How to Structure a Finance Team

The question of how to structure a finance team is one that most business leaders face several times as the business grows. What works at £3m revenue is almost never right at £15m. What works at £15m is rarely sufficient at £40m. And the structure that supports a stable owner-managed business is usually wrong for a PE-backed platform making acquisitions at pace. Getting the structure right at each stage — the right roles, the right reporting lines, the right balance of permanent, interim and fractional resource — is one of the most important and most frequently underestimated decisions a growing business makes.

This guide sets out the finance team structures that work at each revenue stage from £1m to £50m and beyond, how PE ownership and group structures change the picture, what each role costs, how the roles report to each other and when to add each one. It is written for CEOs, founders and owners, and for FDs and CFOs testing whether the current structure fits the next phase.

The Principle Behind Finance Team Structure

Finance team structures should be determined by the financial management tasks the business needs to perform well, not by the title or seniority of the people who happen to be available. The most common structural failure in growing businesses is the reverse — the team is built around the people already there rather than the tasks the business needs. Critical functions go unowned, other areas are duplicated, and the business underperforms on the financial dimensions that matter most.

The financial management tasks of any business fall into four categories:

• Recording and compliance — bookkeeping, payroll, VAT returns, statutory accounts.
• Reporting and control — management accounts, the close, balance sheet management, audit.
• Planning and analysis — budgeting, forecasting, commercial analysis, modelling.
• Financial leadership — board reporting, investor and bank relationships, capital allocation, strategy.

Each category needs different skills and experience. As a business grows, the complexity within each rises, and so does the minimum qualification needed to do it well. The bookkeeper who manages recording at £3m cannot handle recording at £30m without support; the Finance Manager who owns reporting and control at £8m may not have the depth for a group consolidation and investor reporting at £40m. Structure for the scale the business is now and the scale it will reach in the next 18–24 months.

Finance Team Structure at a Glance

Stage 1: £1m–£5m Revenue — The Pre-Finance Team

At this stage most businesses neither need nor can justify a full-time in-house qualified accountant. Bookkeeping, payroll, VAT returns and bank reconciliations are handled by a bookkeeper (in-house or outsourced), supported by an external accountant who prepares the annual accounts and, often, quarterly or monthly management accounts. This works well below about £3m–£4m revenue, where transaction volumes are manageable and the owner can provide the financial judgement.

The risks are well understood but frequently underweighted. The external accountant is not available day to day — they cannot tell you on the fifteenth of the month what cash will look like in thirty days, or whether debtors have deteriorated. The bookkeeper often lacks the technical knowledge for accruals and prepayments, so management information arrives late and is less reliable than it looks. The directors remain responsible for keeping adequate accounting records under the Companies Act, whoever does the work.

The inflection point usually arrives between £3m and £5m revenue. The signs are: management accounts consistently more than ten working days late; material errors that need restating; the bank asking for information the current set-up cannot produce reliably; or the CEO spending significant time on finance. When these appear, the first step is often a fractional Financial Controller one day a week — typically £29k–£39k a year in London and from around £22k outside — before a full-time hire. Our guide to hiring your first qualified accountant covers the move to a permanent appointment, and the comparison of fractional FC versus outsourced accounting explains which suits which situation.

Stage 2: £5m–£15m Revenue — The First Qualified Hire

Between £5m and £15m, the structure typically centres on one qualified in-house professional — a Finance Manager or Financial Controller — supported by one or two transactional staff (an Accounts Assistant, purchase ledger clerk or bookkeeper), with the external accountant retained for statutory accounts and tax. The in-house professional owns the management accounts, the close, cash forecasting and reporting to the CEO.

The title and level of this first hire matter. The most common mistake is hiring a Finance Manager when the business needs a Financial Controller, because the scope — statutory accounts, audit management, controls, board reporting — is FC scope. The result is either an underpaid FC doing the work and eventually leaving, or a genuine FM without the technical depth for the audit. Our comparisons of Financial Controller versus Finance Manager and Management Accountant versus Finance Manager help settle the level, and your first Finance Manager: the £5m revenue hire covers the role at the start of this band.

Approaching £15m, the FC typically needs a Management Accountant to support the close, because the month-end volume exceeds what one qualified person can deliver alongside audit, board reporting and planning. The usual signal is a close consistently running beyond eight to ten working days despite the FC’s efforts. Once the business is large enough to need a statutory audit — check the current audit exemption thresholds — the case for an FC rather than an FM becomes clear. See our guide to the first Financial Controller for a growing business.

Stage 3: £15m–£50m Revenue — Building the Finance Team

Between £15m and £30m, the function typically grows from one qualified professional with transactional support into a team of three to five with distinct ownership. The FC now manages rather than doing all the qualified work. The Management Accountant owns the close. A Finance Business Partner may be needed where the business has several P&Ls to support. Our guide to building a finance team around a Financial Controller covers this phase in detail.

The key decision is the FC/FD question. A £20m–£30m business with a competent, trusted FC does not necessarily need a Finance Director above them; the FC can handle board reporting, audit and the bank, particularly if the CEO is commercially strong. Below about £50m the roles often overlap. The triggers that justify an FD are: PE investment; a planned acquisition; a refinancing; or a non-executive joining who expects an FD-level peer. Without one, the better investment is usually in the FC’s development. FD and CFO appointments are the work of our sister firm FD Capital.

From around £30m the function usually reaches its first mature shape: an FD or CFO, an FC running operational finance, FP&A in-house, and a transactional team (purchase ledger, payroll, credit control) deep enough that qualified staff are not processing transactions. At this size, quarterly reforecasts, the annual budget and acquisition modelling are too much for an FC alongside the close and audit — the point covered in our guide on when to create a Head of FP&A. If the priority is tighter controls, strengthen the FC layer; if it is planning and commercial insight, add an FP&A Manager or Finance Business Partner.

Stage 4: £50m+ Revenue — The Full Finance Function

Above £50m, and especially with institutional or PE ownership, the CFO/FD and FC roles are usually separate, and the function divides into specialist teams. A typical shape is a CFO or Group FD; a Group Financial Controller owning reporting, consolidation and controls; a Head of FP&A with analysts; Finance Business Partners aligned to divisions; an in-house Tax Manager once compliance and structuring justify it (see hiring your first in-house tax manager); and a transactional team or shared service centre with its own manager. All-in costs usually run from around £900k upwards, rising with entities, geographies and the scale of transactional operations.

PE-Backed Finance Teams

PE investment changes the structure faster than revenue does. Investors expect fast monthly reporting packs, covenant compliance, a robust 13-week cash forecast and transaction support for bolt-ons. That usually means an FD or CFO from the deal, an FC paid at the PE-backed range, and FP&A capacity earlier than an owner-managed business would add it. See the FC role in a PE-backed business.

Group Structures

Once a business trades through several entities, the structure needs a layer that owns the group view. The Group Financial Controller owns consolidation, intercompany reconciliation, group reporting and the audit across entities, often supported by a Group Financial Accountant. Entity-level Finance Managers or FCs run local closes and report on a solid line to the Group FC (or a dotted line where they also serve a local MD). The commonest gap is intercompany: if nobody owns it, the consolidation slips every month. See our guides to your first consolidation and Group Financial Controller recruitment.

Roles, Reporting Lines and Salaries

Typical London base salaries and reporting lines; outside London, salaries are typically 15–20% lower. For the full picture by role and region, see our salary guides.

The all-in team costs in this guide add roughly 20–25% to base salary for employer National Insurance (15% since April 2025), pension and benefits. They exclude bonuses, external audit and tax fees, and one-off recruitment costs. Our finance team costs guide breaks these down further.

When to Add Each Role

Outsourced, Fractional and Interim Options

At every stage below about £30m there is a legitimate role for fractional finance alongside the permanent team. A fractional FC gives FC-level oversight to businesses of roughly £3m–£12m that do not have full-time FC work. A fractional FD or CFO, through FD Capital, provides board-level leadership for a specific purpose — a bank relationship, a fundraise, governance — where a full-time FD is not yet justified. It works best when the scope is defined and the permanent team can run on the days the fractional professional is not in. See our fractional finance hub and fractional FC rates.

Interim resource fills a different gap — a sudden departure, parental leave or a period of change that needs full-time cover now. At Financial Controller and Finance Manager level we can typically put forward available interim professionals within days of a brief. See our interim accountancy recruitment service.

The Most Common Structural Mistakes

Hiring too junior for the scope. The costliest error is filling a role one or two levels below what it requires — most often a Finance Manager where the scope is FC-level. It saves £15,000–£20,000 in salary but leaves a gap in oversight that usually costs more in audit fees, compliance failures and management account errors. Scope the role first, then hire for the scope.

Adding headcount before capability. Extra Accounts Assistants will not fix a close that fails for lack of someone who can run it; one capable Management Accountant will. Decide whether the problem is headcount or capability before adding resource.

Underinvesting in the transactional team. Close problems often start in the purchase ledger, payroll or credit control. A capable Accounts Assistant frees the qualified layer to do qualified work.

The wrong FC/FD balance. Adding an FD above a competent FC without a reason creates overhead without value. Equally, expecting an FC to do FD-scope work indefinitely without the title, pay or authority is a retention risk that tends to crystallise when the FC receives an FD offer elsewhere.

Finance Team Structure: FAQs

What finance team does a £10m business need?

Typically a qualified Financial Controller (or a strong Finance Manager where the statutory work stays external) with one or two Accounts Assistants. In London that costs around £120k–£195k a year all-in.

When should we hire a Finance Director?

On a trigger rather than a revenue number: PE investment, an acquisition, a refinancing or a board change. Without one, a competent FC can often cover the role below about £50m.

Is fractional cheaper than a permanent hire?

Where there is only one or two days of FC-level work a week, yes: a fractional FC costs £29k–£68k a year in London depending on days, against roughly £85k–£105k all-in for a permanent FC.

How long does it take to recruit?

For permanent roles we typically present a shortlist within one to two weeks; for interim and fractional roles, within days. Fees are agreed in writing before a search starts.