Author
Marcus Barnes
Managing Partner
Interim Finance Report 2026
How the role of interim finance leadership is changing
Executive summary
The role of interim finance leadership is changing.
Interim finance professionals have traditionally been associated with leadership vacancies, maternity cover and short term capacity requirements. Those needs remain, but the evidence increasingly points towards a broader role for experienced interim leaders.
Organisations are using flexible senior expertise to address specific business challenges: improving financial performance, strengthening forecasting, leading finance transformation, supporting transactions, implementing new systems and creating capacity for strategic change.
At the same time, the wider interim management market remains competitive. The Institute of Interim Management’s 2026 survey describes the market as challenging but slightly improving. Average days billed increased to 148, 64% of respondents were on assignment at the end of March, and average assignment length increased to 10 months. However, 45% of interims expected the market to become tougher and securing a new assignment was identified as the number one challenge. [1]
This apparent contradiction is important. The opportunity is not simply that organisations are using more interim managers. Rather, the nature of the work being undertaken by experienced interim leaders is evolving.
Three forces are particularly important.
First, finance leaders are under simultaneous pressure to control cost and cash while investing in transformation. Deloitte’s Q1 2026 CFO Survey found that cost control and building cash were among the leading priorities for UK CFOs, against a backdrop of heightened geopolitical and economic uncertainty. [2]
Second, technology investment is accelerating. By July 2026, 93% of UK CFOs surveyed by Deloitte expected investment in digital technology and assets to increase over the following 12 months, while 73% reported becoming more optimistic about AI’s ability to improve business performance. [3]
Third, the ability to convert technology investment into business value remains constrained by people, data, processes and leadership. EY’s 2026 research found that only 8% of UK finance leaders considered AI fully integrated into finance operations and decision making. More than half said their organisations were still developing AI readiness. Data quality and bias, together with skills, resources and capacity, were identified as significant barriers. [4]
The implication is clear.
The future of interim finance is less about temporarily occupying a vacant seat and more about bringing experienced leadership into the organisation at the point where a specific outcome needs to be delivered.
This report identifies five trends shaping that market in 2026.
Five trends defining interim finance in 2026
1. Organisations are increasingly buying outcomes, not simply cover
The traditional rationale for appointing an interim finance leader was straightforward: someone leaves, the organisation needs continuity and an experienced individual is required until a permanent appointment is made.
That remains an important part of the market. However, the latest evidence suggests that interim management is increasingly being used as a flexible mechanism for accessing specialist leadership during periods of change.
The 2026 Institute of Interim Management survey found that the average interim assignment had increased to approximately 10 months. At the same time, nearly one quarter of respondents reported that their most recent assignment had been delivered on a fractional basis. [1]
This matters because the traditional definition of an interim assignment implies a temporary replacement. A ten month assignment, particularly when undertaken fractionally, can instead represent a defined period of value creation.
For finance functions, this can include:
• Stabilising a finance function following leadership change
• Improving cash generation and working capital performance
• Strengthening forecasting and management information
• Leading an ERP implementation
• Redesigning the finance operating model
• Preparing a business for acquisition or disposal
• Supporting post acquisition integration
• Improving financial controls and reporting
• Building finance capability during a period of rapid growth
• Creating additional capacity for a CFO or Finance Director undertaking a major transformation programme
The distinction is therefore increasingly between cover and capacity for change.
The latter is particularly relevant in an environment where finance leaders are being asked to manage transformation alongside their existing responsibilities.
EY’s 2026 global CFO research found that CFOs reported spending 47% of their capacity on operational activities including regulation, reporting, internal controls and core finance processes. Only 12% said finance transformation outcomes had exceeded expectations over the previous two years, while 40% said progress had been slow or limited. [5]
For organisations facing this combination of operational pressure and transformation demand, an experienced interim leader can provide something a permanent recruitment process cannot easily provide: additional leadership capacity at the precise point it is required.
Tierpoint perspective
The most valuable interim assignments are likely to become increasingly defined by the question:
What needs to be different when this assignment ends?
That shifts the conversation from supplying a person to delivering an outcome.
2. Finance transformation is becoming a core driver of interim demand
Finance transformation is no longer simply a technology programme.
The modern finance transformation agenda spans processes, operating models, data, systems, controls, reporting, automation and organisational capability.
Research from Grant Thornton’s 2025 Finance Leaders Barometer illustrates the scale of the challenge. The three leading finance function challenges identified were data related challenges, ERP implementation and changing market conditions. More than half of respondents said their finance function remained in the early planning stages of a digital transformation programme. [6]
The same research found that CFOs were prioritising understanding the risks and opportunities associated with AI, improving forecasting, and improving reporting and analytics. [6]
This creates a particularly relevant role for interim finance leadership.
Large transformation programmes often require a combination of technical knowledge and practical finance leadership. The organisation may have the technology partner, the project team and the software, but still require an experienced finance leader who understands how the new model needs to work operationally.
This is particularly important during ERP transformation.
ERP implementation affects the general ledger, procure to pay, order to cash, record to report, planning, reporting, controls and master data. Decisions made during implementation can therefore have consequences for finance performance long after the project team has left.
An experienced finance leader can provide the bridge between the transformation programme and the operational finance function.
This is also reflected in the wider CFO agenda. Wolters Kluwer’s 2026 Future Ready CFO research found that 63% of UK finance leaders identified finance transformation as a strategic priority, compared with 52% globally. [7]
Tierpoint perspective
Transformation creates a particular form of interim requirement.
The organisation may not need another permanent headcount position. It needs someone who has done it before, understands the consequences of the decisions being made and can lead the organisation through a defined period of change.
3. AI is accelerating the finance agenda, but technology is not the constraint
AI has moved rapidly from experimentation towards an established item on the CFO agenda.
Deloitte’s July 2026 CFO Survey found that 73% of CFOs had become more optimistic about AI’s ability to improve business performance over the previous 12 months. Ninety three percent expected investment in digital technology and assets to increase over the following 12 months, while 96% expected investment to increase over the following five years. [3]
The investment case is therefore becoming clearer.
The implementation challenge is less straightforward.
EY’s 2026 research found that only 8% of UK CFOs said AI was fully integrated across finance operations and decision making. Fifty one percent described their finance organisation as still developing AI readiness. [4]
The most significant barriers were not simply the availability of technology.
Data quality and bias were identified as major barriers by 59% of UK finance leaders when the significant and very significant responses were combined. Skills, resources and capacity were also identified as a significant constraint by 31%. [4]
This distinction is critical.
AI does not remove the need for finance leadership. In many cases it increases it.
Before AI can improve forecasting, automate processes or support decision making, organisations need reliable data, clearly defined processes, appropriate controls and people capable of interpreting and acting on the output.
EY’s research also found that 81% of UK finance leaders expected AI enabled business models to feature to a significant or moderate extent during the following 12 months, while 77% expected faster decision making enabled by real time data and analytics to feature to a significant or moderate extent. [4]
The finance leader therefore has an increasingly important role in translating technology investment into measurable financial and operational outcomes.
Tierpoint perspective
The opportunity for interim finance leadership is not to become an alternative to technology.
It is to provide the finance expertise required to make technology work.
That could mean redesigning a process before automation, establishing the data architecture required for reliable reporting, building the business case for an AI investment, leading adoption or ensuring that automated processes remain appropriately controlled.
The differentiator is therefore increasingly the ability to combine finance expertise, technology understanding and implementation experience.
4. Specialist expertise is becoming more valuable
The finance function is becoming broader and more technically demanding.
The modern finance leader may be expected to understand financial performance, cash, forecasting, transformation, data, technology, controls, transactions and increasingly AI.
At the same time, the market is becoming less tolerant of long learning curves when an organisation is dealing with a critical issue.
Grant Thornton’s Finance Leaders Barometer found that the capabilities CFOs most wanted to develop included strategic thinking, AI and automation, and data analytics and business intelligence. [6]
EY similarly found that capability gaps were an important constraint on AI adoption, with 31% of UK respondents identifying a lack of skills, resources or capacity as a significant challenge. [4]
This supports a broader shift from hiring purely for functional responsibility towards acquiring specific expertise.
For example, a business implementing a new ERP may need someone with deep finance transformation experience.
A business preparing for a transaction may need someone experienced in transaction readiness, carve outs or integration.
A manufacturing organisation may require a finance leader who understands standard costing, inventory, working capital and operational performance.
A rapidly growing business may require an experienced FP&A leader to build forecasting and management information.
The requirement is not simply for a more senior accountant.
It is for someone who has already encountered the particular problem.
The wider interim market data reinforces the value of this flexibility. The IIM reported that average assignment length increased to around 10 months while the proportion of assignments delivered fractionally approached one quarter. [1]
This suggests that organisations are increasingly able to access expertise in a more targeted way rather than treating senior finance capability as an all or nothing permanent hiring decision.
Tierpoint perspective
The value of an interim finance leader increasingly comes from the intersection of three things:
Experience
They have encountered the problem before.
Specialism
They understand the specific technical, commercial or sector context.
Execution
They can translate that experience into action inside the organisation.
The combination is difficult to replicate through a conventional generalist hiring model.
5. Speed matters, but the reason is changing
Speed has always been an advantage of interim management.
A permanent executive appointment can take months. An organisation dealing with a financial control issue, acquisition, ERP programme or leadership departure may not have that time.
However, speed is becoming more important for another reason: the pace of change itself is increasing.
Deloitte’s Q1 2026 CFO Survey found UK CFOs operating in an environment characterised by heightened geopolitical risk, inflationary pressure and concerns around financing costs. Cost control and cash conservation were prominent priorities. [2]
Meanwhile, Deloitte’s Q2 survey showed that finance leaders were becoming increasingly optimistic about AI and digital investment. [3]
The finance function is therefore being asked to do two apparently contradictory things at once.
It must become more efficient and control cost.
It must also invest, transform and prepare for a technology driven future.
That creates a capacity problem.
A CFO or Finance Director cannot necessarily postpone core finance responsibilities while transformation takes place. Nor can a major transformation programme always wait until the organisation has recruited additional permanent capability.
Interim leadership provides a mechanism for resolving that tension.
It allows organisations to add experienced capability at the point of need without necessarily making a permanent structural change to the organisation.
The wider labour market also provides useful context. ONS data for April to June 2026 showed 712,000 UK vacancies, 2.5 unemployed people per vacancy and vacancies 2.5% below the level a year earlier. [8]
This is not evidence of a universally constrained labour market. In fact, the market has become less tight than in previous years.
It does, however, reinforce an important distinction between availability of labour and availability of the right expertise at the right time.
For organisations undertaking specialist finance transformation, the constraint may not be the number of people available in the labour market. It may be finding someone with the exact combination of finance, transformation, systems and leadership experience required.
Tierpoint perspective
Speed is therefore not simply about filling a vacancy faster.
It is about reducing the time between identifying a business problem and putting experienced capability around it.
What this means for finance leaders
The evidence points towards a changing model of senior finance capability.
Rather than thinking about permanent recruitment and interim management as competing alternatives, organisations can increasingly treat them as complementary components of the finance operating model.
A permanent finance team provides continuity, institutional knowledge and long term capability.
Interim specialists can provide additional capacity, specialist expertise or transformation leadership at specific points in the organisation’s development.
This creates a more flexible model.
When interim leadership can make sense
A leadership gap
The organisation needs immediate senior finance leadership while a permanent appointment is made.
A transformation programme
The organisation needs someone who has led a comparable transformation before and can work alongside the existing leadership team.
A transaction
The organisation requires additional finance capability before, during or after an acquisition, disposal, integration or separation.
A performance improvement programme
The organisation needs experienced leadership focused on cash, margin, forecasting, working capital or financial control.
A technology programme
The organisation needs finance leadership to translate ERP, data, automation or AI investment into operational change.
A capacity problem
The organisation has the right permanent leadership but insufficient capacity to deliver everything that needs to happen.
The common factor is not the employment status of the individual.
It is the business outcome required.
The changing economics of interim finance
The 2026 IIM data provides an important counterbalance to the narrative that interim management is simply experiencing rapid growth.
The average number of days billed increased to 148 and the percentage of interims on assignment at the end of March increased to 64%. Average assignment length also increased to approximately 10 months.
However, average day rates increased by only around 1%, 45% of respondents expected the market to become tougher and 50% identified securing a new assignment as their number one challenge. [1]
The market is therefore not characterised by unrestricted demand.
It is characterised by greater selectivity.
That distinction has implications for both organisations and interim professionals.
Organisations are likely to become more focused on demonstrable experience and measurable outcomes.
Interim professionals who can clearly articulate the problem they solve are likely to be better positioned than those who simply present themselves as experienced finance leaders.
For organisations, the implication is equally important.
The most effective interim appointment may not be the person with the most impressive job title. It is likely to be the person whose previous experience most closely matches the problem currently facing the business.
What to expect next
The evidence suggests that the interim finance market will continue to evolve rather than simply expand.
Four developments are particularly likely to shape the next phase.
Greater use of fractional leadership
The IIM’s first dedicated examination of fractional interim management found that almost one quarter of respondents had delivered their most recent assignment fractionally. [1]
This provides organisations with another mechanism for accessing senior expertise without committing to a full time executive structure.
Greater specialisation
As finance technology, regulation, transactions and data become more complex, organisations are likely to place greater value on proven experience in specific situations.
More transformation embedded within finance roles
Technology, data and AI will increasingly become part of mainstream finance leadership rather than separate transformation topics.
A stronger focus on measurable outcomes
The defining question for an interim assignment is likely to become less about how long someone remains in the organisation and more about what has changed because they were there.
Conclusion
The interim finance market in 2026 is more nuanced than a simple story of increasing demand.
The latest evidence shows a market that remains challenging, but one in which the structure of interim work is changing.
Assignments are lasting longer. Fractional models are becoming more visible. Finance leaders are under pressure to improve performance while simultaneously leading technology and transformation. AI investment is accelerating, but organisations continue to face challenges around data, capability and implementation.
These conditions create a different role for interim finance leadership.
The strongest use cases are increasingly those where an organisation needs experienced capability for a defined period of change.
That could mean stabilising a finance function, improving cash performance, strengthening forecasting, leading an ERP transformation, supporting a transaction, redesigning processes or helping a CFO create capacity for strategic priorities.
The central question is therefore no longer:
“Do we need an interim?”
It is:
“What needs to change, and what experience do we need to make it happen?”
For organisations that can answer that question clearly, interim finance leadership can provide a highly flexible mechanism for accessing specialist capability precisely when it is needed.
The future of interim finance is therefore unlikely to be defined by temporary employment.
It will be defined by specialist expertise, execution and outcomes.
About this report
This report combines publicly available research from established professional bodies, economic institutions and finance leadership research programmes with Tierpoint’s interpretation of the implications for organisations using interim finance leadership.
The report does not claim that every organisation is increasing its use of interim finance professionals. The available market evidence does not support such a broad conclusion.
Instead, it identifies structural changes in the nature of interim management, the finance leadership agenda and the capabilities organisations increasingly require.
Where statistics are presented, they are attributed to the original research source. Interpretive statements are identified as the Tierpoint perspective.
References
1. Institute of Interim Management
IIM Interim Management Survey 2026
The 17th annual survey of the UK interim management market. The 2026 survey draws on contributions from thousands of interim managers and reports on assignment levels, assignment duration, day rates, fractional working and market sentiment.
Institute of Interim Management Survey 2026
2. Deloitte
Deloitte CFO Survey Q1 2026
Research into the priorities, expectations and risk appetite of major UK CFOs. The Q1 2026 findings cover cost control, cash conservation, geopolitical risk, inflation and financing costs.
3. Deloitte
Deloitte CFO Survey Q2 2026: Growing AI optimism
Research conducted in July 2026 covering UK CFO sentiment towards AI, digital technology investment, productivity and business performance.
4. EY
The UK findings of the 2026 EY Global DNA of the CFO Survey
Research covering UK CFO views on AI readiness, finance transformation, data quality, skills, capacity and the changing strategic role of finance.
EY UK findings of the 2026 DNA of the CFO Survey
5. EY
2026 EY Global DNA of the CFO Survey
Global research based on 1,610 CFOs, Finance Directors and Heads of Finance across 28 countries, examining finance transformation, AI, leadership, talent and value creation.
EY Global DNA of the CFO Survey 2026
6. Grant Thornton
Finance Leaders Barometer 2025
Research into finance leaders’ priorities and challenges, including AI, forecasting, reporting, analytics, ERP implementation, data quality, digital transformation and finance capability.
Grant Thornton Finance Leaders Barometer
7. Wolters Kluwer
2026 Future Ready CFO United Kingdom Regional Report
Research examining the changing role of UK CFOs, finance transformation, technology modernisation, AI and strategic leadership.
Wolters Kluwer Future Ready CFO United Kingdom 2026
8. Office for National Statistics
Vacancies and Jobs in the UK: July 2026
Official UK labour market statistics covering vacancies, employment and labour market tightness.
Office for National Statistics: Vacancies and Jobs in the UK July 2026
9. KPMG
2026 UK M&A Outlook
Research covering the expected evolution of UK M&A activity in 2026, including private equity exits, carve outs, transaction execution and the increasing importance of value creation.
