Outsourced finance director

Growing businesses past the point where the numbers run themselves, companies preparing for funding or investment, and owners who want someone to think with rather than just file for them.

What this actually involves

Regular financial input: a forecast you can rely on, a budget that reflects what you are actually planning, and someone to talk through decisions with before you make them rather than after.

In practice that usually means monthly or quarterly management figures, a rolling cash flow forecast, and a conversation about what the numbers are telling you and what to do about it.

Cash flow is the one that matters

Profitable businesses fail because they run out of cash. The gap between invoicing and being paid, a VAT quarter landing at the wrong time, a corporation tax payment nine months and a day after year end — all foreseeable, all capable of causing serious problems if nobody is looking ahead.

A rolling forecast turns those from shocks into scheduled events you can plan around.

How this helps you

• You see further ahead. Twelve weeks of visibility changes what decisions you can make.
• Funding conversations go better. Lenders and investors respond to businesses that can model their own numbers.
• Pricing gets tested. Most owner-managed businesses are underpriced somewhere and do not know which part.
• You have someone to think with. Often the most valuable part, and the hardest to get from a compliance-only accountant.