Interim Financial Controller

When to bring in an interim financial controller

A closing under pressure

The chief accountant leaves before the accounts are closed, the team is stretched thin, the auditors are getting nervous. The interim executive takes back the closing timetable, secures the sensitive points and holds the dialogue with the auditors.

Reporting that no longer serves decisions

Numbers that differ depending on the source, analyses produced too late to be useful. The interim executive rebuilds the steering model: indicators, scopes, calendar and tools, through to reporting that genuinely serves decision-making.

Budget and forecasting

A budget process to rebuild, cash or earnings forecasts that do not hold. Financial control must become a partner to operational decisions again, not a factory for spreadsheets.

A transformation programme

An ERP change, the creation of a shared services centre, integrating the accounts of an acquired company, the rollout of mandatory e-invoicing in France. The function has to keep producing while it transforms.

Typical assignments

• Secure monthly and annual closings and the dialogue with the auditors
• Rebuild management reporting and the executive team's dashboards
• Reconstruct the budget process and the forecasts
• Lead and upskill the accounting and financial control teams
• Drive the finance side of a systems migration or an integration

The assignment ends with a documented handover: procedures, closing calendar, reporting model, so the permanent hire inherits a function in good order.

The Bloomco approach

We present heads of financial control and chief accountants who have already held a comparable function, in size, sector and accounting framework, with references checked. Command of the tools and standards is a prerequisite; the ability to restore executive management's trust in the numbers is what makes the difference.

Framing with finance leadership, two to three profiles within days, an engagement letter and a Bloomco lead through to handover. These mandates draw on our finance and financial control consulting practice.

Frequently asked questions

Interim CFO or interim financial controller?

The interim CFO leads the whole finance function, treasury and banking relationship included. The interim financial controller or chief accountant works on the production of the financial information. The latter is enough when finance leadership is in place but the function feeding it is failing.

How quickly can a profile start?

A few days to two weeks. Ahead of a closing, that lead time is often the decisive argument against the twelve-week average of an executive recruitment measured by APEC.

What budget should you plan for?

The market's average billed rate stands at €1,333 per day excluding VAT according to France Transition. Finance and financial control ranges are in our day rate barometer.