Budget 2026: what it means for you and your business —
In short
Most businesses need finance director thinking long before they can justify a finance director’s salary. A virtual FD gives you that capability part-time: cash-flow strategy, pricing and margin analysis, funding conversations, board reporting, and someone senior enough to challenge the plan. It is the bridge between bookkeeping and the boardroom.
Cash strategy — not just forecasting cash, but managing it: payment terms, stock, capex timing, facility headroom. Pricing and margin — which products, customers and jobs actually make money, and what to do about the ones that don’t. Funding — preparing for it, presenting it, and negotiating it. Board and investor reporting — packs that survive scrutiny. Challenge — the most valuable and least comfortable part. Someone senior asking whether the plan is realistic.
When the questions you are asking have stopped being *”what did we make?”* and started being *”what should we do?”*
Typical triggers: you are about to raise finance; you are growing fast and cash is tight despite profitability; you are considering an acquisition; you are planning an exit in three to five years; or you simply have no one to think through a decision with.
Typically a day or two a month for a business between £1m and £10m — more around a transaction or a funding round, less in steady state.
The point is not the hours. It is having someone with genuine finance-director experience who knows your business and is available when a decision needs making, rather than a stranger you brief from scratch each time.
Genuine FD experience — partners who have sat on the other side of the table.
We know your business already — the accounts, the tax, the numbers, all in one firm.
We will challenge you. That’s the job, and it’s why it’s worth paying for.
Scales with the moment — more during a raise or a deal, less in steady state.
No recruitment, no salary, no equity.
This page provides general information about the 2026/27 UK tax year and is not advice on your particular circumstances. Tax and regulatory rules change frequently. Please contact us before acting, or refraining from acting, on anything set out here. LMJ Group is a firm of Chartered Accountants regulated by the ICAEW. LMJ Group is not a registered auditor and does not provide audit services. Last reviewed: July 2026.
