Fractional Finance Director for UK SaaS Founders

A fractional FD (Finance Director) runs the operational finance function: month-end close, management accounts, controls, payroll, AR / AP, statutory compliance, audit support and the day-to-day finance team. A fractional CFO runs the strategic layer above that: the financial model, fundraising, board reporting, scenario planning, exit prep. In a UK SaaS at £1M-£10M ARR the FD owns the close cycle and the books, the CFO owns the story and the strategy. Many founders need one before the other, and some growing companies eventually need both. ScaleWithCFO operates the CFO retainer day-to-day but offers the FD-scope retainer for businesses that need the operational layer first.

Fractional FD retainers in the UK typically run £2,500 to £4,000 per month for a fixed monthly scope. ScaleWithCFO prices fractional FD work at £2,500-£4,000 per month depending on close-cycle complexity, number of entities, payroll volume and whether audit support is in scope. The retainer is lower than the CFO retainer (£2,000-£5,000) because the scope is more operational and predictable. A full-time UK SaaS FD costs £80,000-£130,000 in base salary, so the all-in cost (with employer NIC and pension) is roughly £95,000-£155,000 per year. A fractional FD at £30,000-£48,000 per year delivers the operational finance leadership at 20-30% of the full-time cost, with month-to-month terms and 30-day notice.

Four triggers typically signal the right time. First, the monthly close has slipped past the 15th and your investor update is always late. Second, the outsourced bookkeeper can no longer keep up with the volume of transactions, payroll and intercompany items, but a full-time FD at £100K+ is too much. Third, you are about to start an audit (statutory or SEIS / EIS / R&D verification) and need someone who has run audits before. Fourth, your finance ops team (1-3 people) needs a manager who can build controls, review journals and own the statutory deliverables. Most UK SaaS companies hit these triggers between £1M and £10M ARR.

For most UK SaaS companies between £1M and £10M ARR, yes - within a defined scope. The fractional FD owns the close, reviews the management accounts, signs off the payroll, runs the audit process and manages the finance team. What the fractional FD does not do is sit in your office 9-to-5 or take ad-hoc operational calls outside the agreed cadence. If your business has multi-jurisdictional complexity, a heavy treasury function, or a finance team larger than four people, a full-time FD usually makes more sense. Below that scale, a fractional FD delivers the same statutory output and the same control rigour for a fraction of the salary.

Yes. Statutory tax workstreams sit naturally in the FD scope. The FD coordinates the SEIS / EIS advance assurance and compliance certificates with the specialist advisor, manages the R&D tax credit claim (the FD owns the cost base evidence, the claim provider owns the technical narrative), runs the EMI option scheme valuation and HMRC notification process, and handles the PAYE share-scheme reporting. These are not strategic CFO decisions - they are compliance workstreams with deadlines, and the fractional FD is the right person to own them.

A finance manager runs the bookkeeping team and posts journals - typically 3-8 years of experience, no statutory sign-off authority. An accountant (the external practice you outsource to) files the year-end accounts and the corporation tax return, but is not embedded in your business day-to-day. A fractional FD sits between the two: senior enough to own the management accounts and the audit, present enough to manage the in-house team and run the close cycle, but on a fractional retainer rather than a full salary. For UK SaaS at £1M-£10M ARR, the fractional FD is the bridge between an external accountant and a full-time finance hire.