Fractional FP&A Recruitment

FD Capital places fractional FP&A professionals for UK businesses — experienced financial planning and analysis specialists who work across multiple businesses simultaneously on a day-rate basis, typically committing one to two days per week to each client. The fractional FP&A model gives growing businesses access to senior FP&A capability — robust financial modelling, structured budgeting and forecasting, and commercial finance analysis — at a cost proportionate to the business’s current scale.

The fractional FP&A model works best when a business has clear, recurring FP&A requirements — a monthly forecasting cycle, a quarterly reforecast, an annual budget process — but not enough volume to justify employing a dedicated FP&A professional. The fractional professional builds the model, runs the process and delivers the output on their allocated days, providing senior-level analytical rigour without the overhead of a permanent headcount addition.

What a Fractional FP&A Professional Delivers:

• Budget and forecast model ownership: The fractional FP&A professional builds and owns the business’s financial model — the integrated three-statement model or the driver-based planning model that the business uses for its annual budget, rolling forecast and scenario analysis.
• Monthly and quarterly forecasting: The fractional FP&A professional runs the recurring forecasting cycle — updating the model with actuals each month, refreshing the forward assumptions with the management team, producing a revised full-year forecast and presenting the variance analysis and forward outlook to the CFO or CEO.
• Budget process management: Running an annual budget process is a significant exercise that typically involves coordinating inputs from multiple departments, building the consolidated financial plan, stress-testing assumptions and producing a board-ready budget pack.
• Commercial finance analysis and investor reporting: Beyond the core planning cycle, the fractional FP&A professional provides commercial finance analysis on request — investment appraisals, pricing models, unit economics analysis, acquisition modelling and the financial input into strategic decisions.

Fractional FP&A vs Part-Time FP&A — The Key Difference:

The distinction matters practically and structurally. A fractional FP&A professional works across two or three businesses simultaneously on a day-rate basis. They are self-employed or operating through a limited company, outside IR35 in most cases, and their time is divided between clients. A part-time FP&A professional is employed by a single business on a reduced-hours contract — typically two to three days per week — with full employment rights and benefits.

When Fractional FP&A Works Best:

• Businesses preparing for fundraising or exit: The most common trigger for a fractional FP&A engagement is an imminent capital raise or exit process, where the business needs investor-grade financial modelling and planning capability that the existing team cannot provide.
• PE-backed businesses building investor reporting infrastructure: PE sponsors investing at smaller deal sizes often find that portfolio companies need to upgrade their financial reporting and planning infrastructure quickly after investment.
• Scale-ups between finance hires: Growing businesses often find themselves between finance hires — the founder or CFO has been managing the planning function but the business has outgrown that capacity.

FD Capital helps clients transition from fractional to permanent FP&A when the time is right, with the fractional professional often playing a role in the specification and onboarding of their permanent successor.