What Boards Are Asking About AI in Finance
The board question about AI used to be ‘what are we doing about AI?’ In 2026 it has changed. Boards at mid-market and larger UK businesses are now asking more specific questions: what AI tools are being used in the finance function and who has …
Five Signs Your FCA Business Needs a Specialist FC
Most FCA-regulated businesses hire their first dedicated Financial Controller at the point where the absence of one has already caused a problem. The CASS reconciliation has failed an internal review. The GABRIEL return was submitted late. The FCA has sent a Dear CEO letter that …
2026 FC and FD Salary Market Outlook | Accountancy Capital
The UK finance and accountancy job market in 2026 is a market in transition. The sharp demand increase of 2021–2022 — driven by post-pandemic hiring and the private equity investment boom — has normalised. The market of late 2023 and early 2024 — characterised by …
What the FCA Expects From Your Finance Function
The FCA’s supervisory engagement with smaller regulated firms — wealth managers, DFMs, boutique investment firms, insurance intermediaries — is not the dramatic event the word ‘investigation’ implies. Most FC-level FCA contact is routine, bureaucratic and entirely manageable. But it is not something the FC at …
We Placed a DFM FC Last Month: What Made the Difference
In March 2026 we placed a Financial Controller at a discretionary fund manager running approximately £600 million of assets under management. The search ran for six weeks. We shortlisted three candidates. The one who got the role was not the candidate with the most impressive …
Five Things Fintech FCs Know About PSR Safeguarding
There is a specific moment in most fintech FC interviews when a commercial FC candidate — experienced, articulate, technically strong — starts to lose the brief. It is not usually the question about VC board packs. It is not the IFRS 15 SaaS revenue recognition …
Wealth Manager FC vs Commercial FC
Ask most finance professionals to describe the Financial Controller role and they will give you a broadly consistent answer: month-end close, management accounts, board pack, audit relationship, cash management. That answer is accurate. It is also completely inadequate preparation for the FC role at a …
Can AI Replace a Financial Controller?
The short answer is no, and the useful answer is more interesting than that. Artificial intelligence is already doing a meaningful share of what junior finance staff used to do, and it will do more — but the Financial Controller role is defined by the …
How to Brief a Senior Finance Search That Completes First Time
The single most consistent predictor of whether a senior finance search completes successfully is not the strength of the candidate market, the seniority of the role or the budget available. It is the quality of the brief. A well-constructed brief — specific about scope, accurate …
ACA vs ACCA vs CIMA: Which Qualification for In-House Finance?
The question of whether to pursue the ACA, the ACCA or the CIMA qualification is one that most finance students face at the beginning of their training, with limited information about which qualification will matter most to employers in the in-house finance roles they are …
