Ninety days from now, which decision could you make in an afternoon that today takes you three weeks?
Owners who can answer sign off the hire, the price rise or the funding claim the week they decide. Owners who can’t wait for figures that arrive after the moment has passed. Ardein runs the whole finance function so, by day ninety, the number is in the room when you need it.
Three answers you would have by day ninety
Sign off the hire with the cash cover in front of you
Committed costs, debtor ageing and monthly performance sit together, so affordability is a calculation rather than a feeling.
Know which job, customer or contract carries the margin
Income and cost land against the right line every month, so the comparison takes minutes.
Answer a funder or a board in the same week they ask
Awards, restricted money and spend are recorded as they move, so the evidence already exists.
The decisions that went wrong because the number turned up late
Three things owners and chief executives have told me in the first meeting.
- Hire
“We took on two people in March because the pipeline looked strong. The figures for March reached me in July.”
The wage bill was committed before anyone could see what the quarter had actually produced. The books were three months behind the decision.
- Supplier
“We moved to a cheaper supplier and the invoices really were smaller. Nobody ever added up what we threw away.”
The saving on price was smaller than the waste it caused. Nothing in the records separated the two, so the switch looked like a win for a year.
- Funder
“The funder asked how last year’s award had been spent and it took us five weeks to build the answer.”
Staff time went into rebuilding what should have been recorded as the money moved. The next application went in late.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
The same pack arrives on the same date each month: cash, debtors, creditors and performance, with the reasoning written out. When you call about a purchase, a contract or a claim, the figures behind the answer are current. Nothing has to be rebuilt first. The decision takes an afternoon instead of a quarter.
Your accountant files the year. Who is accountable for the other eleven months?
Most owners already have someone for the year end. That work matters and we do it too. The question is what happens in between.
A year-end accountant
Prepares accurate statutory accounts and the corporation tax return.
Answers the questions you think to ask, when you ask them.
Sees the year once, after it has finished.
Reports on what happened, usually months after it happened.
A finance function that runs monthly
Keeps the records current, so the answer exists before you ask for it.
Delivers management information on the same date each month, ahead of your decisions.
Watches cash, debtors and creditors as they move, not at the year end.
Gives you one person accountable for the whole workflow, including the filing.
Eight questions. How many can you answer without ringing anyone?
Each one sits behind a decision an owner or a chief executive makes every few weeks.
- 01
Could you name the customer or contract that made you the most money last month?
Not the biggest invoice, the one with something left after its own costs.
- 02
If a main supplier raised prices, would you know what that costs you over a year?
That answer lives in a purchase ledger coded the same way every month.
- 03
Do you know roughly what your corporation tax bill will be?
The liability should be visible long before the money is due.
- 04
Could you decide on a new hire without looking at your bank balance first?
The bank balance is not cash cover; committed costs and debtor ageing decide it.
- 05
Do you know how much is owed to you and how old it is?
Debtor ageing tells you whether the next payment run is actually safe.
- 06
Could you produce last quarter’s spend for a funder, a board or a bank this week?
Recorded as the money moves it takes an hour; rebuilt afterwards it takes weeks.
- 07
Do your monthly figures arrive on the same date every month?
A date you can plan a board meeting or a pricing decision around.
- 08
Would your next price rise be based on margin by line, or on a feeling?
Margin by product, job or contract tells you which prices actually need to move.
Ask your current accountant these three questions this week, and if the answer is that they would need to see the year-end figures first, you have the wrong accountant
- 01Could they tell you this week whether you can afford the next hire, and show the working?
- 02Could they tell you which customer, job or contract made money last month?
- 03Could they produce the spend evidence a funder, a board or a bank asked for by Friday?
Three yeses and you’re fine. Anything else is what the review is for.
Entry 01
What the first ninety days is meant to produce, and when you would notice
The onboarding is defined in advance so you know what changes and by when.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
“”UK SME owner
Ninety days, month by month, and what you can decide at the end of each
Every stage ends with something you could not do before it started.
The records are in our hands, not yours to chase
We agree the scope, complete client due diligence and AML checks, and collect the key records. If you already have an accountant or bookkeeper, we manage the handover and there is no separate charge for it.
Your balances mean something again
Bookkeeping complete, banks reconciled, and supplier and customer balances that stand up to a question. Historic gaps are identified, and we agree who is responsible for each part of the finance process.
The answer arrives without you chasing it
Regular routines for bookkeeping, supplier bills, credit control, payroll and reporting, with checks that catch an error before it reaches a report. Duplicated and manual work comes out where it sensibly can.
The decision takes an afternoon
Management information on the agreed date each month: cash, debtors, creditors and performance. You see what the business is doing while you can still change it, and the year end becomes a confirmation.
What you are actually buying when you buy a finance function
It is four things: the records, the routines, the reporting, and somebody answerable for all of it.
The books kept current rather than caught up
Bookkeeping, VAT, payroll and auto-enrolment run to a routine, so the underlying data is right on the day a question lands.
Monthly numbers dated before your decisions
Management information on cash, debtors, creditors and performance, with year-end accounts and corporation tax that reconcile back to the same records.
One person answerable for the whole workflow
Gavin owns the timetable, the queries and the reports, with virtual FD input on hiring, pricing, margin and funding when the decision needs it.
Who this does not work for, and why I say so early
We do not take on cash businesses, whatever the turnover.
We do not take on work that depends on CIS-heavy construction arrangements.
We walk away from anything non-compliant or reportable, including falsified VAT records.
It does not work when an owner cannot explain their own business or say what they need from us.
If none of that applies, the review is the quickest way to find out whether the fit is real.
The questions owners ask before they start
Is the review just a sales call?
No. It is a working session on your records, your reporting and your debtor and creditor position, and it ends with the five things I would fix first. It carries a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding.
We already have an accountant. Why would we need this?
Ask yourself what support you get between one year end and the next. Most accountants file accurate accounts and answer the questions you think to ask. A finance function keeps the records current and puts figures in front of you every month, while the decisions are still open.
What happens with our current accountant or bookkeeper?
We handle it. Professional clearance, records collection and a transition plan agreed around your year end, managed by Ardein with no separate charge for the handover.
How long are we committing for?
It is a monthly engagement scoped to the work, agreed once I have seen the records and understood how the business runs. There is no long tie-in, and the ninety-day plan is written down before we start.
Do you work with CICs and charities as well as trading companies?
Yes. For grant-funded organisations the work includes fund tracking, the monthly evidence and board pack, and the CIC or charity filings, scoped on the number of funding streams and how often the board reports.
The next decision is already coming. Where will the number be?
Start with the review. It looks at your records, your reporting and your cash position, and tells you what the first ninety days would have to fix.