Your accountant's job is compliance, annual accounts, tax returns, keeping you on the right side of HMRC. That's important work, and a good accountant does it well. But compliance looks backwards. A Fractional FD is embedded in the business looking forwards, making the numbers useful, supporting decisions on pricing, hiring, and cash, and getting things done that wouldn't otherwise happen. The two roles aren't in competition, because one was never designed to do what the other does.

A Fractional Finance Director is effectively a part-time or portfolio Finance Director who works across a small number of businesses simultaneously. In practice, that means I'm embedded in your business on agreed days each month attending leadership meetings, owning the reporting cycle, supporting decisions on pricing, cash, and commercial questions and available for ad hoc advice between those days. You get the full experience and decision support of a Finance Director without the full-time cost and employment commitments. For most owner-managed businesses at £1m to £15m turnover, that's exactly the right model, senior finance capability on the days you need it, not five days a week.

A bookkeeper records what has happened. A Fractional FD tells you what it means and what to do about it. If your books are tidy but you still don't know why cash is tight, which clients are profitable, or whether the business is making money on its work that's not a bookkeeping problem. Most businesses need both. The question is whether the information you're getting is helping you run the business. If it isn't, that's the conversation worth having.

For project work, no. Every scoped project is priced as a fixed fee, you know the cost before anything begins and there's no ongoing commitment. For a retained Fractional FD relationship, yes, there is a commitment, but it's designed to flex. We agree a set number of days per month at the outset and adjust up or down as the business needs change. You're not locked into a rigid contract, the arrangement should reflect where the business is, not where it was when we started.

Scoped projects are fixed price. A Business Mapping Review is £3,000. A Financial Management Review is £2,250. Both include a preparation call, at least a day on site, and a written report within a week.

For a retained Fractional FD relationship, a starting point is around £2,600 per month for one day a week, though the right level depends on what the business needs. I'll always give you a clear figure before anything begins.

Every business needs appropriate finance support. What varies is the depth of expertise and the time commitment. I work with businesses from around £1m to £15m turnover, but size is less important than the situation. If you're carrying the financial weight alone, making decisions without the information you need, or at a point where the business has outgrown its finance function, that's the conversation worth having.

My audit background gave me broad experience across a wide range of business models, and I'm comfortable taking a fresh-eyes approach to sectors I haven't worked in directly. The right starting point is usually a conversation, I'd rather tell you honestly that I'm not the right fit than take on work that doesn't serve you well.

That's fine, many engagements start with something specific. Tell me about the problem and I'll let you know whether I can help. If I can, I'll quote a fixed price for the work so you know exactly what you're committing to before anything begins. No retainer, no open-ended commitment.

I work with a small number of businesses and organisations at any one time to make sure every client gets the attention they need. Availability varies, so the best approach is to get in touch and I'll let you know where I am. For scoped projects, I can often start within a few weeks. For retained engagements, I'll be honest with you about current capacity and likely start dates from the outset.

It varies depending on the nature of each engagement, a client taking two days a week is a different commitment from one taking two days a month. What I can say is that I deliberately limit my booked capacity to around 80% so there's always headroom for ad hoc requests and urgent conversations. You won't find yourself waiting days for a response because I'm fully committed elsewhere. That's a deliberate decision, not a lucky side effect.

I'd rather have that conversation early than late. If an engagement isn't delivering what it should, for either side, the right thing is to say so and work out what needs to change. Retained arrangements can be adjusted or wound down with reasonable notice. Scoped projects are fixed in scope and price, so the output is agreed upfront. I've never walked away from a piece of work without finishing it, but I'd always rather renegotiate something that isn't working than carry on regardless.

Yes. Everything you share with me, financial information, commercial strategy, client relationships, internal challenges, stays between us. I hold an ICAEW Practising Certificate and am bound by ICAEW's ethical standards, which include strict confidentiality obligations. I also hold AML registration and comply with UK data protection law. In practice, I treat your business information with the same care I'd expect if our positions were reversed. I never discuss one client's affairs with another.