London has never been short of clever finance people. What’s changed is how you access them. Instead of hiring a full-time CFO in Mayfair and hoping the board will approve the package, UK SMEs are increasingly turning to fractional CFO models – part-time, project-based, or hybrid arrangements.
On the surface, “fractional CFO” sounds simple: you get a slice of a very experienced person instead of the whole pie. Underneath, though, there are several flavours – from on-the-ground London operators to offshore-supported models like Madras Accountancy.
Three big pressures keep coming up in conversations with owners
A fractional CFO gives you strategic finance help – forecasting, cash management, funding support – without committing to a C-suite salary line year-round.
Let’s start with the slightly unconventional one for a “London CFO” list. Madras Accountancy is an offshore partner, not a local London boutique. So why are they here?
Because a lot of UK SMEs no longer operate purely within the UK. They sell into the US, hire remote teams, or hold entities in multiple jurisdictions. With that comes questions about permanent establishment, sales tax, state nexus, and cross-border bookkeeping.
Madras leans into that space: their content and tools speak directly to US–UK comparisons, cost calculators, cross-border PE risk, and platform choices like Xero vs Sage vs QuickBooks. Their teams can work alongside a local UK accountant, effectively acting as the engine room and modelling shop while the local firm handles face-to-face work and UK-specific tax.
The trade-off is clear: you won’t get someone popping into your office in Shoreditch. You will get a structured offshore team with Big-Firm-style controls and pricing that doesn’t make your FD faint.
The CFO Centre is the heavyweight of the UK fractional CFO market, with hundreds of CFOs spread across regions and sectors. They specialise in SMEs with meaningful turnover – often £1m+ – that need on-the-ground strategic finance leadership.
The model is straightforward: they match you with a CFO who typically spends a set number of days a month with your business, working on planning, cash, growth, and board reporting.
Pricing reflects that local, seasoned expertise. It’s not a budget option, but it is a very visible, proven one.
fin-house is London-based and very much aimed at startups and scale-ups. Their “in-house finance team” positioning resonates with tech companies who want more than just compliance; they want thoughtful metrics, investor-ready reporting, and help navigating funding rounds.
Packages often look like 6–10 days a month of CFO-level input, plus finance team support. Ideal if you’re Series A-ish and need adult supervision in the best possible sense.
FD Capital provides part-time, interim, and fixed-term CFOs and finance directors across London and the wider UK. They operate more as a talent network than a managed service, which is great if you want to drop a senior finance brain straight into your leadership team.
You still need bookkeeping and finance staff beneath them – or a partner to cover that layer. FD Capital mainly solves the “we need a senior person in the room” problem.
BKL is a UK advisory firm that includes fractional CFO-style services alongside tax and broader business advice. This appeals to SMEs with more complex structures or planning needs who want strategy, tax, and advisory under one roof.
If your challenges are as much about shareholder dynamics, succession, and long-term structuring as they are about next quarter’s cash flow, a firm like BKL can be a good fit.
BSmart Partners is smaller in brand recognition than The CFO Centre but leans heavily into strategic planning and financial modelling for growing SMEs.
They’re often a good fit for businesses that have moved past survival mode and are thinking in three-to-five-year horizons – expansions, exits, or major repositioning.
To simplify a noisy market, ask yourself three questions:
In practice, many UK SMEs end up with a hybrid: a local accountant or fractional CFO for in-person leadership, and an offshore-backed team to keep the numbers flowing accurately every month. The labels matter less than whether the combination helps you sleep at night when you think about cash, compliance, and the next big decision.
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