Toptal is a premium platform that connects clients with top-tier interim finance managers. It uses a comprehensive screening process, with only the top 3% of applicants making it into the Toptal freelance network. Toptal provides on-demand access to an expertly matched pool of qualified talent with skills in budgeting, forecasting, accounting, tax regulations, and financial management, making it easy to find the best interim finance managers for your organization.
Key Points:
Enjoy a risk-free trial for up to 5 days
Completed over 60,000 projects for 25K+ satisfied clients.
Trustpilot rating of 4.8 out of 5
Testimonial:
“It has been a great experience. The account managers have made an effort to understand my project and pair me with the required talent. The talent has been outstanding, to say the least. They are communicative, solve problems very efficiently, and are also knowledgeable. If life gives me the chance, I'll continue working with Toptal talent in the future.” — Oscar Jaime on TrustPilot
Fully Accountable is an ideal solution for e-commerce and digital-focused companies looking to hire interim finance experts. Use its experts for a specific project or for all of your accounting and financial management needs. Fully Accountable offers specialized financial solutions for accounting, cash flow, budgeting, forecasting, and more.
Key Points
Daily reporting to ensure you stay informed
A comprehensive onboarding process sets you up for success with the Fully Accountable team
RoseRyan pairs companies of all sizes with on-demand financial experts. It has a pool of interim finance managers ready to step in and take charge of your accounts on short notice, making it ideal for businesses looking for a rapid solution. RoseRyan’s talent pool has the skills you need for special projects, mergers and acquisitions, or transitional periods in your business.
Key Points:
Rated 4.7 out of 5 by clients
Named to the 2023 Accounting MOVE Project Equity Leadership List
Consultport hand-selects candidates by reviewing experience, conducting personal interviews, and checking references, ensuring you have access to top-tier financial talent. Agency staff handles all of the paperwork so you can get started working with your new freelance interim finance manager right away.
Key Points:
Fast turnaround so you can hire an interim finance manager in as little as 48 hours
Consultports’s request, search, and proposal stages are completely free, you only pay once matched with an approved provider.
Accountingfly offers flexible solutions for finding top remote finance talent. You can post a dedicated job to find an interim finance manager or request a match with freelance talent. Accountingfly can place a freelancer in as little as two days, although the process averages four weeks. An affordable pricing model can help keep interim staffing costs down.
Key Points:
Accountingfly offers screening and ongoing support to ensure you are happy with your placed professional.
You pay a flat monthly fee for any months when a freelancer works with your company
GHJ Advisors connects clients with financial professionals skilled in audit, compliance, budgeting, strategic planning, reporting, corporate taxes, and more. It can help you hire an interim finance manager with the experience and knowledge to navigate transitional periods or special projects. GHJ Advisors' services include hiring interim, permanent, and contingent talent to meet your financial management needs.
Key Points:
Ranked #12 on the L.A. Times B2B Publishing’s 2023 list of the Top Accounting and Business Advisory Firms
Indinero is a full-service financial management firm that provides interim management services for businesses of all sizes. With its focus on outsourced financial management professionals, indinero connects businesses with experts in accounting, bookkeeping, taxes, and CFO-level oversight. The entire onboarding process is fast, generally taking 30 days or less.
Robert Half is a full-service talent agency with a strong presence in the financial management sector. It connects businesses with skilled and experienced professionals, allowing you to quickly find and hire interim finance managers. Its global presence opens opportunities for working with executives from around the world. Robert Half also offers full-scale financial consulting services.
Key Points:
With over 75 years of experience, Robert Half is one of the most well-known sources of professional talent
Scalable hiring solutions including contractors, permanent employees, and consultants
Testimonial:
"We needed someone quickly to help with a special project and Robert Half was able to get someone out within two days." — Manager of finance & accounting
BluWave specializes in matching middle and upper-market firms with interim talent. It offers white glove service and access to highly skilled financial professionals. BluWave can match you with a freelance interim financial manager within 24 hours, ensuring your finance department stays in a growth pattern.
Key Points:
Complete a 30-minute consultation to get matched with two to three pre-vetted professionals within 24 hours.
Upwork is a freelance platform designed to connect clients with contract talent. It is an excellent place to hire an interim finance manager to fill short-term needs. Once you post a job to the Upwork platform, you’ll receive proposals from interested financial professionals. You complete the screening and interviewing to choose the right fit.
Key Points:
Upwork makes it possible to hire a financial professional in as little as 24 hours.
Freelancer is an established freelancer network with millions of users. Some of the most well-known names in business, including Airbus and Adobe trust the platform to find experienced professional freelancers. Freelancer bills itself as the world’s largest marketplace for on-demand talent with more than 75 million registered users and 23.9 million posted jobs.
Key Points:
Access to more than 50 million on-demand professionals
Clients rate freelancer’s financial experts 4.87 out of 5
Support representatives are available 24/7 for any issues
Guru is a freelance platform with a global talent pool of interim financial managers for hire. Its professionals have skills in analysis, forecasting, operations, reporting, and more. When you hire through Guru, you get access to a full suite of freelancer management tools including a secure payment platform.
Key Points:
Offers fast and customizable hiring solutions
An affordable way to find freelance financial talent
ZipRecruiter is a good resource for companies looking to hire an interim finance director through a more traditional route. It puts your job postings in front of millions of active job seekers each week through its network of over 100 job boards. With its included features, you can add screening questions to the application process to help you focus your attention on top candidates. ZipRecruiter offers plans for small, medium, and enterprise businesses.
Key Points:
Job description templates make it easy to create a great job posting
ZipRecruiter’s pro plan offers Traffic Boost to boost interest in urgent job listings
Indeed is a traditional job board that provides several ways to find interim finance managers for your organization. Use one of the platform’s templates to post a job to the board, where it is visible in candidate searches. Upgrade to a sponsored listing to attract more attention. Indeed’s Smart Sourcing program shows you candidates whose skills match your job description to help speed up the recruitment process.
Key Points:
You can track posts, review candidate resumes, and conduct interviews all from your Indeed dashboard.
Indeed is not a first-choice site for executive talent such as freelancer interim finance management
Fiverr gives you access to a vast pool of professionals who bid on your projects. It is fast and flexible, letting you choose from a wide range of talent. Fiverr Pro raises the limit on bids, so you can connect with finance managers who might be priced out of the original platform.
Key Points:
Access to a vast global platform or skilled talent
No screening processes for finance professionals, so you must be heavily involved in vetting applicants
Not happy with this selection?
Guide To Hiring Freelance Interim Finance Managers
A dearth of qualified talent and few professionals moving from their current roles present serious challenges to hiring managers looking to find interim finance managers. According to Robert Half, some of the most pressing challenges in hiring an interim finance expert are an exceptionally low unemployment rate in the industry and a decreasing talent pipeline.
Enlisting recruiters can increase your talent pool through outreach to passive job seekers. Additionally, offering above-average compensation and a healthy work-life balance may help attract qualified finance professionals.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects a 16% growth rate in the employment of financial managers through 2032. This is significantly higher than many other industries, highlighting the difficulty in finding qualified candidates for open financial management positions. Korn Ferry adds that changing professional goals, a talent pool with insufficient soft skills, and a large number of retiring baby boomers contribute to challenges.
This creates problems in time-sensitive situations where you need an interim manager to step in quickly and produce results. However, knowing effective strategies for hiring a freelance interim finance manager allows you to overcome many of these obstacles.
Creating a detailed and accurate job description, establishing a hiring budget, and knowing where to find interim finance managers can help you hire the talent you need to make sound financial decisions. Platforms such as Toptal provide access to a prescreened pool of candidates with the skills and experience you need to lead your finance department.
Hiring a Freelance Interim Finance Manager
It is possible to hire interim finance managers part- and full-time or as freelance contractors. The benefits of freelancer interim finance management may sway you to go in that direction. Using freelancers is generally much more cost-effective than hiring a temporary employee, but that is only one aspect of it.
It is also a flexible and quick way to fill temporary roles with highly skilled talent. Freelance finance professionals are accustomed to working with different teams and in various staffing situations. They often have dedicated home offices suitable for remote work and are very familiar with remote collaboration tools. This also allows you to choose from a global talent pool instead of limiting yourself to someone in your geographic area.
What Does an Interim Finance Manager Do?
Most often, an interim finance manager fills a role temporarily while a company searches for a permanent replacement. Finding and onboarding a senior financial professional can take months, during which time the interim manager handles day-to-day tasks.
In some cases, a freelance interim finance manager is needed to work on a specific project, such as a grant program, high-value contract, or business acquisition. As this case study shows, temporary leaves of absence of permanent employees can also lead to the need to hire interim finance managers.
Regardless of the reason a company chooses to hire an interim finance manager, the job responsibilities and goals remain similar. The individual works to provide strategic guidance and stability in the absence of a permanent finance manager.
Job Responsibilities of an Interim Finance Manager
Review financial information
Prepare financial forecasts
Provide insight into financial trends within the business and industry
Perform general accounting procedures
Manage financial team
Support executive team in financial decisions
Interim finance experts provide immediate effectiveness and cost efficiency. Skills in forecasting, accounting, budgeting, and general business finances are necessary for success. Qualities such as attention to detail and the ability to effectively work with all levels of staff and board members are also important.
“One of the key advantages of hiring an interim finance director is their ability to fill leadership gaps … Their flexible nature allows them to seamlessly integrate into the existing team, ensuring continuity in financial leadership and mitigating the risks associated with leadership vacancies.” —John G. Courtney, CEO of Boardroom Advisors
Using interim talent is also a great way to try out a professional before bringing them into a permanent role. This can potentially save your company a significant amount of money. According to SHRM, onboarding a new employee can cost as much as $240,000. You lose that entire amount if your employee turns out to be a bad hire. Onboarding a freelancer is significantly less expensive and labor intensive. Plus, professionals who focus on interim work typically require less training than career-track employees.
Why Hire Interim Finance Managers?
There are many reasons to hire an interim finance manager. They work well to temporarily fill vacant roles during periods of staffing transitions or when an employee is on extended leave. Companies also use interim finance analysts for special projects or major organizational changes. Freelance interim finance managers typically have advanced finance and business skills and a flexible working style that allows them to acclimate to new environments quickly.
How To Hire Interim Finance Managers?
Establishing your goals and objectives for the role is the ideal place to start when hiring an interim finance manager. This gives you a solid foundation to create a job description and tailor your search to candidates with the correct skills. It also provides insight into how much experience a financial expert needs to achieve the objectives.
Top interim finance managers are typically senior-level staff members with years of experience. They bring a wealth of knowledge and relevant skills to the role and require very little support to get projects off the ground. If you have a complex project or need someone to manage an entire financial department, this level of experience will help an interim freelancer succeed.
Key skills of an experienced interim finance manager include specialized subject matter knowledge, the ability to adapt to new and changing environments, and experience in the same or a similar field. Qualified finance professionals should provide a portfolio or case studies detailing success on projects with similar objectives.
Depending on the complexity of the position, a less experienced financial manager may suffice. Needing to fill a role because of a planned temporary absence is one such scenario. In this situation, your current manager can plan the transition and help orient a freelancer.
Lower-level finance managers should display strong accounting, budgeting, and other financial skills. They must also be able to lead and coordinate teams. Attention to detail and accuracy are key characteristics. However, they may lack industry-specific knowledge or experience in developing financial strategies.
Regardless of experience level, all interim finance managers should have a degree in accounting, business finance, or a similar subject. Industry certifications are another indicator of proficiency in specific subjects and skills. You should choose a professional based on the complexity of the role and the skills required to succeed in it.
What Skills To Look for When Hiring Interim Finance Managers
A finance manager should have robust skills in all aspects of budgeting, accounting, and forecasting. Look for candidates who maintain continuing education and industry credentials to ensure they are familiar with current best practices and reporting regulations.
Attention to detail to accurately prepare and analyze reports, such as balance sheets and income statements, without errors
Ability to assist executives in making decisions by evaluating data that could impact their organization
Communication skills sufficient to explain and justify complex financial transactions to non-financial personnel
Strong math skills to understand complex financial documents and domestic and international finance policies
Organizational skills and processes to manage complex information
Although finance is a technical field, soft skills are crucial for these leadership positions. Professionals should have the emotional intelligence to navigate complex work situations and diverse personalities. They must be organized and able to manage existing teams. Communication is particularly important for interim managers since they typically serve as a bridge between the previous manager and the one who takes on the role permanently.
Soft Skills
Technical Skills
Communication
Budgeting
Adaptability
Forecasting
Organization
Quantitative analysis
Leadership
Risk management
In addition to these skills, look for freelance interim finance managers with experience in related industries and roles. This will allow them to adjust to the position more quickly, which is important in a temporary role.
How Much Does It Cost To Hire Interim Finance Managers?
According to Salary.com, you can expect to pay about $135,000 per year to hire interim finance managers. That is based on a range of salaries starting at $120,816 and reaching $153,773 for more experienced finance professionals. This is slightly higher than the averages reported on Payscale and slightly lower than Glassdoor’s estimate of $155,000 to $263,000 per year. Freelance financial managers earn between $80 and $300 per hour on the Upwork platform.
Tips for Writing an Interim Finance Manager Job Description
An accurate job description is key to attracting top talent during your search. Concisely describe the responsibilities of the role, what qualities and skills top applicants will bring to the table, and reasons why someone would want to join your company. Also, since this is an interim role, you want to be completely transparent about its scope and duration.
Popular finance manager templates suggest an opening paragraph describing your company and any special qualities about the project or department requiring a manager. Use this to get interim finance managers for hire excited about the open position. Follow it up with an overview of the position and any required skills, experience, and knowledge.
Once you have a pool of candidates, you can explore different interview methodologies, such as behavioral interviews and technical assessments. The former is an excellent way to gauge soft skills a successful interim finance manager should have while the latter helps you assess proficiency with tasks. Combining the two approaches helps ensure you get a well-rounded professional capable of excelling in the role.
Common Interview Questions To Ask When You Are Looking To Hire an Interim Finance Manager
Strategic interviews help you assess hard and soft skills. They can also be an excellent tool for uncovering personality traits that might affect how someone fits within your company structure. LinkedIn Talent Solutions offers advice on the types of questions to ask during the interview process and how to interpret candidate answers.
Can you tell me about a time when you had to work with a difficult team? How did you handle the individual team members and what was the outcome?
This question gets to the heart of a candidate’s leadership abilities. Look for answers that show creativity, team building, and the ability to smooth over tense situations. Top freelance interim finance managers will accept responsibility for situations and avoid deflecting blame. Positive outcomes show a manager's ability to navigate various personalities and conflicts and produce the desired results.
How do you ensure your work is detailed and accurate?
Experienced financial professionals should be able to provide concrete steps they take to produce accurate deliverables. Look for answers that highlight quality control and adherence to deadlines.
Describe your proficiency with financial software and programs. Which ones are you most comfortable using and why?
Interim finance managers are generally familiar with the most common financial tools, including QuickBooks, Excel, NetSuite, and Sage Accounting software. Look for answers that demonstrate deep knowledge of these and other relevant programs, including what each is best suited for and what differentiates them.
Can you explain your thoughts on the strengths and weaknesses of one of our competitors?
Top candidates for an interim finance manager role should be able to highlight the key strengths and weaknesses of some of the most well-known industry leaders. Look for insight into processes and planning and clear ideas for how the professional plans to implement them into your operations.
How To Find Freelance Interim Finance Managers for Hire
Some of the most popular sites to hire freelance interim finance analysts include Toptal, Upwork, and Guru. They allow you to quickly connect with financial professionals looking for contract work. Freelance marketplaces also offer flexible hiring options and tools for managing outsourced talent.
Some also vet potential contractors, which frees up your HR staff for other responsibilities. For example, Toptal thoroughly screens all potential freelancers, so you only connect with highly qualified professionals.
Some companies choose to use traditional job boards such as Zip Recruiter, while others prefer to work with talent agencies such as Robert Half. You can also find qualified candidates for specialized roles in finance through professional networks and networking sites such as LinkedIn.
No matter where you look to hire interim finance managers, you should carefully weigh what aspects of the process matter most to you. Some considerations include:
Candidate quality and experience
Hiring budget
Remote vs. in-person role
Timeline for the hiring process
Using freelance talent allows you to overcome many of the challenges of hiring an interim finance manager. It helps to understand the changing landscape within the financial field and how it affects hiring practices. When searching, creating a compelling job description and conducting comprehensive interviews can help you hire interim finance directors who will steer your company in a positive direction.
FAQ
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