FAQ

Common questions.

What roles and engagements do you take on?
Permanent Finance Director and Head of Finance roles, interim and fixed-term finance leadership, and defined transformation or transaction projects: FP&A uplift, cost and margin programmes, M&A integration, transfer-pricing strategy and exit readiness. Fractional CFO arrangements also suit smaller founder-led businesses.
Which sectors do you know best?
Healthcare and life sciences most deeply: GSK, Parexel, Chiron/Novartis, Shionogi and Accord. Alongside that, consumer and e-commerce from eleven years running my own direct-to-consumer business, and subscription from the subscriber economics I built at O2 and subscription revenue recognition at IMS Health.
Why is your own company not named here?
By choice. It trades under its own consumer brand, which I keep separate from my professional practice. What can be said openly: it is a UK direct-to-consumer business selling through Amazon's US, UK and European marketplaces and Shopify, self-funded, with product, supply chain, marketing and finance run end to end since 2015. The name, the figures behind those published here, and the operational detail are shared at interview, under NDA where appropriate.
You have spent eleven years running your own company. How does that shape the way you work?
It sharpened everything a finance leader is for: cash, margin and customer economics, managed from 2015 to the present day with my own capital on the outcome. The company still trades and is structured to run without my daily involvement, so a role, permanent or interim, gets my full attention. What draws me back to organisations with real scale is the part I have missed most: building and leading teams.
What size and stage of business do you serve best?
Whole-business roles from mid-market upward, where multi-entity structure and governance complexity are real but a senior finance leader can still move the dial quickly. Within larger groups I take divisional, regional and European roles: I have operated at billion-pound divisional scale, and building out a European arm is familiar ground. Smaller founder-led businesses can also work well on a fractional basis.
How does a fractional arrangement work in practice?
A fixed number of days per week or month, agreed up front and reviewed as the business changes: enough presence to own the finance agenda and the board rhythm, without the cost of a full-time chair. Interim mandates are fuller commitments for a defined period; fractional arrangements typically run alongside a capable in-house team.
How quickly can you start, and where do you work?
On short notice, whether the role is permanent or interim. I am London-based: on-site or hybrid across London and the UK, remote for EU and US roles, and available for regular European or international travel where a role needs it.
How do engagements work contractually?
Interim and project engagements are contracted through Belmont London Ltd, a UK limited company, VAT registered. Both inside- and outside-IR35 arrangements are workable; the structure is agreed with the client or intermediary at the outset. Scope defines the rate; both are agreed once the brief is clear.
How do references and credential checks work?
Straightforwardly. ACMA and CGMA sit on the CIMA and AICPA registers; Cranfield confirms the MBA. References are available on request, matched to the mandate.
How do you use AI, and is client data safe?
Claude, Claude Code, Claude in Excel and ChatGPT are embedded in my analysis, forecasting and modelling practice, with every output validated against source data. On client work, confidential data is only processed within whatever AI arrangements the client has approved: enterprise controls, private deployments, or not at all. The fluency transfers; the data governance is the client's call.

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