Outsourcing your finance function: a founder's guide

For most UK limited companies the breaking point is not a missed deadline, it is the first month a founder cannot answer a question quickly. How much cash is genuinely uncommitted? Which product line actually made money last quarter? What does the payroll bill look like after the two hires we agreed? A spreadsheet updated in the evenings will not answer those questions with confidence, and by the time the year-end accounts arrive the moment has passed.

Outsourcing finance means buying the whole stack, transaction processing, month-end close, reporting, compliance and a finance lead, as a service, instead of building it hire by hire. For a company between roughly £500k and £5m of revenue it is usually the cheapest way to get reliable numbers, because you are sharing people rather than employing them.

A financial controller in London does not cost their salary. Add employer's National Insurance at 15% on earnings above the £5,000 secondary threshold for 2026/27, at least 3% employer pension, recruitment fees, software licences, training and the cover you need when they are on holiday or leave after eighteen months.

An outsourced arrangement is a fixed monthly fee, includes cover, and flexes with volume. What it does not give you is somebody sitting in the room all day, so companies with heavy daily transaction volume, cash handling or complex stock operations often still need one in-house person, supported by an outsourced team rather than replaced by it.

Directors remain responsible for the accounts filed at Companies House, the CT600, VAT returns and RTI submissions regardless of who prepares them. A workable arrangement therefore includes a written scope, a documented close calendar with dates, approval limits on payments, separation between whoever raises a payment and whoever releases it, and access to the underlying records at any time.

Insist that the accounting system, bank feeds and payroll software are owned by your company, not by the provider. If a handover is ever painful because the data lives somewhere you cannot reach, the arrangement was set up wrong.

Good outsourcing has an end state: reliable processes, a clean ledger and documentation that lets an in-house hire step in without archaeology. Ask at the outset what handover looks like and what it costs. A provider who cannot answer is selling dependency.

Thresholds, rates and deadlines quoted here reflect the 2026/27 UK position. Check current GOV.UK guidance, or ask us, before you rely on them for your own company.