Accountants in Chester for owner-managed businesses that need answers the same day
Accountants in Chester, working remotely from a Chester base with owner-managed businesses and grant-funded organisations across Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester, and with clients from Edinburgh to Exeter.
Most owners here can quote their turnover to the pound. Far fewer can say which customer, job or contract carried the margin last month, and that is the figure that decides the next hire. The only question is how long you would wait to find out.
Ardein is an outsourced finance function for owner-managed UK businesses and grant-funded organisations, run remotely from Chester by Gavin Jardine MIAB. It provides bookkeeping, VAT, payroll, year-end accounts and monthly management information, with fees scoped to the work after seeing the records, and the handover from a current accountant managed at no separate charge.
“They don't feel like a contractor. They get fully involved in the business and are well respected by all.”
UK SME owner
- IAB member (MIAB 292185)
- Anti-money-laundering supervised
- Established 2021
Three things you would know before the next decision
Sign off the purchase with the payback in front of you
Cash, commitments and the payback sit on one page, on the day you ask.
Know which customer or job is carrying the margin
Monthly reporting splits performance by line, so the answer is already written down.
Answer the funder in the week they ask
Restricted money is tracked against each award as it moves, so evidence is a report.
The decisions Chester owners make without the number in front of them
Three things we hear in the first conversation, all of them about a decision that had already been made.
- Purchase
“We bought the second van because the work looked busy. It was barely covering itself, and I found that out eight months later.”
A year of payments against work that never paid for them. The job figures existed; they arrived after the decision.
- Hire
“I held off hiring for two quarters because nobody could tell me whether the cash would stretch to another salary.”
Two quarters of work turned down. A cash view with debtors and creditors in it would have settled the question in an afternoon.
- Funder
“The funder asked how last year’s award had been spent, and it took us three weeks to assemble the answer.”
Three weeks of the chief executive’s time, and a board meeting that passed without it. The spend was recorded, never tracked against the award.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
By day ninety the records are complete and the reporting arrives on an agreed date each month. A purchase decision takes an afternoon, because cash, debtors and creditors are current. You can see which customer, job or contract made the money, not just what the bank says. A funder question is answered from a register that was updated last month.
Quick check · no email
Three questions to put to your current accountant in Chester this week. If you cannot get a straight answer to all three by Friday, you have the wrong accountant
Answer these three about the accountant you use now, not about us.
Question 1 of 3
Could they tell you by this afternoon whether you can afford the van, the machine or the next hire?
Could they show you which customer, job or contract made the money last month?
Could they produce the spend against a single grant or contract this week, without rebuilding anything?
You are making decisions on a bank balance and a feeling, and the numbers that would settle them exist but arrive too late. That gap is exactly what the review is built to map.
You are in a reasonable position, with one area that only works when somebody chases it. Worth checking before your next year end, and the handover to fix it is managed for you at no separate charge.
You are well served and there is no reason to move. The guide on the first ninety days is still worth a read if you want to compare routines.
What a year-end accountant gives you, and what is still missing in March
Both jobs matter. They answer different questions, and only one of them is about a decision you face this week.
A year-end accountant
Files accounts and the corporation tax return correctly.
Keeps Companies House and HMRC satisfied.
Confirms what happened, often many months after it happened.
Is usually reachable once or twice a year.
A finance function that runs monthly
Answers the purchase, hire or price question on the day you ask it.
Shows margin by customer, job or contract while the work is still live.
Tracks restricted money against each award, so evidence is ready for the board.
Delivers reports on the agreed date, with year end as confirmation.
Eight decisions your numbers should already be able to settle
Answer each one yes or no as things stand today.
- 01
Can you price a new contract knowing the margin on the last one like it?
Yes only if performance is reported by job or customer, not in total.
- 02
Can you tell this week whether the business can carry another salary?
Yes only if cash, debtors and creditors are current rather than quarterly.
- 03
Do you know the payback on the last piece of equipment you bought?
Yes only if the asset was tracked against the work it was bought for.
- 04
Could you compare a cheaper supplier on total cost rather than unit price?
Yes only if wastage, returns and carriage sit in the same report.
- 05
Do you know which customers pay late enough to cost you money?
Yes only if the debtor ledger is reconciled and reviewed monthly.
- 06
Could you show a funder where a single award was spent this week?
Yes only if restricted money is tracked by award as it moves.
- 07
Do you know your corporation tax liability before the year is closed?
Yes only if the computation is built alongside monthly records.
- 08
Does the board or the bank get the same figures you work from?
Yes only if one set of records feeds every report you issue.
What the monthly work actually buys you
The compliance is included. What you are paying for is the answer arriving in time.
Management information you act on
Cash, debtors, creditors and performance reported on the agreed date, while the month can still be changed.
Virtual CFO and FD input
A finance lead for hiring, funding, pricing and margin questions, without a full-time salary on the payroll.
Accounts as confirmation, not investigation
Statutory accounts, corporation tax, VAT and payroll built on records that were right all year.
Entry 01
Who does the work of leaving your current accountant
Most owners stay where they are because the move looks like weeks of their own time.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
What clients say
“They don't feel like a contractor. They get fully involved in the business and are well respected by all.”
UK SME owner
What changes in the first ninety days, and what you stop doing yourself
A defined onboarding, so you can see when each answer becomes available.
The handover is off your desk
Scope and AML checks agreed, your current provider contacted, records collected and a transition plan set.
You can see cash, debtors and creditors
Bookkeeping complete, banks reconciled, balances that make sense, and any historic gaps identified.
Questions get answered mid-month
Routines for bills, credit control, payroll and reporting, with checks in place and duplication removed.
The answer arrives before the decision does
Management information on an agreed date each month, covering cash, debtors, creditors and performance.
When Ardein is the wrong answer for you
We do not take on cash businesses.
We do not take CIS-dependent construction work.
We walk away from anything reportable, and from clients who will not complete AML checks.
The relationship does not work when an owner cannot explain their own business or say what they need.
Capacity is capped at four new clients a month, so the review tells you honestly whether there is a fit and when.
Questions we get asked before the first conversation
Is the review just a sales call?
No. It is a structured look at how your finance runs now: bookkeeping and reporting workflow, debtors and creditors, payroll, systems, and the five things worth fixing first. You leave with those priorities and an indicative monthly structure whether or not you engage us. It carries a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding.
We already have an accountant in Chester. Is it worth talking to you?
Often yes, because the two jobs are different. Most of our clients arrived with a perfectly competent year-end accountant and no month-by-month support. If your current provider answers the purchase, margin and cash questions inside a week, stay where you are. If those answers arrive after the decision, that is the gap we fill.
What happens with our current accountant if we switch?
We manage it. We write for professional clearance, request the records and working papers, agree a responsibility map and set a transition plan around your year end so nothing is filed twice or missed. You make one introduction and approve the plan. The handover is not charged for separately.
How long are we committing to?
The engagement is monthly and scoped to the work agreed, with a defined ninety-day onboarding so you can see progress against dates rather than promises. If it is not working, you are not locked into a long term contract, and your records remain yours to take elsewhere at any point.
Are you accountants in Chester with an office we can visit?
Ardein is a remote practice based in Chester, so there is no drop-in office. Work happens over video, phone and email, Monday to Friday, nine to five, with records shared through Xero. Our core area runs across Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester, and we support clients from Edinburgh and Newcastle to Bristol and Cardiff.
How are your fees worked out?
A monthly fee scoped to the work, agreed after we have seen the records and understood how the business runs, rather than quoted blind from a turnover figure. It is driven by transaction volume, payroll size and how much reporting you want. For CICs and charities it is driven by the number of funding streams.
Three ways to take the next step
Start the review
You get the five priorities and an indicative monthly structure, then decide with the handover plan in front of you.
See what you would be told 02 · A question firstGot a question first?
Call or email Gavin directly and ask the thing you actually want answered.
Ask Gavin a question 03 · Still decidingStill deciding
The first ninety days guide sets out what changes by day thirty, sixty and ninety.
Read the guides →