If over £200,000 of funding had never been claimed in your own records, when would you find out?
CICs that can trace every award to the money it paid for answer a funder in days. The ones that cannot spend a fortnight rebuilding a year of spending from bank statements while a claim window closes. Ardein runs the finance function that holds the evidence, so the answer is already there.
Three things you would know before the board meets
Answer a funder’s question the same week it arrives
Every award is tracked against the spending it paid for, updated monthly rather than at year end.
Know which contract the restricted money is quietly covering
Income and cost sit against the award they belong to instead of a single pot.
Approve a post with the salary already mapped to an award
Each funded role shows the award covering it and the date that cover runs out.
Three funding decisions taken before anyone could see the number
All three came from records that were accurate at year end and useless in March.
- Award
“We were told the award had been fully drawn down. Nobody had ever completed the claim paperwork for the last two payments.”
The spending had already happened. The funder’s record never matched the organisation’s, because no one had reconciled awards against income received.
- Salary
“We hired a project coordinator on the strength of the grant, then could not show the funder which costs the post covered.”
The salary sat in general overheads for eleven months. The board learned at year end that unrestricted funds had paid for part of it.
- Contract
“The board asked in the meeting which contracts were covering their own costs, and we said we would come back to them.”
The answer took six weeks and arrived after the tender decision. Restricted money had been covering the shortfall on one delivery contract.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
The funding register is current, so a funder’s email is answered from a document you already hold. Restricted and unrestricted balances are visible by award every month, before the board sits. Claim dates are set against each funder’s deadlines, so nothing closes unclaimed. A decision that used to take six weeks takes an afternoon.
Where the year-end accountant stops and the funder’s question starts
A good year-end accountant does the annual job properly. The gap opens up when a funder asks something in March.
An annual accountant
Prepares the statutory accounts and the CIC report correctly, once a year.
Works from the records handed over, months after the spending happened.
Answers the questions that come up at year end, which is when they are asked.
Has no reason to know which award paid for which post last spring.
A finance function built for funders
Keeps a funding register that is current on the day a funder emails.
Shows restricted and unrestricted balances by award every month.
Delivers the board pack on the same date each month, before the meeting.
Flags a claim window while there is still time to claim it.
Eight questions to answer before your next funding application
Each one is a decision someone in your organisation will take in the next quarter.
- 01
Could you say today how much of each live award is left to draw?
A no here means the next application is written from memory.
- 02
Could you show a funder which costs their money paid for last quarter?
If that means a fortnight with the bank statements, the claim is already at risk.
- 03
Do you know which delivery contracts cover their own costs?
Without it, reserves can subsidise a contract for a year before anyone notices.
- 04
Is every funded post mapped to the award paying for it, and the date that cover ends?
Otherwise a salary lands on unrestricted funds the month the grant stops.
- 05
Does the board get the same pack, on the same date, before each meeting?
Trustees deciding on last quarter’s figures are deciding without the current position.
- 06
Do you have a claim timetable set against each funder’s deadlines?
Claim windows close quietly, and the spending has usually already gone out.
- 07
Could you produce evidence for a spot check within a week?
Funders are asking for this more often, and the request arrives with a date on it.
- 08
Do you know what your unrestricted position is today?
That figure decides whether you can take on the next contract at all.
Ask your accountant these three questions this week. They are the ones your funders and your board will ask you, and if the answers take a month, you have the wrong accountant.
- 01Could they tell you today how much of each live award has been drawn and how much remains?
- 02Could they show which salaries and costs are charged to which funder, without rebuilding it from bank statements?
- 03Could they produce the evidence a funder asked for this week, before the deadline on the request?
Three yeses and you’re fine. Anything else is what the review is for.
Entry 01
What checking awards against income received actually turns up
Two findings from onboarding, both from comparing what the records said with what the paperwork said had happened.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
“”
What changes by day ninety, and what changes before day one
The first ninety days are about making the evidence exist before anyone asks for it.
You stop running the handover yourself
We agree the scope, complete due diligence and AML checks, and collect the records. If you already have an accountant or bookkeeper, we deal with them, at no separate charge.
Every award has a home in the records
Bookkeeping complete, banks reconciled, and restricted balances visible by award rather than sitting in one pot with everything else.
Claims and board reporting have dates against them
A claim timetable set to each funder’s deadlines, with evidence collected as the spending happens instead of months afterwards.
The funder’s question is answered from something you already hold
Board pack on the same date each month, funding register current, and figures a decision can be taken from inside the meeting.
What we take on so the evidence exists before it is asked for
One finance function covering the funding, the board and the filings, run to an agreed timetable.
Awards tracked to the money they paid for
Restricted and unrestricted balances by award every month, so a claim is prepared from a register rather than a search.
A pack that arrives before the meeting
Same date each month: cash, funding position, debtors, creditors and performance, in time to change a decision.
The annual obligations handled in the background
Bookkeeping with fund tracking, payroll, year-end accounts and the CIC filings, prepared from records that already reconcile.
Who this does not work for
We do not take on cash businesses.
We do not take on CIS-dependent construction work.
We walk away from anything illegal or reportable, from falsified records, and from anyone who will not complete AML checks.
The relationship does not work when nobody in the organisation can explain how it runs or what it actually needs.
If you are unsure whether any of that applies to you, the review is the place to find out.
Questions people ask before booking the review
Is the review a sales call?
No. It is a piece of work with an output: your funding flow, restricted balances, an evidence checklist, the board-reporting gaps and priority actions for the next ninety days. There is a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding if you go ahead.
We already have an accountant. Is this worth doing?
Most organisations we take on already had one. The annual filing is usually fine. The problem is the month-by-month evidence a funder or a board asks for, and that is what the review looks at.
What happens with our current accountant?
We manage the handover. Professional clearance, records collection and a transition plan agreed around your year end, at no separate charge. You do not have to have the conversation for us.
What are we committing to?
Nothing beyond the review itself. If we both think it fits, the ongoing work is a monthly fee scoped after we have seen the records. Capacity is capped at four new clients a month, so timing is discussed openly.
Do you handle the CIC filings?
Yes, alongside the accounts and corporation tax. From 1 April 2026 CIC accounts must be filed at Companies House using software, and that is handled as part of the routine rather than as a separate exercise.
Take the next funding decision with the number already in the room
The review covers your funding flow, restricted-fund visibility, the evidence a funder would ask for and what the board is missing. You will see the gaps before you commit to anything.