Could the accountant who files your year-end accounts tell you today whether that hire pays for itself?
Owners who can answer make the call in an afternoon and move on. Owners who cannot wait for accounts that confirm a decision already taken. Ardein runs the finance function underneath the accounts, so the figures you need in March exist in March and year end becomes a confirmation.
Three things you’d know before you signed anything
Sign off the purchase with the payback in front of you
The cost is tested against margin and cash you saw last month, not against a feeling.
Answer a funder or a bank in the same week
Awards, restricted money and spend are tracked monthly, so the evidence already exists when it is asked for.
Know which job or contract is carrying the margin
Monthly reporting splits performance by job, contract or customer while the work is still live.
The decisions that went wrong while the accounts were being prepared
Every one of these was decided with the best information available at the time. That is the problem.
- Hire
“I took on two people in May because the year felt busy. The accounts came in the following February and said otherwise.”
Two salaries ran for nine months against work that had already thinned out. The monthly figure that would have shown it was never produced.
- Purchase
“We bought the second van on the strength of a good quarter. By the time the accounts arrived it had been idle for months.”
The finance agreement outlived the demand that justified it. Nobody had the utilisation or the margin by job in front of them at the time.
- Funder
“The funder asked how much of the award we had actually spent. All we had was a set of year-end accounts.”
The claim went in late and short, because spend had never been mapped to the award month by month. The accounts were accurate and no help at all.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
The books are reconciled every month, so the question about March is answered in April. Debtors, creditors and cash are visible without anyone rebuilding a ledger first. Corporation tax is estimated as the year runs, so the bill is known long before it is due. Year end is then a short confirmation of figures you have already used to make decisions.
Two routes to the same statutory accounts, and only one told you anything on the way
Both routes end with accounts filed on time. What differs is what you knew while the year was still running.
The year-end scramble
The records go over after the year has closed, often in one large handover of files and bank data.
A capable accountant then investigates twelve months they were not part of, which takes time and takes queries.
You are asked in month eleven about a payment made in month two, and nobody remembers it clearly.
Year-end accounts alone do not tell you what to do next; they tell you what already happened.
Year end as a confirmation
The bookkeeping is complete and the banks are reconciled every month, so nothing waits for a year-end clean-up.
The statutory accounts agree with the monthly figures you have already been reading and acting on.
Corporation tax is computed alongside the accounts, with the liability visible long before the payment date.
The decisions taken in March used the same numbers that are eventually filed, which is the entire point.
Eight questions your last set of accounts should have made easy
Answer each one yes or no as things stand today, not as you intend them to be.
- 01
Could you say today whether last month made money?
If that answer waits for year end, every decision that depends on it waits too.
- 02
Do you know the likely corporation tax bill before the year closes?
It should be visible as it builds, so the cash is set aside rather than discovered.
- 03
Can you see this week who owes you and for how long?
Debtor ageing decides whether you can commit to a purchase, and it should never be a guess.
- 04
Would a funder or a bank get what they asked for within days?
The evidence should come out of a register you already keep, not a special exercise.
- 05
Do you know which job, contract or product carries the margin?
Statutory accounts show one total. Decisions need the split underneath it.
- 06
Did last year’s accounts contain anything that genuinely surprised you?
A surprise at year end means the monthly information was missing something all year.
- 07
Are you still answering queries about transactions from ten months ago?
That is the cost of leaving the records until after the year has closed.
- 08
Could you price a new contract tonight using numbers you already trust?
If you would want to check first, the checking is the gap the review looks at.
Ask your accountant three questions this week. If the answer to any of them is that they will know once the year end is done, you have the wrong accountant.
- 01Could they tell you today what last month’s gross margin was, by job, contract or customer?
- 02Could they tell you this week roughly what your corporation tax liability will be, before it falls due?
- 03Could they show you where a specific award or a specific customer’s money went, without rebuilding the year?
Three yeses and you’re fine. Anything else is what the review is for.
Entry 01
What a defined ninety days changes about the year you are currently in
Year end stops being an event once the months underneath it are already right.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
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How year end stops being an investigation, month by month
Each stage is judged by what you can answer at the end of it, not by what was processed.
The records arrive without you chasing anyone
We agree the scope, complete due diligence and AML checks, and deal with your current accountant or bookkeeper ourselves. The handover is managed by Ardein at no separate charge, timed around your year end.
You can see what you are owed and what you owe
Bookkeeping is brought up to date, banks are reconciled and customer and supplier balances are made to make sense. Historic gaps surface here rather than nine months later in a query list.
The month closes on the same date every month
Routines are set for bookkeeping, supplier bills, credit control, payroll and reporting, with checks in place. Queries are answered as they arise, while people still remember the transaction.
Year end becomes a confirmation of figures you already used
Monthly management information arrives on the agreed date, corporation tax is visible as it accrues, and the statutory accounts reconcile back to records that were never allowed to drift.
What year end covers here, and what it quietly relies on
The accounts are a small piece of work when the twelve months before them are already right.
Statutory accounts that agree with what you already saw
Prepared and filed from records reconciled as the year ran, so the filed figures match the ones you used to decide.
Corporation tax computed alongside the accounts
The computation is prepared with the accounts and the liability is flagged as it accrues, so the due date is never the first you hear of it.
Director Self Assessment inside the company routine
Personal returns are handled as part of the same monthly routine, with salary and dividends settled against figures already agreed.
What year end covers here, and what it quietly relies on
We do not take on cash businesses, and we say so before any review takes place.
Construction work that depends heavily on CIS is outside what we take on.
We walk away from anything illegal or reportable, from falsified VAT records, and from anyone who will not complete AML checks.
The relationship does not work when an owner cannot explain their own business or say what they actually need.
If none of that applies, the review is where we look at your records and tell you what the year end would actually involve.
The questions owners and chief executives ask before booking
Is the review a sales call?
No. It is a working session on your records, ending with the five things worth fixing first, whether or not you engage Ardein. It carries a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding.
We already have an accountant. Does this replace them?
Usually it replaces the year-end-only arrangement, because the gap is monthly information rather than the filing. Some owners keep their accountant and ask us to review what the records are hiding first.
What happens with the current accountant?
We handle it. Professional clearance, records collection and a transition plan agreed around your year end, managed by Ardein at no separate charge.
What am I committing to?
A monthly fee scoped to the work and agreed after we have seen the records. Nothing is priced before then, and capacity is capped at four new clients a month.
Can you take over part way through a year?
Yes. We rebuild and reconcile the months already gone, then run the remainder to a monthly routine, so the first year end is closer to a confirmation than it would otherwise be.
Make the next decision with the number already in the room
The review looks at your records as they are and tells you what your year end would actually involve, and what you could be answering by day ninety.