Quick Answer
Structure your FP&A team based on company stage: at seed/Series A, the FD or Head of Finance covers FP&A alongside accounting; at Series B/C (50-200 employees), hire a dedicated FP&A analyst reporting to the CFO; at scale-up (200+ employees), build a team of 3-5 with specialised roles covering business partnering, modelling, and reporting. The ideal ratio is one FP&A professional per 75-150 employees.
Seed / Series A (1-50 employees). The FD or Head of Finance handles FP&A alongside accounting, tax, and compliance. At this stage, the focus is on cash management, runway forecasting, and investor reporting. Tools are typically spreadsheets with a cloud accounting system.
Series B (50-150 employees). This is when most companies hire their first dedicated FP&A person — typically a Senior FP&A Analyst or FP&A Manager. This person owns the budget, forecast, management reporting, and board pack. They report to the CFO or FD.
Series C / Growth (150-500 employees). The FP&A function grows to 2-4 people. Roles specialise: - FP&A Manager/Director — leads the function, owns the planning calendar, partners with the CFO - FP&A Analyst(s) — builds models, maintains forecasts, produces reports - Business Partner(s) — embeds with specific departments (commercial, engineering, operations) to provide dedicated financial support
Scale-up (500+ employees). The team may grow to 5-10 with further specialisation: revenue planning, workforce planning, capital allocation, and investor relations support. An FP&A Director or VP of FP&A leads the function.
FP&A should report to the CFO, not the Financial Controller. The Controller's focus is historical accuracy (accounting, compliance, audit). FP&A's focus is forward-looking analysis and decision support. Mixing these under the same leader often results in FP&A being deprioritised during busy close and audit periods.
Technical skills: Financial modelling, data analysis, accounting fundamentals, FP&A software proficiency.
Soft skills: Communication (translating numbers into business insight), business acumen, stakeholder management, intellectual curiosity.
The ideal FP&A hire combines accounting knowledge with analytical ability and business communication skills. They are comfortable presenting to a board and equally comfortable debugging a model.
Based on 2024-2025 UK market data: - FP&A Analyst: £45,000-65,000 - Senior FP&A Analyst: £60,000-80,000 - FP&A Manager: £75,000-100,000 - FP&A Director: £100,000-140,000 - VP/Head of FP&A: £120,000-175,000
London salaries are typically 15-25% above regional rates.
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FAQ
A hybrid model works best. The core FP&A team sits centrally in finance for consistency and objectivity, while business partners are embedded (or matrixed) into departments. This gives departments dedicated financial support without fragmenting the planning process.
Partially. Transactional FP&A work (report production, data compilation) can be outsourced to fractional CFO firms or offshore teams. Strategic FP&A (business partnering, scenario modelling, board presentations) should remain in-house as it requires deep business context and stakeholder relationships.
Both paths work. Internal promotion from accounting brings company knowledge but requires developing analytical and communication skills. External hire brings FP&A best practices but needs time to learn the business. Consider your timeline and the candidate pool — in a tight market, promoting internally and investing in development is often faster.
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