Accountants in Liverpool for owner-managed businesses that need monthly numbers they can act on
Accountants in Liverpool, working remotely rather than from a local office. We run the whole finance function for Merseyside businesses and grant-funded organisations, and produce the monthly numbers a decision rests on.
Most owners here already have an accountant. What they do not have is someone who can say, on a Tuesday in March, whether the second van pays for itself. The answer is sitting in your own records, and it usually arrives too late to use.
Ardein is an outsourced finance function for owner-managed businesses and grant-funded organisations in Liverpool and across Merseyside, run remotely by Gavin Jardine MIAB from Chester. Monthly management information arrives on an agreed date, fees are scoped to the work after seeing the records, and the handover from a current accountant is managed at no separate charge.
“They don't feel like a contractor. They get fully involved in the business and are well respected by all.”
UK SME owner
- IAB member (MIAB 292185)
- Anti-money-laundering supervised
- Established 2021
Three things you would know by Thursday
Whether you can afford the next person on payroll
The payroll cost, the margin and the cash position are current, so the answer does not need a rebuild.
Sign off the purchase with the payback in front of you
Monthly management accounts show what the van, the machine or the unit has to earn before it is worth buying.
Answer a funder or a bank in the same week
Restricted money and contract income are tracked as they move, so the evidence is already assembled.
Three decisions made in Merseyside without the number that would have settled them
Each of these came from a business that already had an accountant.
- Purchase
“We bought the second van in March. By August I could see it had barely covered its own finance and fuel.”
The figures arrived with the year-end accounts, five months after the money had gone. Nobody was producing margin by job, so the case was never tested.
- Supplier
“We switched to a cheaper supplier to protect margin, and it took a year to notice the rework had eaten the saving.”
The unit price was compared, the wastage was not. The saving existed only on the invoice.
- Funder
“The funder asked which staff costs the award had paid for, and it took us three weeks and a spreadsheet to answer.”
Salaries had never been mapped to awards as they were paid. The evidence had to be reconstructed from bank statements after the fact.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
The decision takes an afternoon. You ask what the second van has to bill to cover itself, and the figure comes back the same day, with the reasoning attached. The funder’s question is answered from a register updated this month, not rebuilt from statements. None of that depends on your accountant sharing a postcode with you.
Quick check · no email
If you rang your accountant in Liverpool this morning about a hire, a price rise or a funder’s question, and could not have an answer this week, you have the wrong accountant
Three questions to put to whoever handles your numbers now, answered honestly.
Question 1 of 3
Could they tell you by this afternoon whether you can afford another person on the payroll?
Could they show you which customers, jobs or contracts actually carried the margin last month?
Could they produce the evidence behind a funder or bank request this week, without rebuilding it?
You are making real decisions on figures you cannot see. The review is where we work out how far behind the records are and what it would take to change that.
That is a reasonable position and most owners sit in it. The area worth checking is the switch itself, which Ardein runs end to end at no separate charge.
You are well served and there is no reason to move. The guide on the first ninety days is still worth reading if you want to compare routines.
A year-end accountant or a monthly one: which does your next decision need?
Both are legitimate. They answer different questions, and only one of them answers yours in time.
A year-end accountant
Files accurate accounts and the corporation tax return, usually well.
Costs less each month, because the work happens once a year.
Answers the question you asked in January, in September.
Enough if the only dates that matter to you are filing deadlines.
Ardein, working remotely from Chester
Bookkeeping kept current, so the figure you ask for is today’s figure.
Management accounts on the same agreed date every month.
A same-day answer on a hire, a price, a supplier or a funder’s question.
Year end becomes a confirmation rather than an investigation.
Eight decisions your current numbers should already cover
Read them as yes or no. The noes are the interesting ones.
- 01
Can you name the customer or contract that carried last month’s margin?
If not, pricing and effort are being spread evenly across work that does not earn evenly.
- 02
Do you know what a new hire has to bill before they pay for themselves?
The figure comes from current payroll cost against current gross margin, not last year’s accounts.
- 03
Could you compare two suppliers on total cost, including rework and wastage?
Unit price alone has cost more Merseyside businesses margin than any price rise.
- 04
Do you know today what is owed to you and how old it is?
Debtor ageing that is a month stale turns a collection problem into a cash problem.
- 05
Can you see the corporation tax liability building before it is due?
It should be visible monthly, so the payment is planned rather than discovered.
- 06
Could you answer a funder’s question about an award this week?
Restricted money mapped as it is spent means the claim is assembled, not reconstructed.
- 07
Does your board or your bank get the same pack on the same date each month?
A predictable date is what stops the meeting being about the numbers instead of the decisions.
- 08
Could you raise a price with evidence rather than a feeling?
Margin by product, job or customer turns a nervous conversation into a straightforward one.
What we run for Liverpool clients, and what it lets you decide
One finance function, delivered remotely across Merseyside, built so the monthly answer is available.
Management accounts and virtual FD input
Cash, debtors, creditors and performance reported on an agreed date, with a finance lead for hiring, pricing and funding decisions.
Bookkeeping, VAT, payroll and year end
Records kept current, returns filed from reconciled books, payroll and pension duties on schedule, accounts and corporation tax prepared on top.
Fund tracking, claims and board evidence
For Merseyside CICs and community organisations: restricted funds tracked as they move, with the evidence pack ready before the meeting.
Entry 01
The part of changing accountants that owners assume they will have to do themselves
Staying put is usually about the handover, not the service. That is the part we take off you.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
What clients say
“They don't feel like a contractor. They get fully involved in the business and are well respected by all.”
UK SME owner
What changes between the first call and day ninety
Four points in the first three months, each one described by what you can do at the end of it.
You know what your records actually show
Scope agreed, due diligence and AML checks completed, and the handover from your current accountant handled by us.
The bank, the debtors and the creditors agree with each other
Bookkeeping brought current and reconciled, with historic gaps named rather than carried quietly forward.
Nobody is chasing information before a decision
Routines set for supplier bills, credit control, payroll and reporting, with responsibility for each part agreed.
A decision takes an afternoon
Management information arrives on the agreed date, and questions in between are answered from live numbers.
Who we turn down, and why it is better said now
We do not take on cash businesses, and we do not take on construction work that depends on CIS.
We walk away from anything illegal or reportable to the National Crime Agency, including falsified VAT records.
Nothing starts until anti-money-laundering and client due diligence checks are complete.
The relationship does not work when an owner cannot explain their own business or say what they need.
If none of that applies to you, the review is the quickest way to find out whether the fit is right.
Questions people ask before they get in touch
Is the review just a sales call?
No. It is a paid review with a fixed fee that is credited in full against onboarding if you go ahead. You get a look at your bookkeeping and reporting workflow, debtor and creditor visibility, payroll and systems, your top five priorities and an indicative monthly structure. You can act on it without us.
We already have an accountant in Liverpool. Is it worth talking to you?
Most of our clients had one when they arrived. The usual gap is not the filing, which is often done well, but the eleven months in between when no one is producing numbers you can decide on. If your current accountant already answers decisions within the week, stay where you are.
What happens with our current accountant if we switch?
Ardein handles it. We write for professional clearance, collect the records we need and agree a transition plan around your year end, so the switch does not land in your week. There is no separate charge for the handover, and you are not asked to chase anyone for documents.
How long do we have to commit for?
Engagements run monthly, with a fee scoped to the work after we have seen the records and understood how the business runs. There is no long tie-in. Capacity is capped at four new clients a month, so start dates are agreed in advance rather than promised on the call.
Do Ardein’s accountants in Liverpool work from a local office?
No. Ardein is a remote practice run from Chester, with clients across Liverpool, Wirral, Sefton and the wider city region. Work happens in Xero, by phone and by email, so you get answers the day you ask rather than the day someone can visit. Meetings are arranged when they are useful.
Can you support a CIC or community organisation in Liverpool with funder reporting?
Yes. We run bookkeeping with fund tracking, payroll, the monthly evidence and board pack, year-end accounts and the CIC filings. Funders and councils increasingly want to see where each award went, at bookkeeping level, so the register is kept current and reviewed at each board meeting.
Three ways to take the next step
Start with the review
You get the five priorities and an indicative monthly structure, and we both find out whether the fit is right.
See what you’d be told 02 · A question firstNot sure it applies to your business?
Send Gavin the decision you are stuck on and he will tell you what he would need to answer it.
Ask Gavin a question 03 · Still decidingStill deciding
The guide sets out what changes in the first ninety days, week by week, so you can judge it against what you have now.
When bookkeeping falls behind →