Five podcasts from across FD Capital Group
Every brand in the group runs its own show, covering the senior hires it makes every week: CFOs and Finance Directors, the C-suite, non-executive boards, qualified finance teams and FCA Senior Managers. Free to listen on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube and every major app.
What we learn from live searches, in a format you can fit around your week
Recruiting senior people teaches you things that rarely make it into a textbook. How long a Senior Manager approval really takes. Why a fractional CFO engagement works at one business and stalls at another. What a board actually tests in a non-executive interview. Which questions separate a credible Financial Controller from one who simply holds the title. These are the questions our consultants answer on the phone every day, and the podcasts are where we share those answers more widely.
FD Capital Group is made up of five specialist recruitment brands, each focused on a different tier of senior appointment. Each brand publishes its own show, so you can follow the one that matches your role or your next hire rather than wading through episodes that are not relevant to you. Together the five shows cover the full spread of senior finance, leadership, governance and regulatory hiring in the UK.
All five are produced by the team behind the group and draw on the same shared network of around 10,000 senior professionals. Episodes are short, practical and written for busy people: founders weighing up their first finance hire, boards planning succession, compliance leaders preparing for regulatory change and professionals thinking about their next move. If you would rather read than listen, most episodes link through to a fuller written guide on the relevant brand’s website.
Pick the podcast that matches your role
Each show has its own podcast website on Podpage, with every episode, show notes and links to all the listening apps.
FD Capital
FD Capital’s Podcast
Fractional, interim and permanent CFOs and Finance Directors, plus a growing strand on FCA compliance leadership, SMF16 and SMF17 hiring.
Exec Capital
The Exec Capital Podcast
C-suite and board hiring: CEOs, COOs, CIOs and the wider leadership team, executive pay and the senior roles regulated firms most often get wrong.
NED Capital
The NED Capital Podcast
Boards and governance: preparing for a NED interview, chair succession, effective board meetings and when a non-executive needs FCA approval.
Accountancy Capital
Accountancy Capital’s Podcast
Qualified finance teams below director level: Financial Controllers, Management Accountants, tax managers and fractional finance support.
SMF Capital
SMF Unlocked
The podcast for anyone recruiting, holding or considering an FCA Senior Manager Function, from the Conduct Rules to regulatory references.
Listen on any app
Every show is also on Pocket Casts, Overcast, Castbox, Podcast Addict, Deezer, Goodpods and most other podcast apps. Search for the show name, or open its Podpage site and choose your app from the Follow menu.
Follow a show and new episodes arrive automatically.
FD Capital’s Podcast
The longest-running show in the group, from the brand that started it in 2018.
FD Capital recruits Chief Financial Officers, Finance Directors and Financial Controllers on a fractional, interim, part-time and permanent basis, and places compliance and risk leaders into FCA-regulated firms. The podcast follows the same ground. Earlier episodes concentrate on when a growing business needs a fractional CFO, how an interim CFO engagement should be structured and what private equity investors expect from a portfolio company’s finance leader.
Recent episodes have turned towards regulated firms, reflecting the growth in FCA compliance hiring across payments, consumer credit and investment businesses:
- SMF16 and SMF17 Temporary Cover: Understanding the 12-Week Rule
- Consumer Credit Compliance Recruitment for Lenders and BNPL Providers
- Payments and E-Money Compliance Recruitment
- Fractional Compliance Officers: The Smarter Way to Build FCA Compliance Leadership
- FD Capital Announces the Launch of SMF Capital
Best for: founders, CEOs and investors hiring finance leadership, and finance directors considering fractional or interim work.
The Exec Capital Podcast
Leadership hiring at C-suite and board level.
Exec Capital runs executive search for chief executives, managing directors and the wider C-suite, including fractional executives and the approval-tier senior managers at regulated firms. The podcast looks at how strong leadership teams are built and what goes wrong when they are not. It covers how executive recruitment is changing, what separates a good C-suite hire from an expensive mistake and what the market actually pays for senior roles.
Episodes worth starting with:
- What Should Executives Really Be Paid in 2026?
- The Strategic Power of a Chief Investment Officer
- The Executive Hiring Playbook
- Hiring Under SMCR: The Executive Roles Firms Keep Getting Wrong
Best for: boards, founders and PE investors appointing a CEO, COO or other C-suite leader, and executives benchmarking their next package against the C-suite salary guide.
The NED Capital Podcast
Boardroom practice for non-executives, chairs and the boards that appoint them.
NED Capital appoints non-executive directors, chairs and committee chairs. Its podcast is built around the questions boards and aspiring non-executives raise most often: how to land a first board seat, how a chair should be replaced, how to run a board meeting where challenge is welcomed rather than tolerated, and how the role changes in a regulated firm. Many episodes draw on the UK Corporate Governance Code and apply it to private and growing businesses as well as listed ones.
Recent episodes include:
- How to Prepare for a Non-Executive Director Interview
- Fractional Executive or NED? Choosing the Right Leadership Support
- What Makes a Board Meeting Effective?
- Do NEDs Need FCA Approval?
- Why Chair Succession Planning Is One of the Board’s Most Important Decisions
Best for: chairs and nomination committees planning non-executive director recruitment, and senior executives preparing for a first portfolio role.
Accountancy Capital’s Podcast
The finance team beneath the Finance Director.
Accountancy Capital recruits qualified finance professionals below director level: Financial Controllers, Finance Managers, Management Accountants, FP&A specialists and tax professionals. The podcast covers how to build a finance team that can support growth, how to hire into each of those roles and when a part-time or fractional arrangement makes more sense than a full-time hire.
Recent episodes include:
- Management Accountant Recruitment: Finding the Professional Who Makes the Numbers Useful
- Tax Manager Recruitment: Finding Specialist Tax Talent
- Fractional Finance Manager: The Flexible Finance Solution
- Building a High-Performing Finance Team
Best for: businesses making their first qualified finance hire or strengthening a team around a Financial Controller, and accountants planning their next career step.
SMF Unlocked
The newest show in the group, dedicated to FCA Senior Manager Functions.
SMF Capital recruits Senior Manager Function holders for UK regulated firms, from compliance officers and MLROs to chief executives, chief risk officers and chairs. SMF Unlocked works through the Senior Managers and Certification Regime one practical topic at a time: the Conduct Rules, the six-year regulatory reference rule, responsibilities maps, building a team for authorisation and running compliance monitoring that a board can rely on.
Recent episodes include:
- Compliance Monitoring Explained: What FCA-Regulated Firms Need to Know
- SMF Recruitment in London
- The Conduct Rules Every Senior Manager Must Know
- Regulatory References: The Six-Year Rule Explained
Best for: boards and founders planning senior manager appointments, compliance and MLRO professionals holding or aiming for SMF16 and SMF17, and HR teams managing the approval process. Our compliance news site, Regulatory Capital, also gathers the group’s SMF-related episodes in one place.
A short listening guide
- Hiring your first senior finance leaderStart with FD Capital’s episodes on fractional and interim CFOs, then Accountancy Capital’s episode on building a high-performing finance team to see how the roles beneath the FD fit together.
- Appointing a CEO or reshaping the leadership teamBegin with Exec Capital’s Executive Hiring Playbook, followed by the episode on what executives are really paid.
- Strengthening your boardNED Capital’s episodes on chair succession and effective board meetings give a board-level view, and the episode on fractional executives versus NEDs helps decide which you actually need.
- Running or joining an FCA-regulated firmSMF Unlocked covers the regime itself; FD Capital’s compliance episodes cover the hiring market for compliance officers and MLROs, and NED Capital’s episode on FCA approval covers the board.
- Planning your own next moveNED Capital’s interview preparation episode and the Exec Capital pay episode are the most useful starting points for candidates, wherever you sit.
Questions about the podcasts
Are the podcasts free?
Yes. Every episode of all five shows is free on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube and the other major podcast apps, and on each show’s Podpage website.
How often are new episodes released?
Each show publishes on its own schedule, usually several episodes a month across the group. Follow a show in your podcast app and new episodes will download automatically.
Who is behind the podcasts?
The shows are produced by FD Capital Group, the team behind FD Capital, Exec Capital, NED Capital, Accountancy Capital and SMF Capital. Content is overseen by the group’s founder, Adrian Lawrence FCA.
Can I suggest a topic or appear as a guest?
Yes. Finance leaders, board members, compliance professionals and executives with practical experience to share are welcome to get in touch through our contact page. Tell us which show you have in mind and the topic you would like to cover.
Is there a written version of each episode?
Most episodes link to a fuller written guide on the relevant brand’s website, and the Podpage show notes include a summary of each episode.
I heard an episode about a role I am hiring for. What next?
Contact the brand behind the show, or contact the group and we will route your brief to the right team. If you are a candidate, see our page on jobs boards and candidate registration.
Adrian Lawrence FCA
Founder, FD Capital Group
Adrian is a Chartered Accountant and Fellow of the ICAEW with a practising certificate, a former listed-company Finance Director and the founder of FD Capital in 2018. He has since built Exec Capital, NED Capital, Accountancy Capital and SMF Capital, and oversees the content of all five podcasts so that each reflects what the group sees in live searches.
More from FD Capital Group
Jobs and candidate registration
All five jobs boards in one place, and why one registration covers the whole group.
Specialist sites
Regulatory Capital and Tax Capital: written insight on FCA regulation and tax careers from across the group.
Heard something that applies to your next hire?
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