Does My Business Need a CFO or Financial Controller?

If you're running a 7-figure business and wondering whether to hire a CFO or financial controller, here's the straight answer: most businesses under £5-10 million don't need a full CFO yet. What they desperately need is a financial controller to fix their broken finance function first.

This isn't about titles or ego. It's about getting your financial house in order so you can actually make the strategic decisions that drive profit and business growth.

The Problem Most 7-Figure Businesses Face

Here's what typically happens: you've grown your business to seven figures, your in-house bookkeeper is overwhelmed, and you think the solution is hiring a finance director or CFO to "sort everything out."

But when that senior hire arrives, both sides become frustrated. The business owner expects strategic insight and board-level guidance. The finance director expects clean data, robust processes, and management accounts they can trust. Neither gets what they need because the finance function is still chaos.

There are no proper processes. The systems don't talk to each other. The management accounts are unreliable. And every strategic conversation derails into questions about credit control processes, month-end procedures, and why the cash flow forecast doesn't match reality.

Understanding the Three Finance Roles

Before you hire anyone, you need to understand what each finance role actually does. Even if these are fractional positions initially, getting the structure right matters.

The Bookkeeper: Daily Operations

Your bookkeeper handles the day-to-day transactional work. They raise sales invoices, post bills and expenses, reconcile bank accounts, process payroll, submit VAT returns, and chase outstanding payments.

This role has evolved beyond pure data entry. With modern automation tools, a good bookkeeper now focuses on value-adding tasks like daily credit control, monitoring cash flow, and ensuring checks are in place so nothing slips through the cracks.

Every business should have this function in place, whether in-house or outsourced.

The Financial Controller: Systems and Control

This is where most 7-figure businesses actually need help, but it's the role they most commonly skip or misunderstand.

A financial controller keeps everything clean and optimized. They build the playbook for how your finance department works. They identify where processes break down, where cash flow leaks happen, why customers aren't paying on time, and where you're haemorrhaging money on unnecessary direct debits.

They focus on creating scalable, efficient processes so your finance function can handle growth without constant firefighting.

Critically, they also own your reporting. A strong financial controller delivers monthly management accounts you can trust, a rolling 12-week cash flow forecast, and a KPI dashboard that actually helps you make decisions.

If you look at your management accounts and spot ten obvious mistakes, question the profit and loss numbers, or simply don't trust the data, that's a clear sign you need financial controller support, not a CFO.

The Finance Director or CFO: Strategy and Growth

A finance director or CFO uses the reliable numbers produced by your financial controller to drive strategy. They help you grow profitably, ensure long-term sustainability, and align financial decisions with your personal goals.

They don't do operational work. They don't fix your credit control process or debug your month-end close. They assume those foundations are already solid.

For most businesses, this strategic financial insight remains the owner's job until they reach £5-10 million in revenue. If your data is clean and you have access to expert advice when needed, you can make those decisions yourself.

The Title Trap: Why Business Owners Get This Wrong

There's a dangerous pattern that plays out repeatedly in growing businesses, and it's not limited to finance.

You hire your first team member and, driven by ego or inexperience, you give them a senior title they haven't earned. Your first technical hire becomes the CTO. Your first admin person who does some bookkeeping becomes the finance manager.

The problem compounds as you grow. When that "finance manager" gets overwhelmed, you hire someone to help them. But you can't make the new hire the finance manager when the existing person already has that title. So you promote the original hire to financial controller, even though they lack the skills, qualifications, or experience for the role.

Now you're stuck. As your business grows, you can only hire above them. But you don't need an FD yet. You need an actual financial controller, and the person with that title needs to be moved aside or demoted, creating an uncomfortable situation.

The solution? Be honest about job titles from day one. Your first hire is a bookkeeper. Your second might be a senior bookkeeper or finance assistant. Save the management titles for people who actually have management experience, process optimisation skills, and can deliver reliable reporting.

Four Signs Your Business Is Actually Ready for a CFO

If you're determined to hire a finance director or CFO, make sure you're genuinely ready. Otherwise, you'll pay a six-figure salary (plus benefits and bonus) for someone who ends up doing bookkeeping and process work instead of strategy.

1. You Have a Management Team

If you're sitting in monthly meetings with your FD discussing strategy, then returning to site the next day to handle customer complaints or quote jobs yourself, nothing will change.

You need department heads or senior managers who can take ownership and implement the strategic initiatives that come out of those meetings. Without a team to execute, your FD becomes an expensive advisor whose recommendations gather dust.

2. You Have Slick Processes Across the Business

This isn't just about finance. Your entire organisation needs documented, repeatable processes that work reliably.

When your FD identifies an opportunity or recommends a change, it needs to flow through the business efficiently. If every initiative gets bogged down in operational chaos, you'll have the same conversation month after month with nothing to show for it.

3. You Have Quality Data

If you're running key functions off spreadsheets, if your CRM can't generate reliable reports, if people aren't logging information consistently, your data is compromised.

A CFO can't develop strategy from unreliable information. Garbage in, garbage out.

4. You Have Reporting You Trust

This flows directly from quality data. Your management accounts should be accurate and timely. Your cash flow forecasts should reliably predict what's coming. Your KPI dashboards should highlight problems before they become crises.

If you look at your profit and loss statement and think "I'm not sure about these numbers," or if you have to spend hours reconciling figures before you believe them, you're not ready for strategic finance leadership.

You need to go back to basics: fix the processes, clean the data, and establish reliable reporting. That's financial controller work.

The Right Path Forward for Most 7-Figure Businesses

For most businesses turning over £1-20 million, the priority should be getting financial controller support in place, whether through an outsourced service or by upskilling an existing team member with external mentorship.

This means implementing proper systems, establishing robust processes, training your team, and creating that financial playbook so everything runs smoothly. It means finally getting management accounts you can trust and cash flow visibility that helps you make confident decisions.

Only once that foundation exists should you consider bringing in strategic CFO support. And even then, for many businesses in this revenue range, quarterly strategic reviews might be sufficient. The owner can handle day-to-day strategic decisions when they have clean data and expert advice available when needed.

The Bottom Line

The grunt work of building a solid finance function isn't glamorous. It's not the sexy strategic stuff. But it's what actually makes your business run like a well-oiled machine.

Everything in your business eventually flows through to finance. Your quote process affects cash flow. Your sales follow-up affects revenue recognition. Your customer support affects payment timing. A financial controller connects these dots and ensures nothing falls through the cracks.

Get this foundation right, and strategic decisions become clear. Skip it, and even the best CFO in the world can't help you. They'll be too busy trying to figure out why your numbers don't add up.

Ready to transform your finance function? Our team of Financial Controllers can help you build the processes, systems, and Management Accounts you need for sustainable Business Growth. Contact us today to discuss how we can help you get your financial house in order.