In the early years of a business, most founders wear several hats: salesperson, marketer, team leader, even bookkeeper. The idea of hiring a Chief Financial Officer (CFO) can feel unnecessary, or even extravagant.
And for a while, that’s true. Many startups and growing SMEs don’t need a full-time CFO. But eventually, the business reaches a stage where the questions get more complex, the stakes get higher, and the spreadsheets start to feel either inadequate or too complicated.
That’s the moment when fractional finance, outsourced, part-time CFO or financial controller support, moves from “nice to have” to essential.
At Specialist Accounting Solutions, we’ve seen this turning point dozens of times across UK SaaS, ecommerce, and service businesses. And almost always, the founders say the same thing afterwards: “I wish we’d done this sooner.”
The Founder’s Early-Stage Reality
In the beginning, founders live close to their numbers. You check your bank balance daily, send invoices yourself, and have a pretty good instinct for what’s coming in and out.
At that stage, an accountant’s role is primarily compliance-based, VAT returns, bookkeeping, payroll, and year-end accounts. And that’s fine. For businesses under £500k turnover, cashflow and profitability are often simple enough to track intuitively.
But as turnover grows, intuition stops being enough.
- Sales cycles lengthen.
- Payroll expands.
- Supplier terms become more complex.
- Investors and lenders start asking for forecasts and management information.
What once lived in your head now needs a system and someone to interpret it.
Signs that more support is needed
Typical signs it’s time to consider fractional CFO support include:
- Unclear cash runway: You’re growing but unsure how long your cash will last or whether you can afford to hire.
- Rapid scaling or investor interest: You need credible financial models and due-diligence-ready numbers.
- Multiple revenue streams: Visibility becomes difficult without structured reporting.
- Increasing financial complexity: Deferred income, foreign currency, or subscription billing start to cloud the picture.
- Management reporting gaps: You get your accounts too late to make timely decisions.
At this stage, a part-time or outsourced CFO can transform how a founder sees their business, without the cost of a full-time hire.
What Fractional Finance Actually Delivers
There’s a misconception that a CFO’s job is just about big-picture strategy. In reality, effective fractional finance blends strategic guidance with operational discipline.
A strong outsourced finance function typically provides:
- Cashflow forecasting and scenario planning: Not just for survival, but for strategic growth.
- Board-level reporting: Turning management accounts into insight and action.
- Budgeting and KPI dashboards: Ensuring targets align with real performance.
- Funding readiness: Preparing forecasts, valuations, and investor decks that withstand scrutiny.
- Process improvement: Streamlining bookkeeping, payroll, and VAT workflows to free up the founder’s time.
In short, a fractional CFO brings the clarity, confidence, and control that most founders crave but don’t have the bandwidth to create.
The Financial Outsourcing Advantage
The appeal of fractional finance isn’t just cost, it’s focus and flexibility.
For many SMEs, the leap from bookkeeper to full-time finance director is simply too big. Outsourcing provides an intermediate step: expertise on demand.
It also gives access to a team, not just a person. When you work with a firm like Specialist Accounting Solutions, you’re tapping into a blend of skills, management accounting, payroll, tax, and strategic finance without having to build that department in-house.
That scalability means your finance function grows as you do. You might start with monthly management accounts and a quarterly forecast review, then scale up to board reporting or fundraising support when the time comes.
Lessons from the Last Decade
Over ten years of working with founders, I’ve seen a clear pattern: the businesses that thrive are the ones that treat finance as a leadership function, not a back-office task.
A few key lessons stand out:
- Founders who delegate finance early gain freedom to focus on growth.
- Better financial insight attracts better opportunities. Banks and investors trust data-driven management.
- Fractional doesn’t mean temporary. Many clients keep their outsourced finance teams for years because it works.
In short: you don’t have to choose between DIY and a £100k CFO. There’s a powerful middle ground that delivers the expertise without the overhead.
Final Thoughts
Every founder eventually faces a moment when financial clarity becomes the difference between scaling up and stalling out.
At that moment, the question isn’t “Do I need a CFO?” it’s “Can I afford not to have one?”
Fractional finance gives growing businesses the same strategic insight as large companies, at a fraction of the cost. It turns numbers into decisions, uncertainty into confidence, and finance into a true partner in growth.
Because founders don’t need a CFO, until they really do.
If you’d like to speak to us about anything covered in this article including Outsourced CFO services or Part time CFO services or you would like a free no obligation consultation email info@teamsas.co.uk or call 0118 911 3777.
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