Most UK SMEs think about finance hiring one piece at a time: find a bookkeeper, then an accountant for year-end, maybe a part-time CFO later. But by the time you’ve assembled the full team, you’re managing multiple relationships, paying overlapping fees, and still missing the integrated view you need to make confident decisions.

This guide shows you what a complete finance function actually costs in the UK—whether you build it piecemeal or work with an integrated provider. You’ll see real pricing for bundled services that include bookkeeping, compliance, and CFO strategic support, understand what drives costs at each stage, and learn how to evaluate value beyond the monthly fee.

Pricing transparency – please note.

The pricing ranges quoted in this guide for separate bookkeeping, accountancy, and Fractional CFO services are indicative estimates based on market research, publicly available rate cards, and analysis of UK provider websites as of January 2026. Individual pricing varies significantly based on location, provider experience, business complexity, and specific scope.

My Finance Team’s pricing (£849–£1,649/month for integrated packages) is accurate as of publication. For current pricing and a tailored quote, visit myfinanceteam.co.uk/pricing or book a discovery call.

What does a complete finance function include?

A professional finance function covers three core areas, and you need all three working together to support growth, secure funding, and maintain control.

Operations and bookkeeping form the foundation. Someone needs to process transactions, reconcile bank accounts, run supplier payments, handle invoicing and collections, manage expense claims, and close each month cleanly. Without accurate, up-to-date books, everything else fails.

Compliance and statutory reporting keep you legal. This includes preparing annual accounts for Companies House, filing your Corporation Tax return with HMRC, managing VAT returns, handling basic company secretarial duties, and keeping you aware of deadlines and payment obligations. Miss these, and you face penalties, interest, and damaged credibility with banks and investors.

Strategic finance and CFO leadership is where decisions happen. A CFO builds your financial model, creates rolling forecasts, establishes KPIs tailored to your business model, produces board-ready management accounts with narrative and variance analysis, supports funding conversations, and models scenarios so you understand the financial impact of decisions before you commit.

Most SMEs need all three functions but can’t justify three separate full-time hires. That creates a puzzle: build the team piecemeal and manage the coordination yourself, or work with a provider who integrates all three into one service.

The piecemeal approach: what it costs to hire separately.

If you hire separately, here’s what market research suggests UK SMEs typically pay for each function.

Bookkeeping costs vary widely based on transaction volumes and complexity. Analysis of UK freelance platforms and bookkeeping rate cards suggests monthly fees typically range from £300 to £1,200. A freelance bookkeeper handling up to 100 transactions might charge £400–£600 per month. 

For businesses needing daily support or higher volumes, rates commonly reach £800–£1,200. These figures rarely include software licences (Xero, Dext, receipt tools), which add another £50–£80 per month.

Compliance and accountancy services are usually charged annually or per-project. 

Based on small business surveys and accountancy firm rate cards, preparing statutory accounts and a Corporation Tax return for a straightforward limited company typically costs £1,200–£2,500 per year (£100–£210 per month equivalent). Monthly VAT returns commonly add another £600–£1,200 annually (£50–£100 per month). 

If you need quarterly management accounts from your accountant, market rates suggest another £1,500–£3,000 per year. Total annual compliance costs for a growing SME commonly run £3,000–£6,000+.

Fractional CFO services represent the largest expense. Market research and publicly listed pricing from UK Fractional CFO providers indicate that experienced CFOs typically charge £3,000–£6,000 per month for a standard engagement: fortnightly sessions, rolling forecasts, board packs, KPI dashboards, and interim support. Businesses needing weekly involvement or active fundraising support commonly see fees reach £6,000–£10,000+ per month.

Based on these market rates, the typical monthly cost adds up: £600 (bookkeeping) + £250 (compliance equivalent) + £4,000 (CFO mid-range) = approximately £4,850 per month, or roughly £58,000 per year. And you’re still coordinating three separate providers, managing handoffs, and hoping everyone’s working from the same numbers.

The integrated approach: bundled finance function pricing

An integrated finance provider bundles bookkeeping, compliance, and CFO leadership into one predictable monthly fee with a single point of contact. Here’s how My Finance Team’s pricing compares.

Ignite: from £849 per month

Best for: Startups and early-stage businesses seeking funding or just getting started.

What’s included:

• Up to 100 transaction credits (bookkeeping)

• Up to 5 monthly payroll

• Dedicated finance manager

• Quarterly balance sheet reconciliations and period-end close

• Quarterly management accounts and reporting vs budget

• Quarterly CFO meetings and strategic support

• Annual accounts for Companies House and Corporation Tax return

• Monthly VAT return

• Company secretarial (basic)

• Pre-year-end tax efficiency review

• Xero and Dext software subscriptions included

• Compliance calendar and payment reminders

This tier gives you a complete, compliant finance function from day one. Your books stay current, compliance is handled, and you get quarterly strategic CFO input to set direction and track performance—all for less than most SMEs pay just for bookkeeping and annual accounts separately.

Accelerate:from £1,395 per month

Best for: Growing businesses that have secured funding and need monthly visibility and control.

What’s included (everything in Ignite, plus):

• Up to 200 transaction credits

• Up to 20 monthly payroll

• Monthly balance sheet reconciliations and period-end close

• Monthly management accounts and reporting vs budget

• Monthly CFO meetings and strategic support

• Custom KPI reporting

• Live financial dashboards and analytics

• Cash flow forecasting

• Quarterly performance calls

Accelerate shifts you from quarterly to monthly rhythm. You get full board-ready reporting every month, live dashboards, and regular CFO partnership to support faster decision-making and tighter cash management. For a business managing £500k–£2m+ revenue, this level of visibility and support is essential—and still costs a fraction of hiring the team piecemeal.

Advanced: from£1,649 per month

Best for: Established businesses with more complex operations or higher transaction volumes.

What’s included (everything in Accelerate, plus):

• Up to 1,000 transaction credits

• Up to 50 monthly payroll

• Ongoing CFO strategic support (not just monthly meetings—continuous partnership)

• Ongoing action calls and review meetings

• Unlimited ad-hoc support

• 7 Ways to Growth framework and goal setting

• Finance roadmap and annual budget

• Finance system health check

• Accounts payable software included

Advanced is a full finance partnership. Your CFO is available continuously, you get unlimited support for urgent questions or decisions, and the service scales to handle significant complexity. This tier suits businesses preparing for exit, managing multiple entities or currencies, or operating at scale where finance leadership needs to be always-on.

Value comparison: integrated vs piecemeal

Let’s compare the two approaches for a typical growing SME with 150–200 transactions per month, 15 employees, and monthly reporting needs.

Approach	Monthly	Annual	What’s Included
Piecemeal Separate providers	£5,020	£60,240	Bookkeeper (£700) + Accountant (£250) + Fractional CFO (£4,000) + Software (£70). Multiple relationships to manage.
Integrated My Finance Team Accelerate	£1,395	£14,340	Complete service: bookkeeping, compliance, CFO support, software, dashboards, dedicated finance manager. Single point of contact.
Saving with integrated approach: £45,900 per year (76% less)

The integrated approach represents a saving of approximately 76% based on typical market rates and eliminates coordination overhead. You work with one team using one system, everyone’s aligned on the numbers, and your finance manager ensures the CFO’s strategy translates into execution.

Even comparing against a lower-cost piecemeal option (budget bookkeeper plus compliance-only accountant, no CFO), market research suggests you’d typically pay around £900–£1,200 per month and still lack strategic leadership. The Ignite package at £715/month includes CFO input from the start.

What drives pricing differences between tiers?

Transaction volumes are the primary driver. More transactions mean more reconciliation work, more categorisation, and more month-end complexity. That’s why Ignite caps at 100 credits, Accelerate at 200, and Advanced at 1,000.

Meeting cadence and CFO involvement also scale with the tiers. Quarterly meetings (Ignite) suit early-stage businesses setting direction. Monthly meetings (Accelerate) support active growth and tighter cash management. Ongoing, continuous support (Advanced) is for businesses where finance leadership needs to be embedded in daily operations.

Deliverables complexity increases with each tier. Ignite provides solid fundamentals. Accelerate adds live dashboards, custom KPIs, and cash flow forecasting. Advanced includes unlimited ad-hoc support, strategic roadmaps, and system optimisation—essentially a full finance department at a fraction of the cost of building one in-house.

When the integrated model makes sense (and when it doesn’t)

The integrated approach is a strong fit when you want predictable costs, coordinated service, and strategic finance input from the start. It’s particularly valuable for startups preparing for funding, growing businesses that have outgrown DIY bookkeeping but can’t justify full-time hires, and established SMEs that want senior finance expertise without the £100k–£150k salary commitment.

You’ll benefit most if your books are reasonably current and you’re ready to implement structure. If you’ve been managing finance reactively—chasing receipts, reconciling months late, or making decisions without forward visibility—an integrated provider stabilises the foundation while building strategic capability on top.

The integrated model is not the right fit if you need full-time, on-site finance leadership daily, if you’re a large enterprise with highly specialised compliance requirements, or if you prefer complete control over hiring and managing individual team members. It also won’t work if your books are severely behind or your transaction volumes consistently exceeds 1,000 per month without clean systems—though most providers can help you stabilise and scale into the service.

Questions to ask before committing.

What’s included in the monthly fee, and what costs extra?

Make sure you clarify whether software, payroll, VAT returns, and year-end accounts are bundled or billed separately. Understand what happens if your transaction volumes grow mid-year or you need additional CFO support during a funding round.

How do you handle scope changes as we grow?

Your needs will evolve so it’s vital to ensure your provider can not only provide the support you need now but will also be able to deliver the support you require as you grow and scale. Make sure you cover areas such as whether pricing flexes with complexity, what additional services the provider offer, and how often you will review the engagement to make sure it’s still meeting your requirements.

What are your qualifications and experience levels?

Make sure the provider has real CFO-level experience and a track record of providing strategic support to businesses like yours. For compliance work such as annual accounts and corporation tax returns, check that qualified Chartered Accountants are managing the work, so you can be confident they understand and meet HMRC rules.

What’s the onboarding process and timeline?

Confirm with yourprovider what data access they’ll need, how long it takes to get your first board pack, and what the ongoing meeting rhythm looks like once you’re live.

Can I see a sample board pack or KPI dashboard?

A good provider should share anonymised examples so you can judge quality, clarity, and relevance before you commit.

How do you integrate with our existing tools and workflows?

Make sure they work comfortably with your cloud accounting platform (Xero, QuickBooks, etc.), banking tools, and collaboration systems. The best engagements feel like an extension of your team, not a separate vendor.

Real ROI: what clients gain beyond the monthly fee.

Better cash management often extends runway by two to four months, avoiding expensive emergency financing or bridging rounds. One client using the Accelerate package identified £40k in working capital improvements within the first quarter—more than three times the annual service cost.

Stronger funding conversations happen when your numbers are credible, consistent, and supported by a finance professional who understands what investors expect. Several My Finance Team clients have reported faster term sheet negotiations and better valuations because their financial story was clear and defensible from the first meeting.

Time savings compound quickly. Founders using integrated finance services report saving 8–12 hours per month previously spent chasing receipts, reconciling accounts, and preparing ad-hoc reports. That time goes back into product, sales, or strategic projects that actually grow the business.

Confidence in decision-making improves when you have rolling forecasts, scenario models, and KPIs you trust. Clients describe finally knowing when it’s safe to hire, when to hold back, and how pricing or margin changes will affect runway—decisions that shape the business for years.

In a Nutshell…

Based on market research, a complete finance function in the UK—bookkeeping, compliance, and CFO leadership—typically costs £4,500–£6,000+ per month if you hire separately. An integrated provider like My Finance Team delivers the same capabilities for £849–£1,649 per month, with predictable pricing, coordinated service, and no vendor management overhead.

For most UK SMEs, the integrated model delivers better value, faster onboarding, and clearer accountability. You get strategic finance leadership from the start, not just when you can afford to add it later.

Book a 30-minute discovery call

At My Finance Team, we work with UK startups and SMEs to deliver integrated finance support—bookkeeping, compliance, and CFO leadership—in one predictable monthly package designed for your stage of growth.

So, if you’re comparing finance providers, evaluating costs, or ready to replace multiple vendors with a single, coordinated team, book a short discovery call with one of our fractional CFOs. We’ll discuss your current setup, monthly transaction volumes, reporting needs, and recommend the right package based on where you are and where you’re heading.

We very much look forward to hearing from you.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How much does a complete finance function cost in the UK?

A. Market research suggests hiring separately (bookkeeper + accountant + CFO) typically costs £4,500–£6,000+ per month. Integrated providers bundle all three for £849–£1,649/month depending on complexity and cadence.

Q. What’s included in a bundled finance service?

A. Bookkeeping, monthly reconciliations, payroll, VAT returns, annual accounts, Corporation Tax filing, management reporting, CFO strategic support, KPI dashboards, forecasting, and software licences—all in one predictable monthly fee.

Q. Is bundled finance cheaper than hiring separately?

A. Based on typical market rates, yes—commonly 60–80% less expensive. A growing business needing monthly CFO input would typically pay £5,000+/month piecemeal vs £1,395/month for an integrated Accelerate package.

Q. What’s the difference between the pricing tiers?

A. Transaction volumes, meeting frequency, and deliverables. Ignite (£849/month) offers quarterly CFO meetings and up to 100 transactions. Accelerate (£1,395/month) provides monthly CFO partnership and 200 transactions. Advanced (£1,649/month) includes ongoing CFO support and up to 1,000 transactions.

Q. Can I upgrade or downgrade as my business changes?

A. Yes. Integrated providers design packages to flex with your needs, and you can review and adjust your plan at any time.

Q. Do I still need my own accountant?

A. Integrated finance services include compliance (Companies House accounts, HMRC Corporation Tax, VAT) alongside bookkeeping and CFO support. You get everything in one place.

Q. How long does onboarding take?

A. Most clients are fully onboarded within 3–4 weeks, with the first management accounts and CFO session delivered shortly after the first month or quarter end.