If over £200,000 of your awarded funding had never been claimed, would anything in your current reporting show it?
Centres that can answer a funder the same week keep the award and apply for the next one with the evidence already to hand. Centres that cannot spend a fortnight rebuilding history from bank statements. Ardein runs the finance function behind accredited assessment work, so the figures are current when the question arrives.
Three things you would know before the board meets
Answer a funder’s evidence request within the same week
Every award carries a running balance of claimed, unclaimed and evidenced, updated monthly.
See which awards are short before the money runs out
Restricted money is tracked against the costs it is actually carrying, not estimated at year end.
Cost a new assessment contract before the board signs it
Assessor time, premises and vehicle costs are already mapped, so the shortfall shows before the commitment.
Three decisions a centre makes before anyone checks the numbers
Each of these came from an organisation that already had an accountant. None had the figure in time.
- Funder
“The funder asked for a breakdown of last year’s award in March. It took us three weeks and two evenings a week to produce.”
The evidence sat in bank statements and email threads rather than in the books. Three weeks of a chief executive’s time to answer one question.
- Award
“We took on a second assessment contract assuming the award covered the assessor’s time. It did not, and reserves made up the difference.”
Nobody had costed the contract against the restricted money before signing. The shortfall surfaced at year end, a full year after the decision.
- Salary
“Our funder asked which grant paid for the occupational therapist’s hours. We could not map that salary to an award with any confidence.”
The claim went in late and part of the cost was left out entirely. Unmapped salaries are usually unclaimed money.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
The funder emails on Tuesday and the pack goes back on Thursday, taken straight from the register. The board sees the same figures on the same date each month, before the meeting rather than after it. When a new assessment contract comes up, you cost it against the award before anyone votes. Nothing is being rebuilt from bank statements at midnight.
Accurate accounts in November, or the award balance this afternoon?
Your year-end accountant is probably doing their job properly. The question is whether that job covers the decisions you make in between.
A year-end accountant
Files the accounts and the CIC report accurately, months after the year has closed.
Answers a funder query by reopening last year’s file and asking you for the paperwork.
Treats an award as income received, rather than a balance with a claim deadline attached.
Tells you in November what a February contract actually cost the centre.
A finance function reporting monthly
Keeps a funding register showing claimed, unclaimed and evidenced against every award.
Answers the funder in the same week, from figures that are already current.
Costs a proposed contract or service line before the board is asked to approve it.
Shows which salaries and sessions sit against which grant, every month.
Eight questions your centre should be able to answer today
Read them as yes or no. The ones you hesitate on are the decisions currently being made blind.
- 01
Could you say today how much of each live award is still unclaimed?
If that needs a spreadsheet rebuilt first, some of it will expire before anyone notices.
- 02
Do you know which assessment contracts cover their own costs?
Assessor time, premises and vehicle costs have to sit against the contract before you can tell.
- 03
Can you map every salary to the award that pays for it?
Hours that cannot be mapped are rarely claimed, and the centre absorbs them.
- 04
Could you produce a funder evidence pack this week without cancelling clinical time?
If it costs a fortnight of the chief executive’s diary, the pack is being built from scratch each time.
- 05
Does the board see figures on the same date each month, before the meeting?
Numbers tabled in the room get accepted. Numbers sent in advance get questioned properly.
- 06
Do you know what reserves subsidised last year, and which contract caused it?
Reserves used without a decision behind them are the clearest sign the costing came too late.
- 07
Could you cost a new service line before applying for the funding to run it?
Applications built on rough figures create contracts that cannot be delivered within the award.
- 08
Do you know what the centre’s cash position looks like in three months?
Claim timing, payroll dates and funder payment terms decide that, and they are all knowable now.
Ask your accountant three questions this week. If the answers involve waiting for the year-end file, or a phrase like we would have to look into that, you have the wrong accountant.
- 01Could they tell you today how much of each live award has been claimed and how much is still outstanding?
- 02Could they show which salaries and assessment costs are carried by restricted funds, without opening last year’s accounts?
- 03Could they produce the evidence pack a funder asked for this week, in time for your next board meeting?
Three yeses and you’re fine. Anything else is what the review is for.
Entry 01
What shows up when awards are reconciled against the money actually received
Two findings from onboarding work. Neither was hidden. Both were simply never checked line by line.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
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Ninety days to a centre that answers its own funder questions
The handover is ours to run. What changes for you is how quickly you can answer.
Your records are in one place and the handover is off your desk
We agree the scope, complete due diligence and AML checks, and deal with your current accountant or bookkeeper ourselves. Awards, contracts and funder correspondence are gathered at the same time.
Every award has a line, a balance and a claim date
Awards are reconciled against the money actually received and the costs they are carrying. Gaps in claims and unmapped salaries surface here, while there is still time to act on them.
The board pack arrives before the meeting, not after it
Reporting, claims and payroll run to a set timetable agreed with you. Trustees and directors see restricted and unrestricted positions in the same format every month.
A funder question takes an afternoon rather than a fortnight
The evidence pack is produced from the register, not reconstructed from bank statements. New contracts and applications are costed before the centre commits to them.
What we take on so the answers stay current
The routine work exists for one reason: the figures are ready when a funder or a trustee asks.
Funding tracked while the award is still live
Bookkeeping with fund tracking, a funding register kept current, and claims prepared to the funder’s timetable rather than after it.
A board and funder pack that lands before the meeting
Monthly reporting on restricted and unrestricted positions, cash, debtors and creditors, delivered on the agreed date each month.
Payroll, VAT, year-end and CIC filings handled in the background
Statutory work reconciles back to clean monthly records, so year end confirms what you already reported rather than investigating it.
Where this does not work, said plainly
We do not take on cash businesses, and we do not take on construction work that depends on CIS.
We walk away from anything illegal or reportable to the National Crime Agency, including falsified VAT records.
Client due diligence and anti-money-laundering checks are completed before any work begins, with no exceptions.
The relationship does not work when nobody at the centre can explain how the organisation actually runs day to day.
If you are not sure whether any of that applies to you, the review is where it gets established.
The questions centres ask before booking
Is the review a sales call in disguise?
No. It is a piece of work with a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding if you go ahead. You leave with a funding-flow review, an evidence checklist and priority actions for the next ninety days, whether or not you engage Ardein.
We already have an accountant. Why would we do this?
Most centres we speak to do. The question is not whether the accounts are filed correctly, it is whether anyone can tell you this week how much of an award remains unclaimed. That is a different job, done monthly.
What happens with our current accountant if we switch?
We deal with them. Professional clearance, records collection and a transition plan agreed around your year end are managed by Ardein at no separate charge.
What are we committing to?
The review is a defined piece of work and ends there if you want it to. Ongoing work is a monthly fee scoped after we have seen the records, and capacity is capped at four new clients a month, so timing is worth discussing early.
Does anything change about how CIC accounts are filed?
Yes. From 1 April 2026, CIC accounts must be filed with Companies House using software. If your filings still go in on paper, that is worth raising in the review.
Make the next funding decision with the number already in the room
Start with the review. You will know which awards are exposed, which costs are unmapped, and what the next ninety days should fix.