When a replacement hire becomes a strategic Financial Controller Appointment

An engineering company faced an unexpected gap within its finance leadership team when its long-serving Finance Manager had to leave the business immediately due to a family emergency.

Rather than automatically replacing the position on a like-for-like basis, the leadership team took the opportunity to consider what the finance function would need to support the future growth of the business.

Working alongside their Accountant and Fractional CFO, they concluded that a more strategic appointment was required and began exploring the recruitment of a Financial Controller.

However, while the expectations of the role had increased, the proposed salary remained at approximately £55,000.

The client had also spoken with several local recruitment agencies, who had accepted the salary expectations without challenging whether the budget was realistic for the level of candidate required.

As specialist finance recruiters, we took a consultative approach from the outset.

Using our salary benchmarking data, we advised the client that:

• Qualified Finance Managers were typically commanding £55,000 to £65,000
• Financial Controllers were generally securing £65,000 to £85,000
• Taking the local market into account, we believed a realistic starting budget for the calibre required would be approximately £60,000 to £65,000+

We also discussed the availability of experienced finance professionals locally and the importance of ensuring that the salary, responsibilities and expectations of the position were properly aligned.

Rather than only presenting candidates within the original budget, we introduced candidates at different levels of experience. This enabled the client to compare capability, strategic experience and potential commercial impact before deciding where they wanted to position the appointment.