Fractional CFO or a part-time CFO?
The short answer: in most cases these are the same job under two names, and the market does not agree on a definition for either. Here is what genuinely varies between providers, what to ask instead of trusting the label, and where the two words really do mean different things.
Are they the same thing?
Mostly the same job, and there is no agreed definition that separates them. The hours overlap exactly: one to three days a week, holding the seat. What differs is the paperwork and the market. British companies have hired part-time finance directors for decades, usually on the payroll; fractional is the newer American word for the same seat held through the executive's own company. A search for either returns both, and the only label that matters is the one on the contract.
Names in use for roughly this arrangement: Part-time CFO, Part-time finance director, or part-time FD, Fractional CFO, Fractional FD, Portfolio CFO, when they hold several seats at once and CFO two days a week, which is what most briefs actually say.
What actually varies, whatever it is called
Ask these instead of trusting the label
- Will you be on our payroll or invoicing through your own company, and why that one?
- How many other companies do you hold a seat at today?
- Can the days flex up for a quarter if a raise or an audit lands, and at what rate?
- Have you held a part-time FD role on a payroll before, and what made you move to this?
- What is your salary expectation pro rata, and your day rate, so the two can be put on one basis?
What a part-time CFO actually is
A finance leader working fewer than five days a week. In the UK the phrase usually means a part-time finance director employed on the payroll for two or three days; in the US it is mostly a synonym for a fractional CFO working through their own company. The hours are similar. The employment relationship is what differs.
What each one owns
| A fractional CFO | A part-time CFO |
|---|---|
| The seat: cash, runway, pricing, the board pack | The same seat, when the title is used honestly |
| Their own tax, pension and time off, through their own company | A place on the payroll, with holiday, pension and employment rights |
| Two or three other companies at the same time, which is where the pattern recognition comes from | Usually one employer, so the days are not shared |
| A fixed number of days, billed, and nothing between them | Line management of a finance team, since an employee is easier to make a manager |
What neither of them does
Neither is the finance function. At two or three days a week nobody is closing the month or running payroll, so both need a bookkeeper or an accountant underneath them, and buying the senior seat first is the common and expensive mistake.
How each one fails
The fractional CFO: Being treated as an employee in everything but the contract: fixed hours, a company laptop, one client for three years. That is the IR35 problem in a sentence, and it is the company that carries most of it.
A part-time CFO: A part-time employee hired on a two-day salary who is expected to cover the five-day problems of a growing company, with no mechanism to buy a third day when a raise or an audit lands.
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 pro rata salary with employer National Insurance, pension and holiday on top when the person is employed; a day rate with none of those when they are not. The monthly and annual arithmetic for the fractional side, against a full-time equivalent, is on the cost page for this seat.
Pick a part-time CFO when
- You want the person on the payroll with a line manager's authority over a finance team of more than two or three
- The role is permanent at two or three days a week and will not flex up or down with the year
- The facts of the engagement already look like employment, so the contract should say so
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
Rarely. They are the same seat with different paperwork. The useful version of both is a part-time FD on the payroll who was fractional before, or a fractional CFO who converts to a part-time employee once the days are fixed and the team exists.
Common questions
Is a fractional CFO cheaper than a part-time CFO?
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 pro rata salary with employer National Insurance, pension and holiday on top when the person is employed; a day rate with none of those when they are not. But cheaper is the wrong question if the work genuinely needs the other one.
When should I pick a part-time CFO instead?
You want the person on the payroll with a line manager's authority over a finance team of more than two or three The role is permanent at two or three days a week and will not flex up or down with the year The facts of the engagement already look like employment, so the contract should say so
Can I have both?
Rarely. They are the same seat with different paperwork. The useful version of both is a part-time FD on the payroll who was fractional before, or a fractional CFO who converts to a part-time employee once the days are fixed and the team exists.
How do I hire a part-time CFO?
Decide first whether you want an employee or a contractor, because that decides where to look. A part-time employee comes through a finance recruiter or a job advert and brings holiday, pension and notice. A contractor comes from a bench of fractional CFOs with the day rate on the profile, starts within a few weeks, and flexes the days with the year. Either way, interview for the seat they last held, not the title on the CV.