If you had to decide on a hire this week, could you say what cash allows by Friday?
Owners who can answer sign the order that week and move on. Owners who can’t wait for the bank balance to tell them, and by then the money is spent. Ardein gives you a monthly view of what is coming in, what is committed, and what is genuinely left to spend.
Three things you’d know before you commit cash
Say yes or no to the hire the same week
You see the wage run against the money already committed, not against a bank balance that flatters you.
Buy the asset knowing what it leaves behind
VAT, corporation tax and payroll are shown as commitments before they land, so the purchase is judged against what is actually free.
Know why a profitable month felt tight
Profit and cash are reported side by side, with debtors, stock and timing explaining the gap between them.
The decisions that go wrong when a bank balance is all you have
Cash rarely fails without warning. The warning is usually sitting in the ledgers a month or two before the squeeze.
- Hire
“We took on a second engineer in March. By June I was moving money around to cover wages and I still don’t know what changed.”
The salary was affordable. The timing was not, because two large customers stretched their payment terms in the same quarter and nothing in the reporting flagged it.
- Purchase
“I bought the van outright because the bank looked healthy that week. The VAT bill landed the following Monday.”
The balance already held a quarter of VAT and two payroll runs. Nobody had separated committed money from available money, so the purchase looked funded when it wasn’t.
- Supplier
“We moved to a cheaper supplier who wanted payment before delivery. Cash got tighter every month and I couldn’t say why.”
The unit price fell and the payment cycle moved forward, so money left earlier every month. Margin improved on paper while the account drained.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
The cash report lands on the same date each month, before you need it. It shows money in, money already committed, and the balance you can actually spend. When the hire, the van or the supplier switch comes up, you open one page and decide that afternoon. If the answer is no, you know how many weeks away yes is.
Why accurate year-end accounts still leave you guessing in March
Both jobs matter. They answer different questions, and only one of them is about the decision in front of you.
Year-end accounts
They confirm what happened, filed correctly for Companies House and HMRC.
They arrive months after the period they describe, once the decisions are made.
They report profit, which counts the invoice you sent, not the money you hold.
They are the right tool for tax and for the bank’s file.
Monthly cash flow reporting
It shows the position now and the commitments landing next.
It arrives on an agreed date, while the hire or the purchase is still a choice.
It puts profit and cash next to each other and explains the gap.
It is the right tool for deciding what you can commit to this quarter.
Eight questions your cash reporting should answer without you digging
Answer these from memory. The ones you cannot answer are the decisions currently being made blind.
- 01
Do you know what is committed against next month’s receipts?
Wages, VAT, tax and supplier runs should be visible before they land.
- 02
Can you explain a profitable month that felt tight?
The gap between profit and cash should be reported, not guessed at.
- 03
Do you know which customers pay late enough to cost you?
The debtor position should name them, with the days attached.
- 04
Could you price a wage rise against cash, not hope?
The monthly run rate should sit next to the expected receipts.
- 05
Do you know when your tax liabilities fall due?
Corporation tax and VAT should be visible long before the payment date.
- 06
Can you see what a supplier switch does to your timing?
Payment terms should be reported as cash effects, not just prices.
- 07
Do your reports arrive on a date you could put in a diary?
If the date moves each month, planning moves with it.
- 08
Could you show a lender your position this week?
Reconciled records make that a download rather than a fortnight of work.
Ask your accountant these three questions this week. They are about cash you will commit in the next ninety days, and if the answers take longer than a day, you have the wrong accountant.
- 01Could they tell you today what is already committed against next month’s expected receipts?
- 02Could they show you why last month was profitable and still felt tight?
- 03Could they say which customers are funding the business and which are borrowing from it?
Three yeses and you’re fine. Anything else is what the review is for.
Entry 01
The part of this you can hold us to
There is one promise underneath cash reporting, and it is about the date rather than the spreadsheet.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
“”
What you can decide by day ninety, and what has to happen first
The reporting is only as good as the records beneath it, so the first month is spent making those records true.
You know what we are working from
We agree scope, complete the AML checks and collect the records. If someone else holds them, we deal with that and there is no separate charge for the handover.
The bank balance means something again
Bookkeeping is complete, banks are reconciled, and debtor and creditor balances make sense. Committed money is separated from available money.
Money stops leaving earlier than it should
Supplier payment runs, invoicing and credit control move onto a routine, so timing is a choice you make rather than one that happens to you.
The cash answer takes an afternoon
Monthly reporting on cash, debtors, creditors and performance lands on the agreed date, in time to change what you do next.
What lands each month, and what it lets you commit to
One short pack, on the agreed date, built to answer the questions you are actually asking.
Where the money went and what is left
Receipts, payments and the balance you can genuinely spend, with tax, payroll and supplier commitments shown before they hit.
Who is funding you and who is borrowing from you
The debtor and creditor position by name and by age, so chasing goes where it changes the month.
The numbers behind the call you are about to make
Profit against cash, margin by the lines you care about, and a short note on what the figures mean for the hire, the purchase or the price.
Who this does not work for
We do not take on cash businesses.
We do not take on construction work that depends on CIS.
We will not touch anything non-compliant or reportable, and we walk away rather than discuss it.
It does not work when an owner cannot explain their own business or say what they need from the numbers.
If you are outside that, the review is where we find out whether the fit is right before either of us commits.
Questions owners ask before the review
Is the review a sales call?
No. It is a working session on your records and your reporting, and you leave with the top five priorities whether or not we work together.
We already have an accountant. Does this replace them?
Often it does, because the gap is usually monthly information rather than the annual filing. Some owners keep their accountant for year end and use us for the month by month work.
What happens with our current accountant?
We manage the handover: professional clearance, collecting the records and a transition plan agreed around your year end. There is no separate charge for it.
What are we committing to?
The review carries a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding. Ongoing work is a monthly fee scoped after we have seen the records.
How quickly can you start?
Capacity is capped at four new clients a month, so the honest answer depends on the month you ask.
Make the next call with the cash number in the room
Tell me what you are trying to decide and how your numbers reach you now. If cash reporting is not what you need, I will tell you that.