Your accountant can tell you what the practice made last year; can anyone tell you if this hire pays?
Owners who can see this month’s numbers settle the associate, the chair or the second site in an afternoon. The ones waiting on year-end accounts find out afterwards whether it worked. Ardein runs the finance function behind the practice, so the answer is current when you ask for it.
Three things you’d know before you signed anything
Know which site, chair or service carries the practice
Monthly management accounts split income and staff cost by the lines you actually run.
Sign off the associate with the full cost in front of you
Payroll, employer costs and pension sit in the same monthly report as the income.
Answer the practice manager the same day, not next quarter
The books are complete and the bank reconciled every month, so the figure you ask for is current.
The decisions that went wrong while the numbers were still being typed up
Three that clinic, care and locum owners describe most often.
- Hire
“We took on a second hygienist because the diary looked full. Nobody worked out what that chair time actually earned per hour.”
The chair barely covered the salary and the pension for eleven months. The income was in the books the whole time; nobody split it by chair.
- Contract
“We kept a locum on a rolling rate for a year because working out the alternative was harder than paying it.”
Cheaper cover had been available since the spring. The comparison needed staff cost by month, and that arrived with the year-end accounts.
- Purchase
“I bought the scanner on finance and only found out at year end what the payments had done to our cash.”
The instalments landed in a quiet quarter and the practice ran on the overdraft. The payback was never put in front of anyone before the order went in.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
By day ninety the bookkeeping is complete each month and the bank is reconciled. You get a report on an agreed date showing income by site or service, staff and locum cost including pension, and what cash is doing. The associate question then takes an afternoon. So does dropping a contract that has stopped paying for itself.
Where a year-end accountant stops, and what the hire decision still needs
Both jobs matter, and only one of them is any use in the week you have to decide.
Your year-end accountant
Prepares statutory accounts and the corporation tax return, and keeps Companies House and HMRC satisfied.
Tells you what the practice earned in a period that closed several months ago.
Answers tax questions carefully, usually when there is time to go away and research them.
Sees the practice once a year, so payroll, pension and locum cost arrive as a single total.
A finance function that answers this week
Reports on an agreed date every month, so the hire decision has a number attached to it.
Splits income and staff cost by site, chair or service, so you can see what is carrying the practice.
Keeps payroll, auto-enrolment and locum cost current, including what each clinician really costs you.
Turns year end into confirmation of records you have already read, rather than an investigation.
Eight questions you could answer today if the numbers were current
Answer them as the practice stands this week, not as it stood at your last year end.
- 01
Do you know what each clinician earned the practice last month, after their full cost?
If not, rota and hiring decisions are being made on how full the diary looks.
- 02
Could you say today what an extra day of locum cover costs you?
Rates, agency fees and employer costs are rarely sitting in the same place.
- 03
Do you know which service line carries the margin and which one just fills the diary?
Income by line is the difference between a considered price rise and a guess.
- 04
Can you see what patients, insurers or commissioners owe you without opening the bank?
Debtor visibility is what makes credit control a routine rather than a scramble.
- 05
Do you know your pension cost for the next three months?
Auto-enrolment duties shift as staff join, leave and cross the earnings thresholds.
- 06
Could you sign off equipment finance this week with the payback in front of you?
Payback is a monthly cash question, and last year’s accounts cannot answer it.
- 07
Do you know your corporation tax liability long before it falls due?
It should be visible month by month, not announced once the accounts are done.
- 08
Does your reporting arrive on the same date every month?
If the date moves, the decision waits for the report instead of the other way round.
Three questions your accountant should be able to answer this week about your practice, your payroll and your locum cover. If the answer is after year end, you have the wrong accountant.
- 01Could they tell you this week what each site, chair or service contributed last month after staff cost?
- 02Could they tell you what one more clinician costs a month, including employer’s National Insurance and pension?
- 03Could they show you your cash position and what is owed to the practice, without asking for a month’s notice?
Three yeses and you’re fine. Anything else is what the review is for.
Entry 01
The one promise that decides whether a monthly report is worth anything
A report you cannot rely on arriving is a report you stop planning around.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
“”UK SME owner
What changes by day ninety, and what you can decide that you cannot decide now
The first ninety days are run to a fixed shape, and you see the difference at each stage.
You know exactly what we need and when
We agree the scope, complete client due diligence and AML checks, and collect the records. If you already have an accountant or bookkeeper, we run the handover.
The records tell the truth about the practice
Bookkeeping complete, banks reconciled, supplier and patient balances that make sense, and payroll checked against what people are actually paid.
Payroll, pension and reporting stop being events
Routines for bills, credit control, payroll and auto-enrolment, with checks that catch pension duties before The Pensions Regulator does.
The associate decision takes an afternoon
Management information on the agreed date: income by site or service, staff and locum cost, cash, and what is owed to the practice.
What Ardein runs so the answer is ready when you ask for it
One finance function, covering the compliance and the monthly information built on top of it.
Management accounts you read while the month is still young
Income by site, chair or service, staff and locum cost, cash, debtors and creditors, delivered on an agreed date.
Payroll and auto-enrolment handled on schedule
Regular runs for clinical and admin staff, pension duties dealt with, and the true monthly cost of each role visible to you.
Bookkeeping, VAT where it applies, accounts and corporation tax
Records kept to a routine, so year end confirms what you have already read and the tax liability is never a surprise.
When Ardein is the wrong answer for a practice
We do not take on cash businesses, and that rules out some clinics and care providers.
We do not take on construction work that depends on CIS, including practice fit-out companies built around it.
We walk away from anything illegal or reportable to the NCA, and from records that have been falsified.
If an owner cannot explain how the practice makes money, or will not complete AML checks, the relationship does not work.
If you are not sure which side of that line you sit on, the review is where it becomes clear.
The questions clinic and locum owners ask before they start
Is the review a sales call?
No. The Finance Function Gap Review is a working session on your records and your reporting, charged at a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding. You leave with the top five priorities whether or not we go further.
We already have an accountant. Does this replace them?
Most of our clients had one. They had year-end filing and nothing month by month. Ardein can run the whole finance function or the monthly part alongside them, and we say which after seeing the records.
What happens with our current accountant or bookkeeper?
We deal with them. Professional clearance, records collection and a transition plan agreed around your year end, managed by Ardein at no separate charge.
How long are we committed for?
It is a monthly arrangement, scoped after we have seen the records and understood how the practice runs. Capacity is capped at four new clients a month, so timing is usually the constraint rather than commitment.
Do you work with locum companies as well as practices?
Yes. One or two directors, payroll, and the question of what the company can afford to pay out and when, with the tax liability visible long before it is due.
Make the next hire with the number already in the room
The review shows where your finance stops short of the decisions you are making, and what it would take to close the gap. Four new clients a month, so the useful part is finding out early.