About the member
Founder and Director, vfdnet - Financial Leadership for Wise Business
James Shand is a Chartered Accountant and experienced Virtual Finance Director with over 30 years of commercial finance experience. Since 1998, he has worked alongside entrepreneurial SME owners and management teams, helping them improve financial performance, make confident decisions and achieve successful growth.
Before founding vfdnet, James gained several years of multinational company experience, worked in challenging venture capital-backed businesses and was also Group Finance Director of a plc. This gave him a strong commercial grounding across growth, funding, acquisitions, business sales and board-level financial leadership.
About the business
Why James founded vfdnet
James founded vfdnet in 2004 after experiencing first-hand the challenge of rebuilding his career following the loss of a full-time FD role. With a young family at the time, it was a difficult and formative period. James was supported by an exceptional Christian mentor, whose guidance helped him rebuild with faith, focus and purpose.
That experience shaped the values behind vfdnet. James created the business to give experienced FDs and FCs a more sustainable way to build successful portfolio careers, with practical support, mentoring and a strong sense of community.
About vfdnet
vfdnet is a thriving community of around 20 experienced Virtual Finance Directors and Virtual Financial Controllers, supporting SME clients across a growing region from Bristol to London and Hampshire to Derbyshire.
vfdnet provides pragmatic client solutions, together with focused “mentoring for success”, helping clients grow sales and, more importantly, improve profit.
vfdnet provides commercially focused finance support to help business owners:
• Grow sales
• Improve profit
• Strengthen financial decision-making
• Raise funding
• Plan for succession or sale
• Build more sustainable businesses
James’s deal experience
James continues to work directly with ambitious SME owner-managers as a part-time Finance Director. He has been involved in more than 30 successful deals and has helped clients raise over £30m of funding.
His ever-growing deal experience includes around 20 trade sales, acting for both acquisitive companies and exiting business owners, as well as several Management Buyouts and 7 Employee Ownership Trusts.
How James helps SME owners
James is particularly passionate about helping business owners prepare their business for sale or succession and manage the sale process. This may include a trade sale, sale to employees through an Employee Ownership Trust, or a Management Buyout.
His role is to help business owners consider the right route for them, their business, their team and their future plans.
vfdnet provides experienced, part-time financial leadership for SMEs that need more than accountancy support, but do not yet need or want a full-time Finance Director.