Outsourced Finance Directors

Outsourced Finance Director:

fractional finance director / fractional fd / fractional cfo / part-time finance director

Financial leadership, Expertise, Flexible service, Cost-effective, Financial Control

ACE Finance Directors

Fractional Finance Directors for PE-backed and growth-stage SMEs needing investor-ready reporting, cash control and commercial clarity. Typically, we service manufacturing, FMCG, transport and distribution businesses navigating growth, funding or operational change with a turnover of between £8m - £30m.

If your business is experiencing any of the following:

🔄 Transition from owner-led to board-led

💰 Recently taken PE/VC funding

📉 Cash pressure despite growth

🧩 ERP implementation or finance transformation

🧮 Weak commercial insight / pricing issues

🏗️ Pre- or post-acquisition integration

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As complexity increases — through investment, growth, cash pressure or change — leadership teams need more than reporting. They need clarity, control and confidence.

This is where the ACE Framework comes in. Analytical. Commercial. Excellence.

The ACE Framework focuses on four moments when experienced financial leadership delivers the greatest impact.

ACE: Investor & Board Confidence

When investors or boards start challenging the numbers, ACE: Investor & Board Confidence ensures reporting, forecasts and cash visibility are credible and decision-ready.

Building Investors trust in the numbers.

Raising investment or bringing in non-execs changes the rules overnight. Suddenly, forecasts are challenged, board meetings focus on explaining numbers rather than making decisions, and finance feels defensive instead of strategic.

In many growing SMEs, the issue isn’t effort or intent — it’s credibility. Forecasts lack consistency. Cash runway isn’t visible enough. Reporting doesn’t answer the questions investors actually ask.

This is where experienced FD-level support makes a difference.

Investor-ready finance isn’t about more spreadsheets. It’s about clear assumptions, disciplined forecasting, and reporting that gives boards confidence to act. When the numbers are trusted, conversations move from “Is this right?” to “What should we do next?”

For PE-backed and investor-facing businesses, financial clarity isn’t optional — it’s the foundation of trust.

ACE: Commercial Performance & Growth

When revenue grows but profit doesn’t, ACE: Commercial Performance & Growth brings clarity to pricing, margins and where value is truly created.

Many SMEs reach a frustrating point: revenue is rising, teams are busy, but profit and cash lag behind. The business feels successful — yet the financial results don’t reflect the effort.

This usually comes down to commercial visibility. Why Growing Revenue Doesn’t Always Mean Growing Profit

Without clear insight into customer, product or contract profitability, decisions are driven by instinct. Pricing becomes reactive. Good-looking deals quietly erode margin. Over time, growth creates complexity rather than value.

Strong commercial finance changes this dynamic.

By introducing disciplined profitability analysis, pricing governance and decision support, leaders gain clarity on where value is really created — and where it isn’t. Growth becomes intentional, not accidental.

Sustainable businesses don’t just grow revenue. They grow the right revenue.

ACE: Cash Control & Stabilisation

When cash becomes the daily concern, ACE: Cash Control & Stabilisation restores short-term visibility, discipline and stakeholder confidence.

Cash pressure rarely arrives without warning — but it often escalates quickly. Suddenly, the bank balance dictates decisions, HMRC are asking questions, and leadership time is consumed by firefighting.

When Cashflow Becomes the Daily Stress Test. At this point, strategy matters less than control.

Short-term cash visibility, clear prioritisation and credible communication with stakeholders are what stabilise businesses under pressure. Without these, even profitable companies can spiral.

Effective cash control isn’t about panic cost-cutting. It’s about understanding where cash is really moving, enforcing discipline, and creating breathing space to make rational decisions.

Businesses that regain control of cash regain control of their future. Those that don’t are forced into reactive, high-risk choices.

When pressure rises, clarity and leadership matter more than optimism.

ACE: Change, Systems & Integration

And when businesses scale, acquire or transform, ACE: Change, Systems & Integration ensures finance evolves without becoming a bottleneck.

Growth, acquisitions and systems change expose weaknesses that stable periods often hide.

Reporting slows. Errors creep in. Finance teams struggle to keep pace. Leadership loses confidence in the numbers just when clarity matters most.

This isn’t a people problem — it’s a scaling problem. When Finance Becomes the Bottleneck to Growth

As businesses evolve, finance structures, systems and processes must evolve with them. Without experienced leadership, change introduces risk instead of opportunity.

Strong financial leadership during change ensures integrations run smoothly, systems deliver insight rather than frustration, and teams are structured to support the next phase of growth.

Well-managed change makes finance an enabler. Poorly managed change turns it into a brake.

The difference is leadership, not effort.