Ninety days from now your board pack arrives on the agreed date, and the only question left is what you decide with it.
Founders who can see recognised revenue, engineering payroll and cash in one report sign off a hire in an afternoon. Founders who cannot wait for the year end and learn which cohort was unprofitable a year too late. Ardein runs the finance function that produces those numbers monthly.
Three things you would know by day ninety
Sign off the next engineer with the payback in view
Payroll, committed revenue and cash sit in the same monthly report.
Answer an investor question the same week it lands
The pack is built from records that are already reconciled.
Know which plan or contract carries the margin
Deferred revenue is released monthly, so the revenue line means something.
Three decisions made on SaaS numbers that were months old
Each of these came from a report that arrived too late to change anything.
- Hire
“We hired two engineers off a record quarter. Most of that quarter turned out to be annual invoices we had not earned yet.”
The cash had arrived, the revenue had not been earned. Nobody tracked the deferred balance monthly, so an invoicing spike read as growth.
- Price
“We raised prices across every plan because margin looked thin. One plan was carrying the whole book and we never saw it.”
A single blended margin hid the customers paying for everyone else. Two good accounts left over a rise they never needed to see.
- Contract
“We took an enterprise contract on a fixed fee. Nobody had costed the engineering time that went into delivering it.”
Payroll was never split between product work and customer delivery. The contract ran below cost for eight months before the year end showed it.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
The monthly numbers arrive on the agreed date, with deferred revenue released and payroll split the way the business actually runs. You open the pack, read margin by plan, and settle the hire that afternoon. When an investor asks for last quarter, the file already exists. Year end confirms what you have been reading all year.
What a year-end accountant gives you, and what it leaves you deciding alone
Both have a job to do. Only one of them helps before the decision is made.
The year-end accountant
Files statutory accounts and corporation tax accurately and on time.
Deals with HMRC correspondence when it arrives.
Confirms last year’s position once the year is closed.
Costs less, because the work happens once.
A finance function reporting monthly
Deferred revenue released every month, so the revenue line is earned.
Payroll split between product, delivery and support.
A board pack on the agreed date, before the meeting.
An answer on a hire, a price or a contract inside the week.
Eight questions you should be able to answer before Friday
More than two noes and the numbers are reaching you after the decision.
- 01
Do you know how much of last month’s invoiced revenue you have earned?
Deferred revenue should be released monthly, not estimated at the year end.
- 02
Could you say which plan or contract carries your margin?
A blended margin hides the customers paying for everyone else.
- 03
Do you know what your engineering payroll costs each month by activity?
Product, delivery and support cost different amounts and earn differently.
- 04
Could you sign off a new hire this week with the payback in front of you?
That needs cash, committed revenue and payroll cost in one place.
- 05
Do you track which salaries sit against product development each month?
Reconstructing that a year later is slower and far less accurate.
- 06
Could you send an investor last quarter’s numbers this week?
The pack should come out of records that are already reconciled.
- 07
Do you know what corporation tax will be before it is due?
The liability should be visible long before the payment date arrives.
- 08
Do your monthly numbers arrive on the same date every month?
A date that moves is a sign the bookkeeping is behind.
Ask your accountant three questions this week about your deferred revenue, your engineering payroll and your last board pack. If the answers take longer than a week, you have the wrong accountant.
- 01Could they tell you today how much of your invoiced revenue you have not yet earned?
- 02Could they show you what your engineering payroll costs against product work and customer delivery?
- 03Could they produce last month’s board pack before your next investor call?
Three yeses and you’re fine. Anything else is what the review is for.
Entry 01
What the first ninety days are for, and what changes at the end of them
One defined onboarding, run the same way whatever state the records arrive in.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
“”UK SME owner
Ninety days, and what you can decide at the end of each stage
Each stage ends with something you can act on, not a task ticked off.
You find out what the current records are hiding
We agree the scope, complete client due diligence and AML checks, and collect the records. If you already have an accountant or bookkeeper, we manage the handover.
Revenue you have earned sits apart from revenue you have billed
Bookkeeping complete, banks reconciled, deferred balances and payroll costs where they belong. You can read the month without translating it first.
Payroll and spend land against the right part of the business
Billing, supplier bills, credit control and payroll run to a timetable. Product cost separates from delivery cost, so margin by plan means something.
A board pack that arrives before the meeting
Monthly management information on the agreed date: revenue, deferred balance, cash, debtors, creditors and margin. The hire, the price change and the investor question are all answered from it.
What runs underneath the monthly pack, and who does it
You buy the answer. This is the work that makes the answer available on time.
Bookkeeping and VAT kept to a routine
Complete, reconciled records with deferred revenue handled every month, and VAT returns filed from books that already balance.
Payroll and auto-enrolment on schedule
Regular runs and pension duties handled, with staff cost split so you can see what product work costs against customer delivery.
Management accounts and FD input
Monthly reporting on cash, debtors, creditors, revenue and margin, with a finance lead for hiring, pricing and funding calls. Year-end accounts and corporation tax come from the same records.
Who this does not suit, before you spend an hour on it
We do not take on cash businesses, and work that depends on CIS construction is not a fit.
Nothing illegal or reportable goes through the books, and AML checks are completed before any work starts.
If an owner cannot explain how their own business makes money, the relationship does not work.
New client capacity is capped each month, so a start date is agreed rather than assumed.
If you are not sure which side of that you sit on, the review is where you find out.
What founders ask before they book the review
Is the review a sales call?
No. It is a worked review of how your finance runs now, for a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding if you go ahead. You get the gaps in writing either way.
We already have an accountant. Where does this fit?
Most people who come to us have an accountant and no month by month support. Ardein can run the whole finance function, year end included, or start with the monthly reporting.
What happens with our current accountant?
We deal with them. Professional clearance, records collection and a transition plan around your year end, managed by Ardein with no separate charge.
What are we committing to?
Scope and the monthly fee are agreed after we have seen the records and understood how the business runs. Nothing is agreed before that, and the first ninety days follow a defined plan.
Do you work with SaaS businesses outside the North West?
Yes. The practice is remote and works UK wide from a base in Chester, with clients from Edinburgh down to Bristol.
The next hire decided with the number already in the room
Start with the review. You will see the distance between the numbers you get today and the ones your next decision needs.