Fractional Finance
Senior finance leadership.
When you need it.
Not every business needs a full-time CFO. Plenty need CFO-level judgement at the right moments.
Fractional Finance gives you access to experienced finance leaders when you need them. Whether that’s a few hours each month, a quarterly board meeting, a regular day each week, or support for a specific project.
Book a consultation to discuss your fractional requirementsWhat It Is
A more flexible way to access senior finance leadership.
Fractional Finance solutions has long been part of our contracting business. Over the past decade, it has also become an increasingly established way for growing SMEs to access experienced finance leadership without adding another permanent executive to the team.
Recruitment Labs already has the network, infrastructure and experience to facilitate these appointments, whether that means a few hours each month, regular support throughout the year, or additional capability around a specific project or period of change.
A fractional finance leader works alongside your owners, CEO, board and existing finance team, bringing executive level judgement into the business where it can make the greatest difference.
This isn’t bookkeeping or tax compliance. It’s experienced finance leadership focused on what comes next: reporting, forecasting, investment, capital decisions, planning and the commercial decisions that shape the business.
Benefits of Fractional Finance
Experienced capability, with the flexibility to match your business.
Expertise without headcount
Access experienced CFO-level capability without the cost of another permanent executive. You engage the level of expertise you need, for as long as you need it.
Capacity that flexes
Increase support around funding, an acquisition, budgeting, systems implementation or another major project. Scale it back again when requirements return to business as usual.
Experience that gets to work quickly
Bring in a finance leader who has dealt with similar challenges before. That experience can shorten the learning curve and help the business move more quickly.
An experienced sounding board
Give owners, CEOs and boards another experienced perspective around the table. Someone who can challenge assumptions, test thinking and bring financial discipline to important decisions.
Broader commercial perspective
Fractional leaders often bring experience gained across different businesses, industries and operating environments. That broader perspective can help identify risks, opportunities and approaches that may otherwise be missed.
A clearer path to permanent
If the requirement eventually becomes a full-time CFO role, the fractional period helps define what the business genuinely needs and what the permanent appointment should deliver.
When Fractional Finance Adds Value
Often, the need starts with a specific moment.
Fractional finance can bring senior capability when the business needs more than its current finance function can provide, without necessarily needing another full-time hire.
Board & Management Reporting
When board, investor or management reporting needs more rigour. Sharper board packs, KPIs and reporting provide better context, highlight what matters and support stronger decision-making.
Budgeting, Forecasting & Cash Flow
When growth or complexity makes it harder to see what comes next. Better forecasting, scenario planning and cash-flow visibility give management greater confidence around future decisions.
Investment & Capital Decisions
When a major investment or capital decision needs proper scrutiny. Business cases, financial modelling and scenario analysis help assess opportunities before significant capital is committed.
Funding, Banking & Complex Transactions
When a refinance, capital raise or acquisition is approaching. Senior finance support can strengthen modelling, lender or investor discussions, due diligence and transaction preparation.
Finance Leadership & Decision Support
When the owner or CEO has become the financial decision-making bottleneck. An experienced finance leader can bring greater challenge, structure and commercial input without adding another permanent executive.
Finance Capability & Transformation
When the business outgrows its finance function, systems or processes. A Fractional CFO can strengthen the team, improve reporting & controls, and build a function that can support the next stage of growth.
How It Works
From initial conversation to the right finance leader.
Understand Your Need
We start with a conversation about the business, the challenge and the level of support you actually need. No formal brief is required to get started.
Find Your Experts
We identify experienced finance leaders suited to your business and the requirement, with clear reasoning behind every introduction.
Meet Your Experts
Meet the people we believe could be the right fit. You choose who you want to work with based on experience, approach and chemistry.
Engage Your Expert
Your fractional finance leader is contracted and managed through Recruitment Labs. We handle the agreement, invoicing, insurance and compliance.
Why Recruitment Labs
We know finance people.
Recruitment Labs is not an accounting firm. Our role is not to sell you a packaged finance service or allocate whoever is available. It is to understand what your business needs and find an experienced finance leader whose background, capability and approach fit the requirement.
Accounting and Finance has been our search specialisation for twenty years. We understand how finance functions fit together, what strong finance leadership looks like and where different experience can add the most value.
That means we can look across our broader network for the right individual, rather than limiting the choice to an existing internal team or bench.
Once we find the right person, we make the engagement simple. Recruitment Labs manages the contracting, invoicing, insurance and compliance infrastructure, leaving you to focus on the value they deliver.
For Finance Leaders
Interested in fractional work?
Fractional and portfolio appointments can offer experienced finance leaders greater variety, flexibility and the opportunity to bring their experience to several businesses rather than just one.
If you are an established finance leader and fractional work aligns with what you are looking for, we would like to hear from you.
Common Questions
The terms are often used interchangeably. Virtual CFO generally describes how the service is delivered, usually remotely, while fractional CFO describes the engagement itself, with an experienced finance leader working with your business for part of their time. In practice, there is often significant overlap.
An interim CFO typically steps into a full-time leadership role for a defined period, often during a transition or while a permanent search is underway. Fractional Finance is part-time by design and can continue for as long as the business needs it.
It depends on the experience required, the scope of the role and how much time you need. Engagements can be structured around an agreed day rate or regular level of support, with the cost confirmed upfront before anything starts.
There is no standard answer. Some businesses need a few hours each month or support around quarterly board meetings. Others need a regular day or two each week, particularly during periods of growth, change or increased complexity.
Usually, yes. Fractional Finance complements those functions rather than replacing them. Your accountant and bookkeeper can continue managing compliance and transactional work, while your fractional finance leader focuses on financial leadership, planning and decision-making.
It is particularly well suited to growing SMEs and privately owned businesses that have reached a level of complexity where senior finance leadership adds value, but where a full-time CFO is not yet required.
Absolutely. If the requirement eventually grows into a full-time CFO position, the fractional engagement can help define what the role genuinely needs to deliver before the permanent search begins.
Ready When You Are
Find Your Fractional Expert
Tell us what your business needs, the challenge you’re facing and the level of support required. We’ll help identify the right senior finance professional for the job.
Tell Us What You Need
Join Our Fractional Network
Tell us about your experience, availability and the kind of fractional work you’re interested in. We’ll consider you for opportunities where your background is a strong fit.
Register Your Interest