Interim Management in Croatia

Leadership for businesses in transition, and for the investors acquiring them.

CE Interim deploys senior executives into Croatian companies and their international ownership structures within 72 hours. Every mandate partner-led from first call to handover.

Ownership changes hands in Croatia. Execution answers to whoever now holds it.

Incarichi evasi ogni anno in tutta la rete

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Soci amministratori in tutto il mondo

Operatività in oltre 30 paesi in tutto il mondo

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Dalla prima chiamata alla selezione dei candidati idonei

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Standard di eccellenza

Who calls us in Croatia

Four kinds of decision-maker, one recurring problem: a business that changed hands faster than its leadership did.

Acquirer or investor post-deal

You now own a Croatian operation that needs restarting, professionalising, or aligning to a plan that already has a clock on it.

Foreign investor or parent group

You have acquired a Croatian business and need leadership meeting your standards before the integration window closes.

Owner or shareholder

Your business is profitable and established. The succession is unresolved, and the window for an unhurried decision is closing.

CFO or financial decision-maker

You need senior financial leadership covered through a sale, a restructuring, or a departure the business cannot absorb.

Le situazioni per cui le aziende ci contattano

Succession without a successor

The founder is ready to step back. The next generation is not ready to step forward, or has chosen not to. The business runs on the owner’s decisions and relationships, none of which transfer automatically.

CE Interim deploys an interim Managing Director who holds the business through the transition, protects customer and supplier confidence, and builds the governance a successor or buyer can inherit.

The business performs throughout. The transition is controlled, not improvised.

Preparing a business for sale

A buyer has emerged. But the reporting is not clean, the management structure depends on the owner, and the valuation will not survive due diligence in its current state.

CE Interim deploys an interim CFO who installs reporting discipline, rebuilds the finance function, and produces the documentation a buyer needs to close with confidence.

The sale moves on the buyer’s timeline. Value is not lost on the way to the table.

Restarting an acquired operation

You bought the asset. What came with it is a business that has run under stress, lost management depth, and now needs someone to restart it while the workforce watches to see whether the new owner is credible.

CE Interim deploys an interim COO or Plant Manager who takes operational control immediately, rebuilds output and reporting, and establishes the new ownership’s authority on the floor.

The asset starts producing. The workforce sees leadership, not a change of letterhead.

Improvvisa partenza di un dirigente

Your CEO or CFO leaves without a transition plan. The permanent search will take months. Bank relationships, reporting lines and customer commitments cannot wait that long.

CE Interim deploys an interim executive within days, fully empowered, holding the role and protecting every critical relationship while the search runs in parallel.

The seat is filled before the gap becomes visible outside the building.

Financial distress and creditor pressure

Cash is tight, creditors are asking for a plan, and the business needs a credible operator behind the numbers rather than another document explaining them.

CE Interim deploys an interim CRO or restructuring CFO who stabilises cash, manages creditors directly, and gives the business operational credibility while the financial position is resolved.

The business keeps trading. Creditors get an operator, not a filing.

Foreign ownership, local execution

Your Croatian subsidiary reports into a headquarters that expects group standards. Local management cannot yet deliver them, and the reporting gap is becoming a governance problem.

CE Interim deploys an interim Country Manager or CFO fluent in both environments, aligning the operation to group requirements while keeping local performance intact.

Headquarters gets visibility. The local business keeps running while it gets there.

Ti ritrovi in questa situazione? Un nostro collaboratore è pronto a ricevere le vostre indicazioni oggi stesso.

The Croatian market, right now

Croatia has more than 7,000 companies still run by founders averaging 72 years old, with no succession plan in place. Together they employ close to 60,000 people and generate over €9 billion in annual revenue. Almost half of those owners have no transition plan at all. Only 7 percent have one in writing.

This is not a warning about what might happen. Between 2014 and 2025, 3,224 Croatian companies closed permanently because an owner retired without a plan, taking more than 20,700 jobs with them. These were not failing businesses. They ran out of leadership before they ran out of demand.

At the same time, Croatian assets are changing hands at pace. The historic Rijeka shipyard was sold to a Slovenian industrial group in 2026, with the Pula yard following it to tender. International private equity has taken control of Croatia’s largest optical retail chain, buying in alongside a second-generation owner rather than waiting for the business to be handed down. Each of these transfers creates the same requirement: someone credible has to run the business on day one of the new ownership.

Underneath both stories sits the same constraint. Croatia’s working-age population is shrinking faster than its total population, and a decade of skilled emigration has narrowed the senior talent pool. When a Croatian board needs an executive quickly, the local permanent market is a slower answer than it would be almost anywhere else in the EU.

Companies in transition with no succession plan

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Annual revenue inside those companies

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Companies closed for lack of a successor

Average age of owners still running the business

Transfrontaliero. Interculturale. Un unico partner affidabile.

Croatian business decisions rarely stay inside Croatia. An owner selling a family business is negotiating with buyers from Austria, Germany or the Netherlands. A private equity firm managing a Croatian company is doing it from London. An industrial group with a Croatian plant reports into Vienna, Milan or Ljubljana.

The business is local. The capital and the governance are somewhere else. Most providers cover one side or the other, which leaves a gap in accountability between the Croatian operation and the people who now own it.

CE Interim runs both sides through one accountable partner. No handoff. No quality drift between what was agreed in Vienna and what happens on the ground in Zagreb or Rijeka.

What makes that possible is not geography. It is the ability to operate in both business cultures at once: to understand what a foreign shareholder expects from governance and what a Croatian management team needs from leadership, and to hold both without losing either.

Through CE Interim’s own presence across CEE, the Balkans and the Baltics, and through the Valtus Alliance across 30 countries, that corridor is covered wherever the mandate goes.

The corridor runs both ways: a Croatian business reaching international buyers, or a foreign owner reaching into a Croatian operation it now controls. One partner owns the whole route.

Quando la leadership ad interim è la soluzione giusta e quando invece non lo è

Croatian businesses did not build decades of operational value by making slow decisions. When a succession arrives without a successor, a sale process exposes a gap that has to close in weeks, or an acquired site needs restarting under new ownership, the question is never whether to act. It is who acts, and how fast.

Interim leadership is the right answer when the situation has a defined outcome, a fixed timeline, and a need for someone who has done exactly this before. It is not the right answer when the role needs institutional memory built over years, or a permanent face in the market.

In Croatia the distinction carries extra weight, because most calls we take come from owners who delayed the decision until the unhurried option had already expired. At that point, speed and accountability matter more than anything else in the brief.

A well-scoped mandate has a defined outcome, a fixed timeline, and success criteria agreed before day one. With those three in place, the executive moves at the speed the situation demands. Without them, even the right executive loses weeks working out what they are there to deliver.

Confronto tra le alternative

06 / ALTERNATIVE

Cosa offrono effettivamente le alternative

	Gestione provvisoria	Ricerca di personale dirigente	Consulenza gestionale	Assunzione diretta di liberi professionisti
È ora di iniziare	Giorni	4 to 6 months	Settimane	Days, but unmanaged
Livello di autorità	Piena autorità sulla linea. È responsabile del risultato.	Posizione a tempo indeterminato fin dal primo giorno	Solo a titolo consultivo. Nessuna autorità operativa.	Present in operations, unclear in structure
Responsabilità	Un unico responsabile per un risultato ben definito	Responsabilità a lungo termine a partire dalla data di assunzione	Responsabile della raccomandazione, non del risultato	No oversight, no defined exit
Struttura dei costi	Variabile. Limitato all’incarico. Nessun costo di assunzione, di fine rapporto o di inserimento.	Salary plus recruitment fees plus notice period plus severance risk	Onorari di progetto. Nessuna responsabilità operativa.	Day rate only, with no partner oversight
Capacità transfrontaliera	Eseguita tramite un unico partner, entrambe le parti	Predefinito: nazionale	Predefinito: nazionale	Solo una persona
Proprio quando	The situation is defined, the timeline is fixed, the outcome is specific	Si tratta di un impiego a tempo indeterminato e l'azienda è disposta ad attendere	Analysis is needed, not execution	The task is project-based and needs no line authority

Gestione provvisoria Consigliato

È ora di iniziare: Giorni
Livello di autorità: Piena autorità sulla linea. È responsabile del risultato.
Responsabilità: Un unico responsabile per un risultato ben definito
Struttura dei costi: Variabile. Limitato all’incarico. Nessun costo di assunzione, di fine rapporto o di inserimento.
Capacità transfrontaliera: Eseguita tramite un unico partner, entrambe le parti
Proprio quando: The situation is defined, the timeline is fixed, the outcome is specific

Ricerca di personale dirigente

È ora di iniziare: 4 to 6 months
Livello di autorità: Posizione a tempo indeterminato fin dal primo giorno
Responsabilità: Responsabilità a lungo termine a partire dalla data di assunzione
Struttura dei costi: Salary plus recruitment fees plus notice period plus severance risk
Capacità transfrontaliera: Predefinito: nazionale
Proprio quando: Si tratta di un impiego a tempo indeterminato e l'azienda è disposta ad attendere

Consulenza gestionale

È ora di iniziare: Settimane
Livello di autorità: Solo a titolo consultivo. Nessuna autorità operativa.
Responsabilità: Responsabile della raccomandazione, non del risultato
Struttura dei costi: Onorari di progetto. Nessuna responsabilità operativa.
Capacità transfrontaliera: Predefinito: nazionale
Proprio quando: Analysis is needed, not execution

Assunzione diretta di liberi professionisti

È ora di iniziare: Days, but unmanaged
Livello di autorità: Present in operations, unclear in structure
Responsabilità: No oversight, no defined exit
Struttura dei costi: Day rate only, with no partner oversight
Capacità transfrontaliera: Solo una persona
Proprio quando: The task is project-based and needs no line authority

In Croatia the most common alternative to interim management is waiting: for a permanent hire that takes months, or for the situation to resolve on its own. Neither is a plan when the business has already changed hands.

Mandati selezionati

I dati del cliente non vengono resi noti per accordo.

Amministratore delegato ad interim

A second-generation Croatian business lost its owner to an unplanned health-driven step-back. No successor had been identified, key customer relationships were personal to the founder, and the management team was not positioned to hold the business alone.

CE Interim deployed an Interim Managing Director with full operational authority from week one, taking over the critical relationships directly, stabilising the management team, and documenting the governance a permanent successor could inherit.

No customer relationship was lost. Trading performance held. The family gained time to make the ownership decision without operational pressure forcing it.

Interim CFO

A Croatian manufacturer with a founder approaching retirement had operated for years without a structured finance function. A buyer had been identified, but with no auditable accounts or standalone reporting, the transaction could not proceed on the buyer’s timeline.

CE Interim deployed an Interim CFO within days. The executive built financial reporting from scratch, prepared consolidated accounts, and produced the cost transparency required for due diligence, running alongside the sale process throughout.

The transaction completed inside the buyer’s window. The new owners inherited a finance function that operated independently. The founder exited cleanly with valuation intact.

Interim COO

An industrial site changed hands after an extended period of financial distress. The incoming owner inherited depleted management, reduced output and a workforce uncertain whether the new ownership would hold. Production had to restart before customer commitments lapsed.

CE Interim deployed an Interim COO experienced in post-acquisition operational restarts, taking direct control of production planning, rebuilding the reporting the new owner required, and establishing management credibility with the workforce.

Output restarted within the mandate window. The owner had reliable operational reporting for the first time. Permanent management took over a functioning site.

Interim Country Manager

A Western European industrial group acquired a Croatian entity with no management capable of bridging local operations and group expectations. Reporting was informal, governance did not meet group standards, and the integration clock was already running.

CE Interim deployed an Interim Country Manager fluent in both environments, rebuilding reporting structures, aligning the local team to group standards, and owning the integration programme end to end.

The entity reported to group standard within the first quarter. Integration ran on schedule. The permanent appointment inherited an aligned operation.

The roles we deploy in Croatia

Ordered by mandate frequency in Croatia. Every role deployed for a defined outcome, not an open-ended seat.

Direttore finanziario ad interim

Financial control, reporting structure and sale readiness. Deployed when a business is preparing for sale, a CFO departure exposes a critical gap, or a new owner needs credible reporting installed fast.

Amministratore delegato ad interim

Full business leadership through succession, vacancy or ownership change. Deployed when a founder steps back without a successor, or the top seat empties and the business needs a steady decision-maker.

Responsabile ad interim della ristrutturazione

Creditor management and operational continuity under financial stress. Deployed when a situation moves past reporting into active negotiation and one executive must own both sides.

Direttore operativo ad interim

Operational control and execution leadership on the ground. Deployed when an acquired site needs restarting, or an operation must be aligned to a new owner’s standards without losing output.

Direttore di stabilimento ad interim · Direttore del sito

Site leadership, production stability and workforce management. Deployed when a Croatian site needs stabilising under ownership change, or an investor needs operational credibility established quickly.

Direttore della catena di approvvigionamento ad interim

Supply chain resilience across local and international networks. Deployed when a Croatian operation sits inside a wider European chain and one accountable lead is needed across both.

Direttore ad interim delle risorse umane

People leadership through restructuring and ownership change. Deployed when workforce confidence and retention are directly at risk alongside the operational mandate.

Interim Country Manager

Local leadership with cross-border accountability. Deployed when a foreign owner needs an executive who can meet group governance expectations and run a Croatian operation from day one.

Industries we serve in Croatia

Dirigenti che conoscono già bene il funzionamento del vostro settore.

Family-Owned Business and SME

Croatia’s largest and most urgent source of interim demand. Thousands of owner-led businesses are in active transition with founders past retirement age and no plan in place.

Shipbuilding and Heavy Industry

Croatia’s Adriatic yards are moving into private ownership after years of state control. New owners inherit operations that need restarting and management that needs rebuilding.

Automotive and EV Manufacturing

Croatia hosts a globally significant electric vehicle manufacturer and the supplier network around it, integrated into Western European chains and scaling faster than internal leadership depth allows.

Settore farmaceutico e delle scienze della vita

An established generics manufacturing base anchors the sector in Zagreb. Quality leadership and regulatory transitions here need executives with direct pharma manufacturing experience.

Retail and Consumer

International private equity is acquiring Croatian consumer businesses, often buying in alongside second-generation owners. These deals create immediate demand for reporting discipline and professionalised management.

Logistica e catena di approvvigionamento

The Rijeka corridor connects Croatian operations into Central European networks. Volume growth and cost pressure expose weak points that need experienced operational leadership.

Dalla prima chiamata al dirigente sul posto

Sempre lo stesso processo. Gestito dal partner dall’inizio alla fine.

Briefing riservato

Parlerai direttamente con un partner di CE Interim. Basta una telefonata per capire la situazione, l’urgenza e il risultato richiesto. Nessun modulo, nessuna procedura di registrazione, nessun coordinatore di mezzo.

Dirigente selezionato in 72 ore

Da un pool globale di oltre 60.000 leader, vi presentiamo uno o due dirigenti già selezionati e in linea con la vostra situazione specifica. Non si tratta di una lista preliminare, né di un’esportazione da un database. Si tratta di dirigenti che hanno già gestito questo tipo di incarico in passato.

Scegli e stipula il contratto

Un colloquio mirato. Una tariffa giornaliera fissa. Accordo di riservatezza fin dal primo giorno. Tu decidi, noi stipuliamo il contratto, il dirigente viene informato ed è pronto a iniziare.

Sul campo, supervisione dei partner, passaggio di consegne in ordine

Il dirigente assume l’incarico con piena autorità sin dal primo giorno. Il vostro partner di CE Interim rimane direttamente coinvolto nel processo, garantendo una supervisione settimanale per tutta la durata dell’incarico. L’incarico si conclude con la consegna di tutta la documentazione, il trasferimento delle competenze e un passaggio di consegne senza intoppi, che rafforza la vostra azienda.

In Croatia, CE Interim brings executives who understand how owner-led businesses actually run: relationship-driven customer networks, governance that exists in practice rather than on paper, and the pressures of a business heading into transition or already under new ownership. Where the mandate crosses borders, the same partner owns both sides.

Sei pronto a illustrarci la situazione? Presentiamo i candidati entro 72 ore.

Presenza globale. Responsabilità personale. Una sola chiamata.

Attraverso la Valtus Alliance, CE Interim offre ai clienti l’accesso a figure dirigenziali ad interim in oltre 29 paesi, senza rinunciare alla responsabilità guidata dai partner che fa la differenza.

La portata comporta un compromesso. Più grande è la rete, più il mandato si allontana dalla persona che ha ricevuto la tua chiamata per prima.

Ogni incarico è gestito direttamente dai partner, dalla prima telefonata fino alla consegna finale. E tale responsabilità non si limita a una sola regione.

Questions we get asked about interim management in Croatia

Come funziona CE Interim

How quickly can CE Interim deploy an interim executive in Croatia?

We present partner-assessed candidates within 72 hours of the first briefing call. In urgent situations an executive can be on site within days. The 72 hours covers briefing, assessment and presentation, not a database search. Most Croatian mandates start within one to two weeks of first contact.

Cosa succede durante la prima chiamata con CE Interim?

You speak directly with a CE Interim partner, not a coordinator. In one conversation we confirm the situation, the outcome required, the timeline and the type of executive needed. Everything is confidential from the start. No written brief is required beforehand.

Come avviene il passaggio di consegne al termine di un mandato?

The same partner who took the first call stays involved throughout. There is no handoff to a junior account manager. The partner reviews progress, stays close to complications, and oversees the handover to permanent leadership.

Come avviene il passaggio di consegne al termine di un mandato?

Every mandate is scoped with a defined exit from the start. The executive documents decisions taken, processes established, relationships transferred and open items. In succession and post-acquisition mandates the goal is a business the next owner or successor can take over cleanly.

È possibile interrompere l'obbligo in anticipo se la situazione si risolve più rapidamente del previsto?

Sì. Gli incarichi sono strutturati in base al risultato, non a un impegno temporale fisso. Se la situazione si risolve prima del previsto, l’incarico si conclude anticipatamente con un passaggio di consegne in regola. Non vi è alcun vincolo di durata.

Costi e spot pubblicitari

What does an interim executive cost in Croatia?

No Croatia-specific day rate benchmark is published. Across Europe, senior interim day rates typically range from €1,000 to €2,200 depending on role, sector and complexity. CE Interim agrees a flat daily rate before the mandate begins.

Is interim management more expensive than executive search in Croatia?

The day rate looks higher. The total cost rarely is. Executive search takes four to six months and carries placement fees. An interim executive starts within days with no recruitment cost, no employer contributions, no notice period and no severance exposure.

Come sono strutturate le tariffe di CE Interim?

A transparent flat daily rate agreed before the mandate begins. No hidden placement fees, no percentage of salary, no success bonuses, no retainer. Terms are agreed in one conversation and confirmed in writing before work starts.

CE Interim opera in base a un accordo di riservatezza (NDA)?

Yes. Confidentiality is the starting point, not something a client has to request. We operate under mutual NDA from the first conversation. This is why no client names or mandate specifics appear in published content.

Quando contattarci

Why are so many Croatian family businesses facing succession problems right now?

The at-risk group of Croatian family businesses has owners averaging 72 years old today. According to CEPOR’s Business Transfer Barometar 2025, almost half still have no transition plan and only 7 percent have one in writing. Between 2014 and 2025, 3,224 companies closed because an owner retired without one.

Can an interim executive bridge a Croatian family business through an ownership transition?

Yes, and it is our most common Croatian mandate type. An interim Managing Director holds the business through the transition, protects customer and supplier relationships, and builds governance a successor or buyer can inherit. An interim CFO installs the reporting that makes a sale possible.

How does CE Interim support a Croatian company preparing for sale?

The usual gap is the absence of independent financial reporting and a management structure that works without the owner at the centre. We deploy an interim CFO who closes those gaps inside the timeline the sale process demands.

Can CE Interim help restart a Croatian business after an acquisition?

Yes. An acquired operation often arrives with depleted management, reduced output and a workforce waiting to see whether the new owner is credible. We deploy interim COOs and Plant Managers who take operational control immediately and establish the new ownership’s authority on the floor.

What happens when a key executive leaves without warning?

We present a partner-assessed replacement within 72 hours. The interim executive takes the role with full authority from day one, protecting bank relationships, reporting lines and customer commitments while the permanent search runs.

Does CE Interim support restructuring and creditor situations in Croatia?

Yes. We deploy interim CROs and restructuring CFOs who stabilise cash, manage creditor relationships directly, and keep the business trading while the financial position is resolved. These executives have run comparable situations before and carry full line authority.

Ruoli che implementiamo

What does an interim CFO do in a Croatian family business or SME?

The role is materially different from a large-corporate CFO. The common tasks are building financial reporting where none existed in structured form, preparing the business for due diligence, and creating a finance function that operates without the owner. Our executives have done this in owner-led businesses.

What is an interim Managing Director and when does a Croatian company need one?

An interim Managing Director holds the top role with full operational authority on a defined mandate. In Croatia it is deployed most often for ownership transition, sudden vacancy, or when an acquired business needs local leadership operating to international standards immediately.

When does a Croatian company need an interim CRO rather than a CFO?

When the situation has moved from reporting and cash management into active creditor negotiation or formal proceedings. A CFO manages the business financially. A CRO manages the business through a crisis and owns the creditor relationship directly.

What does an interim Plant Manager do in a Croatian industrial operation?

Full site leadership: production output, workforce management, safety and compliance, on a defined mandate. In Croatia this is deployed most often when a site changes ownership and needs restarting, or when an investor needs an acquired facility aligned to group standards.

Mandati transfrontalieri

Does CE Interim cover both Croatia and the wider CEE region?

Yes. Our own presence covers Croatia alongside Poland, Romania, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovakia, Serbia, Slovenia, the Balkans and the Baltics. Through the Valtus Alliance this extends to 30 countries. A mandate involving Zagreb and Vienna is handled by the same partner throughout.

Can a foreign company in Croatia get an executive who understands both the local market and HQ expectations?

Yes. This is a core capability. An executive who knows what a foreign shareholder expects from governance, and what a Croatian operations team needs from leadership, bridges both without losing either side.

How does CE Interim handle mandates involving a Croatian operation and a foreign parent?

Both sides run through one accountable partner. The Croatian operation gets senior leadership with local fluency. The parent gets reporting and governance aligned to its standards. No handoff between a local firm and an international one.

Is Croatia part of the corridor attracting Western European investment?

Croatia sits within the broader CEE region attracting Western European manufacturing and investment interest, supported by EU membership, Eurozone and Schengen status, and the Rijeka port corridor. Our cross-border capability covers the execution side of market entry and acquisition directly.

Croatia and the Croatian market

Is interim management an established practice in Croatia?

The category is operational. ATMC, the Adriatic Temporary Management Club, provides a regional professional framework covering Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia, and large-scale interim mandates have been delivered in Croatia by international providers. What is less developed is local awareness of interim as a first-choice solution rather than a last resort.

What is happening with Croatia's shipbuilding industry?

The sector is moving from state control into private ownership. The historic Rijeka yard was sold to a Slovenian industrial group in 2026, and the Pula yard has since been put to tender with a requirement that shipbuilding activity continues. New owners inherit operations that need restarting, which is exactly where interim operational leadership is deployed.

How does Croatia's labour shortage affect executive availability?

Croatia’s working-age population is declining faster than its total population, and a decade of skilled emigration has narrowed the senior talent pool. For situations needing rapid executive deployment, relying on the local permanent hire market is slower and less reliable than in comparable EU economies.

Does Croatia's EU and Eurozone membership affect how international companies operate here?

Yes, positively. EU membership since 2013, Eurozone adoption in 2023 and Schengen accession have removed the currency, customs and border friction that complicates investment into non-EU Balkan markets. The framework is fully EU standard, which simplifies both investment structure and governance expectations.

Which industries does CE Interim serve in Croatia?

Family-owned business and SME, shipbuilding and heavy industry, automotive and EV manufacturing, pharma and life sciences, retail and consumer, and logistics and supply chain. Every mandate is matched to an executive with direct experience in that operating environment.

Interim rispetto alle alternative

What is the difference between an interim manager and a management consultant in Croatia?

A consultant advises and produces recommendations. An interim manager takes the line role, holds the authority and delivers the result. In succession and post-acquisition situations the distinction is decisive: the company needs someone to act, not someone to describe what acting would look like.

How is interim management different from executive search in Croatia?

Executive search fills a permanent role over four to six months. Interim management fills a specific situation within days. When a founder steps back without a successor or an acquired site needs restarting, there is no time for a permanent search. We cover the gap while the search runs.

What is the difference between an interim CFO and a fractional CFO in Croatia?

Some providers use the terms interchangeably. In practice a fractional CFO works part-time across several clients on ongoing advisory. An interim CFO takes the full role exclusively, with line authority and a specific outcome to deliver. Sale preparation, restructuring and post-acquisition integration require the interim model.