The three jobs get collapsed into “finance” and then hired in the wrong order. A bookkeeper, a fractional finance partner and a full-time CFO are doing different work. UK startups usually need them in that sequence, and they usually need the middle one for longer than they expect.

None of these is a regulated badge. Finox does not claim chartered status. The practice is led by ex-Big 4 tax and accounting professionals. That is not membership of a professional body. The comparison below is about the work, not about a professional-body title.

What a bookkeeper is for

A bookkeeper records what happened. Invoices in, bills in, the bank feed coded, payroll journals posted if that is in scope, VAT workings prepared from those records. Done well, this is the foundation. Done as a pile of unreconciled feed lines, it is a liability you discover in diligence.

A bookkeeper is the right shape when the company is early and nobody is asking for a board narrative. You still have legal obligations. Annual accounts are explained on GOV.UK. Corporation tax is a separate return: company tax returns. If taxable turnover crosses the VAT registration threshold, currently £90,000, registration is not optional: register for VAT. A bookkeeper can prepare a lot of that. They are not usually the only voice you want in an investor meeting.

Hire or contract this work when the founder is the bookkeeper and the founder is also the person building the product. Do not hire it as a substitute for a point of view on cash.

What a finance partner is for

A finance partner owns the month. At Finox that offer is called Founder Finance: a monthly close (profit and loss, balance sheet, cash flow), a cash, burn and runway view, a one-page KPI pack, management reporting, and a monthly call with your lead. UK accounts, corporation tax and VAT are prepared from the same ledger. The fee is typically £750–1,250 a month, fixed, and it moves inside that band with entities, VAT and whether a raise is live.

This is the stage most seed companies are actually in. They have accounting software, or a bookkeeper, and nobody who will say “this is the runway, and this is the assumption underneath it.” Investors do not need a second bookkeeper. They need a pack that ties to the bank and a person who will sit in the follow-up question. The longer notes on investor-ready books and management accounts are the content of that job.

A finance partner is also the right call when you are an owner-managed company that does not want a raise pack. That is the Growth retainer at £500 a month: the books, the VAT, the accounts and corporation tax, with a named lead from the team, without the investor KPI layer. It is still a partner. It is not a filing-only product dressed up as one.

You are late for it if a process has started and the ledger has not been closed for months.

What a full-time CFO is for

A full-time chief financial officer is an employee. The cost is salary, employer National Insurance, pension, and the time it takes to recruit. We are not going to invent a salary survey figure for that seat. It is a different order of commitment from a monthly retainer, and it is the right commitment when the work is no longer a close plus a pack.

Signals that the seat has become a job, rather than a retainer:

  • You are in a financing process that does not end, or you have a board that wants someone in the operating rhythm every week, not on a monthly call.
  • There is a small finance team - a bookkeeper, a financial analyst - who needs a manager.
  • Treasury, multi-country entities, or a control environment has outgrown what one external person can hold alongside other clients.
  • The founder no longer wants to be the person who presents the numbers, even with a pack prepared for them.

Until those are true, a full-time hire is often a way of buying comfort. The comfort fades in month four if the close was the actual problem and a senior employee is now rebuilding it from scratch.

Raise & Scale, from £1,500 a month, is the step Finox uses when a board pack, model upkeep and diligence support are needed, and a full-time CFO is still the wrong shape. A one-off model, if what you need is the spreadsheet rather than the monthly seat, is £2,500–£7,500. Neither is a substitute for an employee you have decided to hire.

A simple sequence

Before there is much to report. Get the company formed properly, a separate bank account, and cloud accounting software from the first invoice. Know the accounts filing date and whether VAT applies. A tidy bookkeeper, or a careful founder, can hold this.

When the month matters. Payroll, VAT, or an investor who wants an update. Move to a finance partner. Keep the bookkeeper if the volume justifies one. The partner should not be re-keying receipts as the main use of the fee.

When you are raising or you have a board. The same partner, with more time: model, board pack, diligence lists. This is where definitions of burn, runway, MRR and payback have to be written down. See the KPI note.

When the role manages people and the financing calendar never stops. Hire the CFO. Hand them a ledger that already closes. Do not hire them to discover that the bank has not been reconciled since spring.

What to ask before you sign any of the three

Ask who does the work and who reviews it. Ask what “monthly” includes, in documents, not adjectives. Ask what happens to the fee if you add an entity or start a raise. Ask what is not included: audit, legal work, investor introductions. Ask how you leave. A three-month minimum and then a month’s notice is what Finox uses. A lock-in that outlasts the stage you are in is a poor trade.

If you want to see the gap in your own ledger before you pick a shape, book a 30-minute call. The 7-day diagnostic after that is a written note on the books, the cash and how ready the numbers are for an investor. You keep the note whether or not you continue.

Frequently asked questions

Can a bookkeeper produce management accounts?

Some can, and some engagements include a simple profit and loss. The gap is ownership: a commentary a founder will defend, a balance sheet that ties to cash, and a person in the investor conversation. If your bookkeeper already does that, you may not need a second firm. If the output is an export, you do.

Is a fractional CFO the same as Founder Finance?

People use “fractional CFO” for anything from a monthly close to a part-time executive. Read the deliverables. Founder Finance is the close, the KPI pack and the reporting, with a named lead, at £750–1,250 a month. It is not a full-time CFO on a smaller invoice.

When is £500 a month enough?

When the company is owner-managed, the need is a finance partner for the books and the UK filings, and nobody is asking for an investor pack. That is Growth. If a raise is the reason you called, start on Founder Finance instead of hoping the smaller scope stretches.

Should we hire a CFO because an investor said so?

Ask what they want produced. Often it is a pack and a model, which a finance partner can run, with the founder still accountable. Hire an employee when you want that accountability inside the company every day, and you can support the cost.

Does any of this replace an accountant at year end?

The year-end accounts and the corporation tax return still have to be done. On a Finox retainer they are part of the scope, prepared from the monthly ledger, not a separate panic. They are not a guarantee of a particular tax result.

General information for UK founders, not advice on your own facts. Tax and company-law rules change. Check the linked GOV.UK pages and take advice before you rely on a figure.