finance director and finance roles on the board
No Part-time finance director and finance 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 FD does with two or three days
A part-time finance director is a finance leader whose job is the whole function, delivered in fewer days.
That is the difference from a bookkeeper or an outsourced accountant: the FD owns the numbers the board relies on, the cash the business runs on and the relationships with the bank and the auditor.
The days are fixed, so the team knows when the FD is in and plans around it.
REPORTING
Gets the month-end out on time
Management accounts that land on the same working day each month, with a commentary the directors can read in ten minutes. Most part-time FDs fix this first because everything else depends on it.
Gets the month-end out on time. Management accounts that land on the same working day each month, with a commentary the directors can read in ten minutes. Most part-time FDs fix this first because everything else depends on it.
Runs a rolling cash forecast. A weekly or monthly cash view tied back to the ledger, with debtor and creditor days watched. A forecast that is wrong in small ways every week is caught before it becomes wrong in a large way.
Builds the budget and holds people to it. An annual budget agreed with the owners, then a monthly variance conversation with each budget holder. The FD does not write the plan alone; they make sure it adds up.
Speaks for finance to the bank and the auditor. Facility renewals, covenant reporting, the audit plan and the questions that come with it. Lenders and auditors want one named person who answers, and a part-time FD is that person.
Leaves a finance team that runs without them. Clear month-end tasks, approval limits, a controls checklist and a financial controller or senior accountant who can run the days the FD is not in.
02/ scope
What the part-time FD owns
A part-time role fails when the days are spent on the wrong work.
Write the line down before the first day.
- Monthly management accounts and board reporting
- Cash forecasting and working capital
- Annual budget and reforecasts
- Statutory accounts and the audit, with the external accountants
- Bank, lender and auditor relationships
- Financial controls and approval limits
- Line management of the finance team
- Day-to-day bookkeeping and purchase ledger
- Payroll processing
- VAT and corporation tax filings (to the external accountants)
- Credit control chasing
- Systems administration
03/ which model
Part-time, fractional or full-time?
Set the days the finance seat needs and how long you need them.
A fixed two or three days on a set pattern is part-time; a share of the week alongside other clients is a fractional finance director; four or five days for a defined term is an interim.
Fractional Quest, our parent company, runs all of these searches.
The model that fits · finance director
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 FD →Our framing, not a measured rule: the lines between the four models blur, and many briefs could run two ways.
04/ alternatives
A part-time FD against the other options
The right answer turns on how much senior judgement the business needs each week, and whether it needs it on the same days.
→ Part-time when the work is real but not five days deep; full-time when it is.
05/ rates
Part-time finance director day rates and salaries
Published UK bands only, each with its source named.
Day-rate figures are quoted by their sources for fractional work at one to two days a week, which is how most part-time FDs on a day rate are paid.
Type a rate to see where it sits.
- Part-time / fractional Finance Director£600–£1,000FD Capital 2026
- Part-time / fractional Financial Controller£400–£650Accountancy 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 FD costs
Model a part-time finance director at the days you need against a permanent Finance Director.
The slider runs across the published band for a part-time Finance Director: £600–£1,000 a day (FD Capital 2026).
Cost over 12 months
£83,200
104 working days · 2 d/wk · 12 mo · before tax
Fractional costs less over 12 months£75,575
Part-time Finance Director, 12 months£83,200
Part-time Finance Director, a month at 2 d/wk£6,928
Permanent Finance Director, same period£158,775
Part-time Finance Director, 12 months$110,232
Part-time Finance Director, a month at 2 d/wk$9,179
Permanent Finance Director, same period$210,361
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 Finance Director, 12 months€97,727
Part-time Finance Director, a month at 2 d/wk€8,138
Permanent Finance Director, same period€186,497
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 £109,500 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 3.9 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 Finance Director at 2 days a week never passes permanent inside 24 months.
Our arithmetic, cumulative. Permanent = the salary’s 30% search fee in month 0, then salary ÷ 12 plus 15% employer NI each month. No published interim band for this seat, so no interim line. Hover, tap or use the arrow keys for each month.
Illustration only: one way a part-time Finance Director’s week can divide at 2 days a week for you. Each block is half a day.
08/ decision
When to bring in a part-time FD
Most part-time finance director roles start from one of four moments.
If one reads like your last month, the case is there.
Which sounds like you?
Turnover has grown, there are more people, more suppliers and more questions from the owners, and the numbers arrive late or not at all. The bookkeeper is good at what they do; the business now needs someone above them.
- → Management accounts late or missing
- → Owners making decisions on bank balance
- → External accountant doing ad-hoc FD work
A new facility, a renewal or a minority investor brings reporting covenants and a request for a named finance director. Two or three days a week covers it in most owner-managed businesses.
- → Covenant reporting required
- → Term sheet asks for an FD
- → Quarterly lender packs
The business no longer needs five days, or cannot afford them, but still needs the judgement. A departure is a natural moment to reshape the seat.
- → Resignation or retirement
- → Finance team now has a capable controller
- → Budget pressure on senior salaries
Buyers pay for clean, consistent numbers. A part-time FD who starts early builds the reporting history, the controls and the forecast a buyer’s diligence will test.
- → Exit on a two-to-five-year horizon
- → Inconsistent historic accounts
- → Key-person dependence on the founder
09/ tax and IR35
How a part-time finance director 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 FD: what to get right
The phrase “part-time finance director” covers two different arrangements, and it helps to say which you mean.
One is an employee on a part-time contract, say three days a week, with pro-rata salary, holiday and pension.
The other is an FD engaged on a day rate for a set number of days, usually through their own limited company.
Both give you the same person on the same days.
The tax, employment rights and notice terms differ, so decide early.
If you employ a part-time FD, the law is clear that they must not be treated less favourably than a comparable full-time employee because they work fewer hours: pay, holiday and benefits run pro rata (see GOV.UK on part-time worker rights).
If you engage one on a day rate through a company, the off-payroll rules apply, and if your company is medium or large you make the IR35 status determination (HMRC guidance).
In both cases, status turns on how the work runs day to day.
The search itself is different from a full-time one.
You are fishing in a smaller pond of finance directors who want two or three days, many of them experienced FDs who have chosen a shorter week deliberately.
They tend to be sharp about scope: they will ask what the days are for, who does the bookkeeping and what the board expects each month.
Have answers ready.
Write the brief around outcomes, not hours.
“Three days a week” tells a candidate nothing.
“Monthly accounts by working day eight, a cash forecast the bank trusts and an audit with no surprises” tells them whether they are the right FD and whether three days is enough.
If the honest answer is that the work needs four days, say so now rather than in month three.
Pick the days with the team, not just the FD.
Month-end, payroll cut-off and the board meeting should fall on days the FD is in.
A finance director who is never present for close spends their days reviewing work after the fact.
Finally, think about what sits under the FD.
A part-time finance director is most effective with a capable financial controller or senior accountant running the days they are not there.
If that layer is missing, you may need a part-time financial controller as well, or an FD who is happy to be more hands-on for the first few months.
10.1/ how to hire
How to hire a part-time finance director step by step
Hiring a part-time finance director runs in five steps.
Write a one-page brief with the outcomes for the first year, the days and the reporting line.
Decide whether the role is employed or day-rate, and set a budget against the published bands on this page.
Brief one search partner.
Interview a shortlist of three to five, and ask each candidate to walk you through a month-end they have run at a business your size.
Then agree terms, including the days, notice and, for a day-rate engagement, the IR35 status determination where you are required to make one.
If you would rather run the search through one firm that covers part-time, fractional, interim and permanent finance hires, our parent company is a fractional recruitment agency; its guide to part-time finance director jobs sets out the hiring side in more detail.
What to put in the brief
The situation in two lines, turnover band and headcount, the systems in use, who does the bookkeeping, the days and whether they are fixed, location and how much is on site, the outcomes for year one, and the decisions the FD can take without asking.
What to ask at interview
Ask for a month-end calendar they have built, a cash forecast they have run, a difficult conversation they have had with a lender, and what they would stop doing in their first month with you.
Ask how they protect the days from creeping.
10.2/ small and medium businesses
A part-time FD for an SME what changes at your size
Most part-time finance directors work in small and medium-sized businesses, and size changes the job.
Under the Companies Act thresholds published on GOV.UK, a company is small if it meets at least two of three tests: turnover of £15 million or less, a balance sheet of £7.5 million or less, and 50 employees or fewer (GOV.UK: small companies).
Small companies can usually take an audit exemption and file simpler accounts, which changes what the FD spends the year-end on.
In an SME the FD is often the only qualified accountant in the building.
That means more hands-on work than in a large company: building the first proper budget, choosing and setting up the accounting system, and translating the numbers for owners who are experts in their trade but not in finance.
Ask candidates for evidence of doing exactly that.
An SME also has to keep company and accounting records for six years from the end of the financial year they relate to, and longer in some cases (GOV.UK: company and accounting records).
A good part-time FD sets up the filing and the controls so that nobody has to think about it again.
10.3/ which seat
Part-time finance director vs part-time CFO which do you need?
The titles overlap, and many businesses use them interchangeably.
In practice, a finance director usually runs the finance function: reporting, cash, controls, the audit and the team.
A chief financial officer adds the strategic and capital-markets side: fundraising, investor relations, M&A and a seat at the top table on strategy.
If you are raising equity, preparing for a sale process or reporting to institutional investors, you are probably looking for a part-time CFO.
The published bands reflect the difference.
FD Capital’s 2026 guide puts fractional finance director day rates at £600–£1,000 for one to two days a week, against £700–£1,400 for a fractional CFO in the same guide.
Robert Half’s 2026 salary figures put a UK finance director at £89,750–£138,000 (25th to 75th percentile) against £132,500–£220,500 for a CFO.
Hire the seat the work needs; a CFO doing FD work is expensive, and an FD asked to run a fundraise may be out of depth.
10.4/ for finance directors
Part-time finance director jobs and how to find them
Part-time finance director jobs are fewer than full-time ones and move quickly.
The board above reads the Fractional Quest pipeline daily and labels each role for what it is: a part-time role is never shown as a fractional one or the other way round.
On the parent site, see part-time finance director jobs and fractional finance jobs for the wider finance board.
Searches for “part time finance manager jobs” are common too, but finance manager roles are not what this page covers: we list director-level and controller-level seats only.
If you are a finance manager moving up, the controller roles on the part-time financial controller page are often the next step.
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 finance director 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 fractional, interim or permanent, these pages cover it.
The parent site’s part-time FD hub: hiring, jobs and what the seat costs.
A finance director on a flexible share of the week, alongside other clients.
When the seat is head of finance rather than finance director.
A finance director full-time for a fixed term: a gap, a deal or a fix.
Part-time, fractional, interim 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.