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Fractional FD Support for Recruitment Agencies
Financial expertise for the decisions that shape your business
Sapphire’s Fractional Finance Director support gives recruitment business leaders access to experienced, recruitment-specific financial expertise when they need it. We help you understand what sits behind your numbers, strengthen financial planning and work through the commercial implications of the decisions ahead.
From headcount and cash flow to profitability, investment and longer-term planning, we bring financial insight into the conversations that matter.
Financial support built around recruitment
Recruitment businesses have their own economics. Headcount, consultant productivity, client concentration, contractor volumes, payment terms and working capital can all have a significant impact on financial performance.
Our Fractional FD support is grounded in an understanding of how recruitment businesses actually operate.
Financial performance
Go beyond the headline numbers to understand what is driving revenue, GP, costs and operating profit, and where performance may need closer attention.
Cash flow and forecasting
Build a clearer view of your current and future cash position, helping you anticipate pressure points and plan with better information.
Headcount and investment modelling
Understand the potential financial impact of new hires, technology, offices, markets or other investments before committing.
Budgeting and scenario planning
Model different scenarios and test assumptions so you can see how changes in performance, costs or investment could affect the business.
Profitability and cost analysis
Look more closely at the relationship between revenue, people and costs to understand where the business is generating value and where margins may be under pressure.
Strategic financial support
Bring experienced financial input into leadership discussions, helping you assess opportunities, challenge assumptions and make better-informed commercial decisions.
Understand what the numbers mean for your business
Knowing your revenue, GP and profit is important. But those numbers alone don’t always tell you where performance is coming from, what needs attention or what a decision could mean six months from now.
Fractional FD support adds another level of financial expertise to your business.
Working alongside your leadership team, we can help you interrogate performance, understand your cash position, test assumptions and model the financial impact of different decisions.
It’s senior financial thinking, available without necessarily adding a full-time FD to your team.
Financial intelligence, with expertise behind it
Fractional FD support sits within Sapphire’s wider Accounting & Financial Intelligence proposition.
Our Intelligence Platform brings financial and operational information into a clearer view of your business, while recruitment-specific benchmarking helps put your performance into context.
Your Fractional FD helps you take that information further.
Intelligence Platform
See performance across your people, clients, profitability and cash.
Recruitment benchmarking
Compare key measures with data from recruitment businesses in the wider market.
Fractional FD expertise
Understand what the information means for your business and use it to inform the decisions ahead.
Why Sapphire?
We understand the business of recruitment
Generic financial advice can only take you so far. The questions facing a recruitment business are shaped by the way the sector operates.
Sapphire has worked alongside the recruitment industry for more than 12 years and today supports more than 500 recruitment agencies. That experience gives our team an understanding of the commercial and operational factors behind recruitment performance.
Through Accounting & Financial Intelligence, we combine that sector knowledge with specialist financial expertise and data to help agency leaders see their business more clearly.
Recruitment finance expertise built on real market experience
12+years supporting recruitment businesses
500+agencies working with Sapphire
100+business contributing to our benchmarking data
£700m+annual turnover
ExcellentTrustpilot rating
Sapphire is a trusted, compliance-first partner. Alex is always on hand, respectful of our preferred ways of working and quick to resolve queries and payment issues. As umbrella legislation changes, their audit-ready approach and clear, timely communication give us and our contractors real confidence.
Sophie Anderson, Associate Director, Venn Group
I have worked with Sapphire for a number of years and have consistently found their service and attention to detail in account management to be exceptional. Marcus, in particular, stands out — he resolves any issues quickly and, no matter how busy he is, always takes the time to personally speak with customers and clients. That level of dedication goes a long way. I would highly recommend Sapphire.
Jim Fleming, Director, Buildforce Solutions
I’ve worked with Sapphire for years and brought the relationship over to my own agency. They register temps quickly, keep us updated throughout and make sure they’re paid reliably each week. Any issues are resolved swiftly, allowing me to focus on placing temps with complete confidence. Jake’s guidance was also invaluable when launching my business, and the whole team consistently goes the extra mile. I see Sapphire as an extension of my accounts department and couldn’t recommend them highly enough.
Luke Lysandrou, Director, LLC Recruitment
We’ve worked with Sapphire for over a year and have found them an excellent company to deal with. The Quartz system is easy to use, but what really stands out is their proactive customer support and willingness to listen, adapt and accommodate the specific requirements of our business. Ray, Shauna and the wider team are responsive, practical and genuinely great people to work with. I’d have no hesitation in recommending them.
Steve Gearing, Managing Director, Gearing Recruitment Solutions
Frequently asked questions
What is a Fractional FD?
A Fractional Finance Director provides senior financial expertise to a business on a flexible basis, without the business necessarily employing a full-time FD. At Sapphire, that support is specifically shaped around recruitment businesses and the financial and commercial decisions their leaders face.
When does a recruitment agency need Fractional FD support?
It can become valuable when financial decisions are becoming more complex but the business doesn’t require, or isn’t ready for, a full-time Finance Director. This might include periods of growth, investment, changing headcount, cash-flow pressure or more sophisticated financial planning.
What can a Fractional FD help with?
Support can include financial performance analysis, budgeting, cash-flow forecasting, scenario planning, headcount modelling, profitability analysis and financial input into wider commercial decisions
Is Fractional FD support the same as accounting?
No. Accounting provides the financial foundations and reporting a business needs. Fractional FD support uses that information to look more closely at performance, planning and commercial decisions. The two can work together as part of Sapphire’s Accounting & Financial Intelligence proposition.
Do I need to use Sapphire for my accounting?
I’d confirm this internally before publishing an answer. If Fractional FD can be bought independently, that is worth stating clearly because it significantly broadens the addressable audience.
How is Sapphire’s Fractional FD support different?
Our support is built specifically around recruitment. It can also draw on Sapphire’s wider financial intelligence and recruitment benchmarking, combining senior financial expertise with greater visibility of how your business is performing and how key measures compare with the market.
