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Insights for finance teams
Latest Finance and Accountancy News for UK Professionals
Practical articles on hiring and running a finance function, finance careers and salaries, FCA-regulated firms, tax and the technology changing the way finance teams work.
All articlesFinancial controllersFractional and interimFCA-regulated firmsHiring and teamsCareers and salariesTaxAI and technology
Guidance for finance teams and the people who hire them
Employers and candidates ask us the same questions again and again. When does a growing business need its first Financial Controller? What should a Finance Manager earn in London? Is a fractional Financial Controller enough, or is it time for a permanent hire? We publish our answers here, in plain English and grounded in the searches we run every week.
Articles are written by founder Adrian Lawrence FCA, a Fellow of the ICAEW, and our recruitment team. They cover month-end and reporting, controls and audit, finance in FCA-regulated firms, tax, salaries, interviews and building a finance career, and we update them when the rules or the market change.
For employers, we cover how to scope a finance role, what to pay, how to interview for technical and commercial judgement, and when interim or fractional support makes more sense than a permanent hire. For finance professionals, we cover qualifications, CVs and interviews, salary negotiation and the routes from management accountant to Financial Controller and beyond. We also follow the regulatory and technology changes that affect finance teams, from FCA reporting to the use of AI in the month-end close.
New to the topic? Start with one of our core guides, or use the search and topic filters above to find what you need.
Start here
Financial Controller salary guide →What FCs earn across the UK, by business size and sector. Financial Controller vs Head of Finance →The real differences in scope, seniority and pay. What is a fractional Financial Controller? →How part-time FC support works and what it costs. Management Accountant interview questions →The questions employers ask, and what good answers contain.Latest articles
Showing 1–12 of 112
The Three Lines of Defence, Explained for Finance TeamsThe three lines model explained for finance teams in FCA-regulated firms: where finance sits, what changed in the IIA's 2020 Three Lines…Read more →
When Compliance and Finance Report Different NumbersWhy compliance and finance report different numbers at FCA-regulated firms, where the gaps come from, and the reconciliation, single source of truth…Read more →
When Compliance Monitoring Tests Your Finance Function: What Actually Gets ReviewedWhat compliance monitoring tests in an FCA-regulated finance function: reconciliations, regulatory returns, payments, financial promotions, capital and conflicts, plus how to prepare…Read more →What a Finance Function Should Cost: UK Benchmarks by Company SizeWhat a finance function should cost at each stage of growth, from £1m to £50m of revenue: team shape, fully loaded costs…Read more →Fractional and Interim Finance in FCA-Regulated FirmsFractional and interim finance can work well in FCA-regulated firms, but SM&CR approval, certification and outsourcing rules change how an engagement has…Read more →The New Late Payment Rules: What Your Finance Function Needs to ChangeThe Commercial Payments Bill would cap payment terms at 60 days, make statutory interest mandatory and give the Small Business Commissioner real…Read more →
The Autumn Finance Hiring WindowSeptember to November is the busiest and most compressed part of the finance hiring year. Why the window exists, how to plan…Read more →
What an Unfilled Finance Seat Actually CostsAn empty finance seat shows up as a salary saving, while the real costs land later in other budget lines. Here is…Read more →Why Your Financial Controller Search Has StalledA Financial Controller search open for months is rarely stalled by a lack of candidates. Diagnose what is filtering out your shortlist…Read more →Senior Finance Manager to SMF16/17: What to AskOffered a Senior Finance Manager role with a path to SMF16 or SMF17? What the personal accountability means, how FCA approval works…Read more →Consumer Duty Two Years On: What Finance Teams LearnedMore than three years after the Consumer Duty first applied, the hardest lessons for regulated firms have been about finance data rather…Read more →
Why Regulated-Firm Finance Roles Pay a PremiumFinance roles in FCA-regulated firms typically pay 15–25% more than comparable commercial roles. Why the premium exists — scarcity, personal accountability, regulatory…Read more →Knowledge Centre
Go deeper with our guides
Structured hubs that bring the best articles together by topic. See the full Accountancy Capital Knowledge Centre.
About the Accountancy Capital blog
Accountancy Capital is a specialist finance and accountancy recruitment agency and one of the five specialist firms of FD Capital Group. We place Financial Controllers, Finance Managers, management and financial accountants, FP&A and tax professionals into permanent, interim and fractional roles across the UK, from our offices in London and the West Midlands.
Hiring for your finance team? See our accountancy recruitment services or the case studies from recent searches. Looking for a role? Register as a candidate or browse live finance jobs.