Ninety days after you switch, the hire you keep deferring takes an afternoon, and you won’t have to chase your current accountant for anything.
Owners and chief executives who can get a straight answer from their numbers decide in a day. Everyone else defers the purchase, the price rise or the funding claim another month. Ardein handles the handover, the records and the conversation with your current firm, at no separate charge.
Three things you’d know by the ninetieth day
Sign off the purchase with the payback in front of you
Cash, debtors and creditors are current, so the answer comes back the day you ask for it.
Know which customer or job is carrying the margin
Monthly management information splits performance across the lines you actually price and quote.
Answer a funder or a board in the same week
Restricted money is tracked as it is spent, so the evidence is already assembled when it is asked for.
Why moving accountants feels harder than it turns out to be
Most owners stay where they are because switching sounds like work. The costlier work is the decision they keep putting off.
- Purchase
“We bought the second van in March and only found out in November that it barely covered itself.”
Eight months of a lease against a vehicle that was never going to pay back. The utilisation and cost figures existed, they were just nine months behind.
- Price
“I put the price up across every customer because I couldn’t see which ones were actually losing me money.”
Two good accounts left and the thin ones stayed. Margin by customer was never reported, so the rise had to be applied blind.
- Funder
“The funder asked how last year’s award had been spent, and it took us three weeks to put together.”
Three weeks of a chief executive’s time rebuilding what should have been a monthly record. Salaries had never been mapped to the award they were paid from.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
You ask on Tuesday whether the business can carry another salary, and you have the figure that afternoon. The price review starts from margin by customer rather than a feeling about who complains least. The funder’s question is answered from a register that was updated last month, not reconstructed from bank statements. Nothing about that depends on you chasing anyone for records.
What Ardein takes care of, and what stays with you
The handover is mostly paperwork between two firms. Almost none of it needs your time.
Ardein does this
Writes to your current accountant or bookkeeper and obtains professional clearance.
Collects the records: trial balance, ledgers, payroll history, VAT history and software access.
Sets the transition date around your year end so nothing is filed twice or missed.
Agrees a responsibility map: who does what, by when, every month.
You do this
Tell your current firm you are moving. A short email is enough, and we draft it if you want.
Sign the engagement letter and complete the anti-money-laundering checks.
Approve bank feed and accounting software access so the records can be rebuilt.
Tell us the dates you want to hold us to each month, and hold us to them.
Eight questions worth answering before you move firms
Answer these honestly. The pattern in your noes tells you what the switch is actually for.
- 01
Could you say this week whether the business can carry another salary?
If that needs a meeting and a wait, it is not a decision you can make this quarter.
- 02
Do you know which customer or contract made money last month?
Without it, every price and renewal conversation starts from a guess.
- 03
Could you show a funder or board where last year’s award went, this week?
Reconstructing it later costs a chief executive weeks that were meant for delivery.
- 04
Do you know your VAT and corporation tax liability before it falls due?
Liabilities that appear late get paid out of money already spoken for.
- 05
Has your accountant asked you an awkward question in the last twelve months?
Asking why something is done a certain way is how uninvoiced sales and unfinished funding paperwork get found.
- 06
Do your reports arrive on the same date each month?
A date that moves is a report nobody schedules a decision around.
- 07
Was your last price rise based on margin by line?
An across the board rise loses the accounts you wanted and keeps the thin ones.
- 08
If you moved tomorrow, do you know who would collect your records?
We would. That is the part of switching owners most expect to have to do themselves.
Before you move anywhere, ask your current accountant three questions this week. If the answers need a meeting, a fee quote or a wait until after year end, you have the wrong accountant.
- 01Could they tell you today whether the business can afford another hire?
- 02Could they show you which customer, job or contract made money last month?
- 03Could they hand over your bookkeeping records, payroll history and VAT history within a fortnight if you asked?
Three yeses and you’re fine. Anything else is what the review is for.
Entry 01
Who deals with your current accountant, and what that costs you
The switch is part of taking you on, not an extra piece of work with a price on it.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
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The handover, from the first email to the ninetieth day
Four stages, with a date against each one, so you know what you can decide and when.
You stop being the one chasing records
We agree the scope, complete due diligence and anti-money-laundering checks, and write to your current accountant for clearance and the records. Gavin deals with them directly.
Cash, debtors and creditors sit on one page you trust
The bookkeeping is brought complete, banks are reconciled and supplier and customer balances are made to make sense. Historic gaps get flagged rather than buried.
The month closes without you doing any of it
Routines are set for bills, credit control, payroll and reporting, with checks in place and duplicated manual work removed where it is practical.
The decision you deferred takes an afternoon
Management information arrives on an agreed date each month: performance, cash, debtors, creditors and, where it applies, restricted funds by award.
What the managed handover actually includes
Five pieces of work, all of them ours, all of them inside the normal engagement.
The plan and the clearance
A written handover plan and the professional clearance request to your current accountant or bookkeeper, timed around your year end.
Everything collected on your behalf
Trial balance, ledgers, payroll and pension records, VAT history and software access, obtained and checked before anything is rebuilt.
Who does what, and from when
A responsibility map for each part of the finance routine, plus the first ninety day plan with dates you can hold us to.
Who we turn down, and why it’s better said early
We do not take on cash businesses, whatever the turnover.
We do not take on construction work that depends on CIS.
We walk away from anything illegal or reportable, from falsified VAT records, and from anyone who will not complete anti-money-laundering checks.
The relationship does not work when an owner cannot explain their own business or say what they actually need.
If you are unsure which side of that you fall on, the review will tell you inside an hour.
The questions owners and chief executives ask before they move
Is the review a sales call?
No. It is a working session on how your finance runs now, what is missing and what the next ninety days would cover. It carries a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding, and you leave with the findings whether or not you go ahead.
We already have an accountant. Is that a problem?
It is the usual position. Most people who come to us have an accountant and no month by month financial support, so the annual filing is done and the decisions are still being made blind.
What happens with our current accountant?
We contact them, request professional clearance and obtain the records. You send one short email to confirm you are moving. We do not ask you to run the correspondence or to explain the decision on our behalf.
What are we committing to?
A monthly fee scoped to the work and agreed after we have seen the records and understood how the business runs. The handover itself carries no separate charge.
Do we have to wait until year end to switch?
No. We set the transition date around your year end so nothing is filed twice or missed, but the bookkeeping and reporting work can start well before it.
Make the next decision with the number already in the room
Start with the review. If it is a fit, the handover is ours to run from the first email onwards.