Why Every Growing SME Needs a Part-Time Finance Director

Imagine you’re steering a sports car at speed, your bookkeeper is the reliable engine, but you need a co-pilot scanning the road ahead. That’s exactly the role of a Finance Director (FD). But for many SMEs, a full-time FD feels like hiring a jumbo jet when you just need a nimble sports car. Enter the part-time FD: an on-demand financial strategist who brings board-level insight without the full-time price tag.

Growing Up Faster Than Your Finance Function

As your business moves from £500k to £2M+ turnover, these challenges start to crop up:

• Complex cashflows: More clients, projects, and payment terms mean your cash forecasting needs rise exponentially.

• Strategic blind spots: You need deeper insight, scenario planning, forecast reviews, KPI dashboards, but your finance team is backlogged in bookkeeping.

• Funding hurdles: Lenders and investors ask for detailed board packs, forecasts, and risk analyses faster than you can prepare them.

• Compliance risks: VAT, corporation tax, and year-end reporting deadlines loom ever larger, exposing you to penalties if you slip up.

Without an FD to oversee both the big picture and the fine print, growth can stall or misfires happen, overspend on marketing, underinvest in operations, or miss critical cash crunches.

Why a Part-Time FD Is a Game Changer

1. Strategic Financial Leadership

   A part-time FD brings board-level perspective: spotting trends in margins, cashflow gaps, or cost centres that eat into profit. They challenge assumptions, test “what-if” scenarios for new hires or product launches, and align your financial plan with growth ambitions.

   
   

2. Cost-Effective Expertise

   Hire 10–20 hours per month, and you get senior-level skills at a fraction of the cost of a full-time FD. You avoid the salary, benefits, and office footprint, but still gain access to a seasoned finance leader.

   
   

3. Investor & Lender Confidence

   When your part-time FD signs off on forecasts, board packs, and investor decks, you send a clear signal: “We take our numbers seriously.” That credibility can unlock more favourable funding terms, faster approvals, and stronger relationships.

   
   

4. Robust Governance & Controls

   FDs design processes, approval matrices, variance analysis frameworks, credit control policies, that safeguard your cash and prevent errors. They establish financial “guardrails” so as you race ahead, you stay on track.

   
   

5. Scalable Financial Processes

   From budgeting to management reporting, a part-time FD implements scalable systems, automated dashboards, rolling forecasts, KPI packs, that grow with you. No more spreadsheet chaos; just clean, accurate, and timely data at your fingertips.

   
   
   
   
   
   

When Your SME Should Engage a Part-Time FD

Consider adding a part-time FD if you experience any of these:

• Turnover surpassing £1M and rising.

• Regular cashflow surprises or emergency bank calls.

• Expanding product lines, services, or geographies.

• Funding rounds, either debt or equity.

• Need for tighter financial controls without hiring more headcount.

  
  

In any of these scenarios, the right FD can deliver clarity and confidence, so you drive growth rather than chase fire drills.

Step-By-Step: Integrating a Part-Time FD

Step 1: Define the Scope

Agree on key deliverables and time commitment: strategic planning, monthly board packs, cashflow oversight, budgeting cycles, or ad-hoc projects like system implementations.

Step 2: Select the Right Expert

Choose an FD with sector experience, construction differs from SaaS, and hospitality has its own cashflow rhythms.

Step 3: Establish Communication Cadence

Set up monthly review meetings, weekly cash-check calls, and quarterly strategy sessions. Clear cadences ensure issues are flagged early and decisions are timely.

Step 4: Embed into Your Team

Your part-time FD becomes part of your leadership circle, attending board meetings, reviewing forecasts with Heads of Sales or Ops, and coaching your finance staff in best practices.

Step 5: Measure Impact

Track improvements: reduced days sales outstanding, tighter budget variance, smoother audit rounds, faster board reporting, or successful funding rounds. These metrics demonstrate the ROI on your FD investment.

Fractional FD services at JFA

At Jones Financial Accounts Ltd, we specialise in delivering part-time Finance Director services tailored for construction and engineering firms. Here’s how we bring board-level financial leadership into your project-driven world:

1. Industry-Specific Matching

   We know the unique cashflow cycles, margin pressures, and contract structures of construction and engineering. We pair you with an FD who’s not just a financial expert, but a specialist in your sector, someone who’s managed project profitability, retentions, and stage payments firsthand.

   
   

2. Project-Focused Onboarding

   Your FD dives deep into your project ledger, understands your cost-plus vs. fixed-price contracts, and maps out your working capital requirements for each build. They establish a clear view of committed costs versus forecasted revenue, so you never under- or over-bill a contract.

   
   

3. Tailored Reporting & KPIs

   We implement dashboards that track key construction metrics, cost-to-complete, WIP (Work in Progress) reporting, project margin by phase, and debtor ageing on retentions. Your FD reviews these weekly or monthly, flagging margin slippage or cashflow pinch points before they become emergencies.

   
   

4. Robust Governance & Controls

   Construction and engineering carry high-value contracts and subcontractor networks. Your part-time FD sets up approval workflows for change orders, subcontractor draws, and capex spending, ensuring every invoice aligns with your budget and contract terms.

   
   

5. Flexible, On-Demand Advisory

   Whether you’re gearing up for a major bid, negotiating a large retention release, or planning to pre-qualify for a new framework, your FD is available for strategic workshops, scenario modelling, and lender presentations, on a schedule that suits your project timelines.

   
   

6. Seamless Integration with Your Team

   Acting as your virtual FD, we slot into your leadership meetings, collaborate with project managers on monthly closes, and coach your in-house finance staff on best practices, building your internal capabilities even as we steer your financial strategy.

   
   

Through this tailored, sector-focused approach, JFA empowers construction and engineering businesses to scale confidently, delivering project profits on time, maintaining healthy cashflow, and winning the next big contract.

Wrapping up today's insights, tomorrow we simplify another accounting challenge