The Role of a Finance Director: Do I Need to Hire One for My Growing Company?

Whether to hire a Finance Director is one of the more expensive questions a growing business asks, and the wrong answer costs in both directions. Appoint an FD too early and you have a well-paid executive doing work a Financial Controller could handle, who leaves within a year for a role that stretches them. Leave it too late and the founder or MD carries strategic finance through exactly the period — a funding round, an acquisition, a bad quarter — when getting it wrong costs most.

This guide is written for owners and managing directors making that call. It covers what an FD adds that other roles do not, the signs that you need one, the revenue and complexity points at which businesses typically make the move, the alternatives (a Financial Controller, a fractional FD, an interim FD or a Head of Finance), what each costs, and a simple way to decide.

What a Finance Director Actually Adds

The distinguishing contribution of an FD is not producing better numbers — a good Financial Controller does that — but turning numbers into decisions and representing finance where decisions are made. In practice that means four things:

• Strategic input at board level — testing the commercial plan against financial reality and having the standing to say when it does not hold.
• Capital and funding — owning the relationship with lenders and investors, structuring facilities and leading the finance workstream of any raise or transaction.
• Risk and governance — controls, reporting to shareholders and, where the FD is a statutory director, the duties set out in the government guidance on directors’ responsibilities.
• Building the finance function so that it scales with the business rather than becoming its constraint.

If none of those four is a real gap today, the honest answer is probably “not yet”. Our guide to what a Finance Director does covers the role in more depth.

Signs You Need a Finance Director

A transaction is coming

A funding round, an acquisition, a sale or a refinancing each demands finance leadership the business is unlikely to have internally, and each judges the quality of the finance function as part of the process. This is the clearest single trigger, and timing matters: an FD appointed twelve to eighteen months before a process adds far more value than one hired during it.

The MD is the de facto finance leader

If the founder or MD is personally handling the bank, the forecast, pricing decisions and investor conversations alongside running the rest of the business, the seat already exists. It is just being filled by someone whose time is worth more elsewhere.

The board asks questions the function cannot answer

Not “what were the numbers” — a Financial Controller answers that — but “what happens to cash if we open the second site early”, “which customers actually make us money” or “can we afford this hire and this acquisition in the same year”. A finance function producing accurate history but unable to model forward is signalling the gap.

Complexity has outgrown the structure

Multiple entities, international operations, a group needing consolidation or regulated status each add a layer that needs senior ownership rather than being absorbed by an already-full FC.

Lenders or investors are already in place

Covenant reporting, investor packs and board meetings with outside participants raise the bar on both the numbers and the person presenting them. Investors tend to form a view of a business through its finance leadership.

Growth is outpacing the finance function

If the finance team is permanently behind, and each period of growth leaves it further behind, the missing element is usually leadership rather than headcount: someone to design the function the business will need in two years.

One or two of these can often be handled by other means. Three or more together, and the appointment is usually overdue rather than premature.

Revenue and Complexity Triggers

There is no reliable turnover threshold, because complexity, funding and transactions matter more than revenue. But businesses do tend to follow a recognisable path, and the ranges below match what we see across our searches.

Typical stage	Revenue (guide)	Usual finance structure
Early growth	Under about £5m	Bookkeeper or finance assistant, external accountant, MD covering strategic finance
First senior hire	About £5m–£12m	First Financial Controller owning the close, controls and audit
Strategic gap opens	About £8m–£30m	FC in place plus a fractional FD one or two days a week
First full-time FD	About £15m–£25m and above	Full-time FD above the FC, usually on the board
Group	£50m+ multi-entity	Group FD or CFO, Group Financial Controller beneath

Complexity moves you up the table faster. A £10m business with external investors, a lender with covenants, two overseas subsidiaries or FCA authorisation may need FD-level input sooner than a £30m single-entity business with no debt and an owner who wants to keep strategic decisions. The point at which an FC is no longer enough is explored in our guide to Financial Controller vs Finance Director.

Signs It Is Not Yet

It is worth being equally honest about the other side. If the need is fundamentally about accurate reporting and control — the close, the balance sheet, the audit, the team — that describes a Financial Controller, and hiring an FD for it produces an expensive, under-used executive. If the business is single-entity, unfunded and not heading for a transaction, the strategic remit that justifies the salary may not exist yet. If the founder genuinely wants to keep the strategic finance decisions, an FD will chafe and leave. And if the driver is that the business feels it ought to have one at its size, that is not a reason; plenty of successful £20m businesses run well on a Head of Finance and an external adviser.

The Alternatives Worth Weighing First

A Financial Controller

Where the gap is reliable numbers and control, a Financial Controller is the right first senior hire, at a meaningfully lower cost than an FD. A strong FC can often grow into the FD role later, as our guide to moving from Financial Controller to Finance Director explains.

A fractional Finance Director

One or two days a week, ongoing: genuine strategic leadership, board support and investor-facing capability at a fraction of the full-time cost. It suits businesses of roughly £8m–£30m revenue with sound numbers and a capable FC, and founder-led businesses approaching their first institutional investment. It converts naturally to a permanent appointment when growth justifies it. See our fractional Finance Director page, and our sister firm FD Capital specialises in fractional and interim FD and CFO appointments.

An interim Finance Director

Full-time but fixed-term, and the right answer where the need is urgent or bounded: leading a transaction, covering a departure or building the function before a permanent hire. An interim also proves what the permanent role should be, which turns the eventual specification from guesswork into experience. Interim candidates can usually be put forward within days; our interim vs fractional guide compares the two models.

A Head of Finance

Where the need is a senior leader running the function and contributing commercially, but without the board, fundraising and transaction remit, a Head of Finance fits the business as it is and costs less, with room to grow into the FD role. Our guide on when a Head of Finance is the right first senior hire covers the trade-offs.

Strengthening the layer below

Sometimes the real constraint is that the FC has no support. A Management Accountant or FP&A hire beneath an existing FC can release exactly the capacity that was missing, at a fraction of the cost of an FD.

Cost Comparison

The figures below are base salaries or day rates and match our published benchmarks. Bonuses vary widely: PE-backed FD packages typically include target bonuses of around 20–35% of base, and equity or long-term incentives are common in investor-backed businesses.

Option	London	Midlands / North	Best for
Financial Controller, owner-managed £5m–£15m	£65k–£82k	£48k–£64k	Control, close, audit
Fractional FC, 2 days/week	£52k–£68k/year	£39k–£51k/year	Control without a full-time hire
Fractional FD, 2 days/week	£57k–£99k/year	£42k–£75k/year	Strategic gap without full-time scale
Interim FD, day rate	£600–£1,100/day	£450–£750/day	Transactions, departures, urgent cover
First FD above an FC, £10m–£25m	£95k–£130k	£73k–£100k	Full-time board-level finance
FD, PE-backed, £15m–£60m	£125k–£168k	£93k–£127k	Investor-owned businesses

Compare fully loaded costs rather than base salaries. Employer’s National Insurance rose to 15% in April 2025 (see the current National Insurance rates), and once pension and benefits are added a London FD on a typical package often costs £120,000–£200,000 all-in. A fractional FD at two days a week has no employer on-costs of that kind, which is why the fractional route often wins for businesses that need FD judgement but not a full week of it. More detail is in our Finance Director salary guide.

How to Decide

Work through these five questions in order. They take an hour with your chair or a trusted adviser and usually make the answer obvious.

• What would this person do next Tuesday that nobody does today? If the answer involves the bank, the board, a transaction or the shape of the business two years out, you need FD-level input. If it is a list of reporting and control tasks, you need an FC.
• Is there a transaction or raise in the next eighteen months? If yes, appoint FD-level leadership now, fractional or permanent.
• How many days a week does the strategic work actually need? One or two suggests a fractional FD; a full week, or a board that needs the FD present daily, suggests a permanent hire.
• Is the need urgent or time-limited? A departure, a refinancing or a sale process points to an interim FD.
• Are the numbers reliable today? If not, fix that first with an FC; an FD built on unreliable numbers spends the first year doing a controller’s job.

Before committing, read the filed accounts and ownership structure of your business as an outside investor would on Companies House. If the story there would not survive a lender’s questions, that is itself a signal.

What a Good First Year Looks Like

If the list below does not sound valuable to your business, the appointment probably is not either. In the first quarter a strong FD establishes the real financial picture, often finding the numbers the business steers by are less reliable than assumed, and rebuilds board reporting around what drives the business. By the half-year the forecast is trustworthy enough to decide on, the banking or investor relationship is off the MD’s desk and the finance team has a structure and development plan. By year-end the business has completed a planning cycle led by the FD, controls stand up to outside scrutiny and the MD spends materially less time on finance. Our guide to a Finance Director’s first 100 days covers the early stages.

Where a first year does not produce most of that, the usual cause is the mandate rather than the individual: an FD appointed without real authority over the function and a seat at the decisions becomes an expensive observer.

If the Answer Is Yes: Hiring Well

Three things separate FD appointments that work from those that do not. Specify the remit, not the title: write down the four or five things this person will own that nobody currently does, and turn them into a Finance Director job description. Test the four capabilities — technical credibility, commercial judgement, external capability and team-building — using structured Finance Director interview questions. And be honest about the business, because strong candidates will find the messy reality in month one anyway. The full process, from board approval to onboarding, is in how to hire a Finance Director step by step. Qualified candidates will typically hold ACA, ACCA or CIMA membership; the ICAEW and other bodies let you verify membership.

Common Questions

At what turnover should a business hire a Finance Director?

There is no fixed threshold. A first full-time FD typically arrives at around £15m–£25m revenue, with a fractional FD often filling the gap from about £8m. Funding, transactions and group complexity can bring that forward, and some businesses never need one.

Can our Financial Controller grow into the role?

Often yes, where the individual has the commercial range and appetite, and it is usually the best outcome when it works. A fractional FD mentoring the FC can be a good bridge.

Should a first FD be full-time?

Not necessarily. Fractional and interim routes exist precisely for businesses with a real need and uncertain scale.

How long does an FD search take?

Typically eight to twelve weeks to offer for a permanent appointment, plus notice periods of commonly two to three months. Permanent shortlists typically follow within one to two weeks of the brief, and interim candidates within days. Senior searches run jointly with FD Capital, and fees are agreed in writing before a search starts.