Remote accountants for UK businesses that want the numbers while the decision is still live
Remote accountants for UK businesses work the same way wherever you trade: records kept current online, reporting on an agreed date each month, and an answer back the same day you ask for it.
Most owners learn what a decision cost them about seven months later, in a set of accounts. The question is not whether your books get done eventually. It is whether anyone can tell you today which customers, jobs or contracts are actually paying for the business.
Ardein is an outsourced finance function for owner-managed UK businesses and grant-funded organisations, run remotely from Chester by Gavin Jardine MIAB. Bookkeeping, VAT, payroll, year-end accounts and monthly management information, with fees scoped to the work and the handover from your 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 you signed
Know which customers and jobs carry the margin
Sales and costs are coded the same way every month, so the comparison holds.
Sign off a purchase with the payback in front of you
Cash, committed spend and current debtors are visible on the day you ask.
Answer a funder or a board in the same week
Restricted money is tracked against each award as it is spent, so the evidence is already assembled.
Decisions UK businesses make blind while the numbers sit a quarter behind
Three decisions clients had already made by the time the figures arrived.
- Supplier
“We moved to the cheaper supplier and the invoice price did drop. Nobody told me what the wastage was doing to the job margin.”
The saving was real and the margin was worse. Job costing sat in a spreadsheet nobody reconciled.
- Hire
“I held off hiring for two quarters because cash felt tight. The money was sitting in unpaid invoices the whole time.”
Two quarters of work turned away. The debtor list had not been looked at since the previous year end.
- Price
“I put prices up across the board because the accounts looked thin. I lost the two contracts that were already paying well.”
The thin margin was in one line of work. Nothing in the reporting separated the lines, so the rise went to everyone.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
By day ninety the pack arrives on the same date each month, wherever you and Gavin happen to be. You ask whether the second van pays for itself and the working comes back that day. Debtors, committed costs and margin by line sit in one place. The decision takes an afternoon rather than a quarter.
Quick check · no email
If your accountant is three hundred miles away or three streets away and still cannot answer these three questions this week, you have the wrong accountant
Answer these three about the accountant you have now.
Question 1 of 3
Could they tell you by this afternoon whether the next hire is affordable?
Could they show you which customer, job or contract made the money last month?
Could they put a clean evidence pack in front of a funder or lender this week?
The gap is real, and it costs you decisions rather than fees. The review is where we work out which of the three is costing you most.
That is a reasonable position and the filing side is clearly being handled. Check the switching question, because owners assume a handover is difficult and Ardein runs it at no separate charge.
You are well served and there is no reason to move. The guide on the first ninety days is a useful standard to hold your current arrangement to.
What a year-end accountant covers, and what nobody is covering
Both jobs matter. Only one of them helps on the day you decide.
Your year-end accountant
Files the accounts and the corporation tax return correctly and on time.
Answers what HMRC and Companies House ask for.
Sees the year once the year is finished.
Prices the filing, not the month.
A remote finance function
Keeps records current, so the numbers are never a quarter old.
Reports on an agreed date each month, before the decision closes.
Gives an answer the day you ask, with the working behind it.
Covers the filing too, because it comes off the same records.
Eight questions your numbers should answer before you decide
Read the list and count the ones you could answer this week.
- 01
Do you know which customer or contract made the most money last month?
If the answer waits for year end, the loss-making work runs for another eleven months.
- 02
Could you price a new job knowing what the last one really cost?
Costing built from reconciled records is what makes the quote defensible.
- 03
Do you know how much cash is committed before you buy?
Committed spend sits in supplier bills and payroll, not in the bank balance.
- 04
Can you see what is owed to you and how old it is?
A current debtor list turns a hiring decision from a guess into arithmetic.
- 05
Do you know the corporation tax bill before the year closes?
Visible monthly, the money is set aside rather than found in a hurry.
- 06
Could you evidence where a grant or award was spent, line by line?
Restricted money tracked as it moves means the claim is largely assembled already.
- 07
Is payroll and pension filing off your desk every month?
Your people and The Pensions Regulator both work to dates you did not choose.
- 08
Do the reports arrive on the same day each month?
A date you can plan a board or management meeting around is half the value.
What you hand over, and what comes back each month
One finance function, run remotely to a timetable you agree.
Bookkeeping, VAT and payroll kept current
The reason an answer can be given today rather than after a clean-up.
Monthly management information
Cash, debtors, creditors and margin, delivered on the agreed date each month.
Virtual CFO and FD input
A finance lead for the hire, the purchase, the price rise or the funding application.
Entry 01
Switching is the part owners put off, and it is the part we run
Most owners stay where they are for one reason, and it is not the numbers.
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 between the first call and day ninety
Four markers, each one something you can do that you could not do before.
You stop chasing anyone for your own records
We agree the scope, complete AML checks and collect the records from whoever holds them.
You can see what you are genuinely owed
Bookkeeping complete, banks reconciled, debtor and creditor balances that make sense.
The month closes without you doing it
Routines for supplier bills, credit control, payroll and reporting run to a timetable.
You make the next decision from live numbers
Management information lands on the agreed date, with cash, debtors, creditors and performance in one pack.
Who Ardein turns down, and why we say so early
We don’t take on cash businesses.
We don’t take construction work that depends on CIS.
We walk away from anything illegal or reportable, including falsified VAT records, and from anyone who will not complete AML checks.
The relationship does not work when an owner cannot explain their own business or say what they actually need.
If none of those apply, the review is where we both find out whether the fit works.
Questions owners and chief executives ask before they move
Is the Finance Function Gap Review a sales call?
No. It is a worked review of your bookkeeping and reporting workflow, your debtor and creditor position, payroll and the systems you use, ending with your top five priorities and an indicative monthly structure. It carries a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding. Some people take the priorities and act on them themselves.
We already have an accountant, so do remote accountants for UK businesses replace them?
Usually, because the work overlaps. Most clients arrive with a filing relationship in place and no month by month support. Ardein runs bookkeeping, VAT, payroll, year-end accounts and corporation tax from one set of records, so the annual filing comes out of the same work that produces your monthly numbers.
What happens with my current accountant if I switch?
Ardein deals with them. We write for professional clearance, request the records and agree a transition plan around your year end, so you are not chasing anyone or explaining the move twice. The handover is managed at no separate charge. Most owners find it takes far less of their time than they expected.
How long am I committing to?
The engagement is monthly and scoped to the work once we have seen the records and understood how the business runs. There is no long tie-in. New capacity is limited to four clients a month, so the start date is agreed rather than immediate, and the first ninety days follow a defined plan.
Can remote accountants for UK businesses work if we are nowhere near Chester?
Yes. Ardein works UK-wide and remotely, supporting clients from Edinburgh and Newcastle down to Bristol, Exeter and Cardiff, with a core across Cheshire, Merseyside and Greater Manchester. Records live in Xero, meetings happen by video or phone, and reports arrive on the same date each month wherever you trade.
Do you work with CICs and charities as well as trading companies?
Yes. Grant-funded CICs, charities and community organisations are one of our two audiences. The monthly work covers bookkeeping with fund tracking, payroll, an evidence and board pack each month, year-end accounts and the CIC or charity filings, scoped on the number of funding streams and how often you report.
Three ways to take the next step
Take the review
You leave with your top five priorities and an indicative monthly structure, then decide whether to act on them yourself or hand the function over.
See what you’d be told 02 · A question firstGot a question first?
Call or email Gavin directly on 07783 846909 or hello@ardein.co, Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.
Ask Gavin a question 03 · Still decidingStill deciding
The guide on the first ninety days sets out what changes, and when, before you commit to anything.
When bookkeeping falls behind →