The Fractional FD and the Head of Finance: How to Build the Partnership That Makes Part-Time Finance Leadership Work

Fractional finance leadership has become a normal way for growing businesses to get board-level finance skills without a full-time salary. One or two days a week from an experienced Finance Director can transform the quality of a board pack, a funding round or a lender conversation.

But a part-time FD is, by definition, absent most of the week. The arrangement works when someone capable is holding the function together on the other days. When nobody is, the FD’s time gets spent fixing last month’s numbers instead of shaping next quarter’s decisions.

This article is written for fractional and part-time FDs, and for group CFOs who rely on finance leads in their subsidiaries. It looks at why the Head of Finance is so often the hire that makes part-time leadership work, how to divide the job between the two roles, what to look for in the person, and what it costs.

Why a part-time FD needs someone on the ground

A fractional FD brings judgement, board experience and an outside view, but not presence. The finance function still runs five days a week: suppliers need paying, the bank needs answering and the sales team wants a quote costed.

Without a strong lead on site, four problems tend to appear.

• Continuity breaks. Decisions wait for the FD’s next visit, or get made without finance at all.
• Month-end drifts. The close slips by a few days each month because nobody owns the timetable between visits.
• The team has no day-to-day manager. Junior staff take questions to the MD, or to nobody.
• The FD is working blind. They arrive on their day in the office and spend the morning finding out what has happened since last week.

A Head of Finance solves all four. They own the close, manage the team, keep the controls running and act as the FD’s eyes and ears between visits. The FD then uses their limited days for the work only they can do.

Two roles, one function

The simplest way to describe the partnership is that the FD owns the direction and the Head of Finance owns the delivery. The FD answers to the board for strategy, funding and risk. The Head of Finance answers to the FD for accurate numbers, on time, from a well-run team.

The boundary needs writing down, because the most common failure is overlap: both people reviewing the same reconciliations, or neither owning the cash forecast. Accountancy Capital’s guide to what a Head of Finance does gives a good baseline for the role’s scope before you adapt it to your own business.

A practical split of responsibilities

Every business is different, but the table below reflects a division that works in most owner-managed and investor-backed businesses where the FD is part-time.

Area	Fractional or part-time FD	Head of Finance
Board and shareholders	Attends the board, presents results, owns the narrative	Prepares the board pack and the supporting analysis
Strategy and planning	Sets the budget framework and the assumptions that matter	Builds the budget and runs the reforecast cycle
Funding and banking	Leads lender and investor relationships, covenant discussions and fundraising	Runs covenant reporting, bank reconciliations and day-to-day banking
Cash	Reviews the 13-week view and decides on action	Owns the cash forecast and working capital week to week
Month-end and reporting	Reviews the management accounts and challenges the story	Owns the close timetable, journals, reconciliations and the pack
Year-end and audit	Handles judgement areas and the audit partner relationship	Prepares the audit file and manages fieldwork
Controls and systems	Approves the control framework and major system changes	Operates the controls and leads system improvements
Tax and compliance	Oversees tax strategy with advisers	Manages VAT, payroll and statutory deadlines
Team	Shapes the structure and coaches the Head of Finance	Line-manages the team, recruits and develops them
Commercial support	Gives views on major pricing, investment and M&A decisions	Costs quotes, supports budget holders and flags issues early

Two lines in that table cause most of the friction: cash and commercial support. Agree who does what in week one, and agree what the Head of Finance should escalate rather than decide. A short written list (anything over a set value, any covenant risk, any HMRC correspondence, any dispute with a major customer) avoids a lot of awkward conversations later.

The weekly rhythm

The partnership depends on a predictable rhythm rather than ad hoc phone calls: a fixed weekly call on a non-office day covering cash, exceptions and board deadlines, plus a structured agenda for the FD’s day on site. Before each, the Head of Finance sends a short written update: cash position, close status, and the items that need a decision. That update is what makes the Head of Finance the FD’s eyes between visits, so the FD arrives briefed and spends the day on decisions rather than discovery.

What to look for in a Head of Finance who will work alongside a part-time FD

The technical requirements are similar to any Head of Finance search: qualified, a track record of running a close, experience managing a team. What changes is the temperament. Someone working with a part-time FD has to be comfortable alone for most of the week.

The qualities that matter most are:

• Judgement about escalation. They know what they can decide and what needs the FD. Too many calls and the FD’s time is wasted; too few and problems surface late.
• Ownership of the timetable. They run the close without being chased. Ask candidates how they have kept a month-end on track when the senior person was not there.
• Visible authority in the business. Budget holders and the MD need to accept the Head of Finance as the finance voice on the four days the FD is absent.
• Clear written communication. The weekly update only works if they can summarise well.
• Willingness to be coached. The best partnerships include the FD developing the Head of Finance over time, sometimes towards an FD role of their own.

Be careful about the opposite risk too. A Head of Finance who would really prefer to be the FD can find a part-time FD above them frustrating. Talk openly at interview about the reporting line and how the role might develop. Accountancy Capital’s Head of Finance interview questions include several that test independence and judgement, and the job description template is a sensible starting point for the brief.

Head of Finance or Financial Controller?

If the close is simple and the team is two people, a strong Financial Controller may be enough. If the person must lead the function for the FD, deal with the MD as a peer and own budgeting and cash as well as the ledger, you are describing a Head of Finance. The comparison of Financial Controller vs Head of Finance sets out where the line usually falls.

How group CFOs use Heads of Finance in subsidiaries

The same model scales up. A group CFO with several trading subsidiaries, or a PE-backed buy-and-build, cannot be on site in every business. The usual answer is a Head of Finance in each significant subsidiary, reporting into the group CFO, sometimes with a dotted line to the local MD.

In a group structure, the Head of Finance role tends to shift in three ways.

1. Group reporting comes first. They must deliver to the group timetable, in the group format, using the group’s policies. Local management information comes second.
2. They hold the line on controls. The group CFO relies on them to apply group policies on authorisations, intercompany and cash, even when the local MD would prefer flexibility.
3. They manage two relationships. Loyal to the group on numbers and controls, helpful to the local MD on running the business. That balance is a skill, and worth testing at interview.

After an acquisition, the subsidiary Head of Finance is often the person who makes integration happen, so look for someone who has been through one before. Authoritative guidance on governance and controls, such as the FRC’s corporate governance resources and the ICAEW’s business and management guidance, is useful when you set out what the group expects of each subsidiary finance lead.

What it costs: Head of Finance vs a full-time FD

Much of the appeal of this model is financial. A part-time FD plus a full-time Head of Finance often gives a business better coverage than a single full-time FD, for a comparable or lower total cost, because the senior judgement is bought by the day and the operational lead is paid at Head of Finance rates.

These are base salaries before bonus. A Head of Finance bonus is typically 10% to 20% on top.

Role and context	London	Regional UK
Head of Finance, first senior finance hire (£5m–£15m turnover)	£70k–£85k	£60k–£74k
Head of Finance, established SME (£15m–£40m)	£80k–£100k	£70k–£86k
Head of Finance, larger or investor-backed	£95k–£120k	£82k–£106k
Head of Finance, FCA-regulated firm	£90k–£120k	£78k–£100k
Full-time Finance Director (comparator)	£110k–£170k	£95k–£140k

A Head of Finance is not a cheap FD; they are different roles. The point is that a business needing operational finance daily, but board-level finance only part of the week, can match each need to the right person. The full breakdown, including Financial Controller comparators, is in the Head of Finance salary guide.

Interim cover

If the Head of Finance seat is empty, or the business needs someone quickly while a permanent search runs, an interim is often the right bridge. Interim Head of Finance day rates in London run from £380 to £500 for a straightforward role, £450 to £600 where the business is PE-backed or investor-facing, £480 to £640 for group multi-entity work and £500 to £660 in an FCA-regulated firm. Outside London the equivalent ranges are £320 to £430, £380 to £510, £400 to £540 and £420 to £560. Before engaging an interim through a limited company, check the off-payroll working (IR35) rules. The interim finance day rate card puts these figures alongside other finance roles.

An illustrative example

This is an illustrative scenario, not a client case. A £12m distribution business appoints a fractional FD for one day a week ahead of a refinancing. The close takes three weeks, and the only qualified accountant has just left. The FD’s first two visits are spent on the ledger rather than the lender.

The FD briefs for a Head of Finance to own the close, the cash forecast and a team of two, with an escalation list and a weekly update, and an interim covers the gap. Once the permanent hire joins, the close runs to a fixed working day and the FD’s day on site becomes a refinancing and board day, with the two roles together costing within the range expected for one full-time FD.

When the business actually needs a full-time FD

The fractional FD and Head of Finance model is not right for every business. If the company is preparing for a sale, raising significant equity, carrying complex debt, or the board needs a finance director in the room every week, a full-time FD or CFO is usually the better answer. The same applies when the Head of Finance would effectively be doing the FD job without the title or the authority. In those situations, it is better to say so and appoint the right level.

How FD Capital Group works across both levels

FD Capital Group is five specialist recruitment firms, and two of them cover this partnership directly.

FD Capital places Finance Directors and CFOs on a fractional, interim and permanent basis. Many of the fractional FDs who read this will have come to their portfolio that way.

Its sister firm, Accountancy Capital, recruits the qualified finance team beneath the FD, including Heads of Finance, for roles from £50,000 upwards on a permanent, interim and fractional basis across the UK. Briefs get a same-day response, and the aim is a shortlist within five to seven working days.

For a fractional FD or group CFO, that means one relationship covering both seats, with the same network and standards, and a Head of Finance brief written around the FD’s working pattern from the start. To see how the search runs, read about Head of Finance recruitment at Accountancy Capital.

Get this partnership right and part-time finance leadership stops being a compromise. The FD spends their days on the board, the bank and the plan, and the business gets reliable numbers every day of the week. If that is the gap in your business, you can brief Accountancy Capital on a Head of Finance or talk to FD Capital about the FD seat.