Fractional CFO or a financial controller?
The short answer: a fractional CFO brings the judgement for part of a week; a financial controller brings something different that is often confused with it. Here is what each one actually owns, what they cost on the same basis, and when to pick the other one.
What a financial controller actually is
A full-time hire who owns the accuracy of the numbers: the ledger, the month end, the reporting pack and the controls around them.
What each one owns
| A fractional CFO | A financial controller |
|---|---|
| What the numbers mean and what to do about them | That the numbers are right, on time, every month |
| Cash, runway, and the decisions that change either | The ledger, reconciliations and the audit file |
| The board pack, and the conversation that follows it | Controls, approvals and who is allowed to spend what |
| Fundraise readiness and surviving financial diligence | Managing the bookkeeping and the finance team day to day |
What neither of them does
Neither is a bookkeeper. If the books are behind, hiring either of these to catch them up is the most expensive way to do data entry that exists.
How each one fails
The fractional CFO: Being asked to close the month in two days a week, which turns a decision seat into an admin seat and wastes what you are paying for.
A financial controller: Expecting a controller to answer the board's questions about strategy. Accuracy and judgement are different jobs, and most controllers would tell you so themselves.
What they cost, on the same basis
A fractional CFO charges £800 to £1,500 a day, and most engagements run one to three days a week. A full-time salary, lower than a finance director but with the same employer costs and recruitment fee attached. The monthly and annual arithmetic for the fractional side, against a full-time equivalent, is on the cost page for this seat.
Pick a financial controller when
- The numbers themselves are unreliable and somebody has to own that daily
- There is a finance team that needs managing every day of the week
- You are audited and the audit file needs continuous ownership
We would rather say that plainly than win an engagement that was the wrong shape. Nobody pays us to list on the bench, so there is nothing in it for us either way.
When you want both
The common shape once a company is past a few million in revenue. A controller owns the accuracy, a fractional CFO owns the meaning, and neither is doing the other's job badly.
Common questions
Is a fractional CFO cheaper than a financial controller?
On a like-for-like basis it usually is, because you buy the days you need rather than all of them. A fractional CFO runs £800 to £1,500 a day, most often one to three days a week. A full-time salary, lower than a finance director but with the same employer costs and recruitment fee attached. But cheaper is the wrong question if the work genuinely needs the other one.
When should I pick a financial controller instead?
The numbers themselves are unreliable and somebody has to own that daily There is a finance team that needs managing every day of the week You are audited and the audit file needs continuous ownership
Can I have both?
The common shape once a company is past a few million in revenue. A controller owns the accuracy, a fractional CFO owns the meaning, and neither is doing the other's job badly.