Accountant for professional services firms who answers on the day, not after year end
Accountant for professional services firms that have outgrown an annual filing exercise: consultancies, law practices and design studios where work in progress, utilisation and the timing of invoices decide whether the month worked.
A partner asks on Tuesday whether the firm can carry another senior hire. A year-end accountant can answer that in March, using figures from last spring. By then the answer has already been decided by what sat unbilled.
Ardein is an outsourced finance function for owner-managed UK businesses, including consultancies, law firms and design practices, run remotely from Chester by Gavin Jardine MIAB. Monthly management information lands on an agreed date, fees are scoped to the work once the records have been seen, and the handover from your current accountant is 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 partner meeting
Sign off the senior hire with the cover in front of you
Fee income, utilisation and committed salary cost sit on one page, updated monthly.
Know which clients and which work carry the margin
Job-level reporting shows recovery against time, so the loss-making retainer stops hiding inside the total.
Raise prices on the clients where it matters
Recovery rates by client tell you where a rise is overdue and where it would cost you the relationship.
The decisions that go wrong when the numbers arrive late
Three things partners in professional firms say after the accounts finally land.
- Hire
“We took on two associates in the spring. The accounts came in October and showed the fee income never covered them.”
Ten months of salary went out before anyone could see the recovery rate. The number existed in the timesheets and never reached a report.
- Contract
“The big retainer looked like our best client. Nobody had put the hours we wrote off against what we billed.”
The firm carried a client at a discount for two years. Work in progress was never converted to a monthly recovery figure.
- Price
“Drawings carried on as normal while the tax bill and a quarter of unbilled work were both sitting in the background.”
Cash looked healthy because the invoices had not gone out and the liability had not been set aside. Both were knowable in month one.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
Work in progress is valued every month, so unbilled time is a figure rather than a feeling. Recovery by client and by matter is on the same report as cash and debtors. When a partner asks whether the firm can afford another hire, the answer takes an afternoon. Drawings are set against a tax liability you have been able to see since the start of the year.
Quick check · no email
If a partner asked today whether the firm can carry another senior hire, and nobody could answer until the year-end accounts land, you have the wrong accountant
Three questions about your current accountant, answered yes or no.
Question 1 of 3
Could they tell you by this afternoon how much work in progress is sitting unbilled?
Could they show you which client work actually made money last month?
Could they tell you what this quarter’s partner drawings leave for tax and payroll?
Every one of those decisions is currently being made on instinct. The review is where we find out how much of the answer already exists in your records.
You are in a reasonable position and one area is running blind. Reports landing on the same agreed date each month is usually what closes that gap.
You are well served and there is little for us to add. The guide on the first ninety days will show you whether the routine could be tighter.
What a year-end accountant covers, and what it leaves you guessing about
Both do real work. Only one of them answers a question asked in March.
A year-end accountant
Accounts and the corporation tax return filed correctly and on time.
Work in progress valued once a year, for the balance sheet rather than for pricing.
A view of profit that arrives after the hiring, pricing and drawings decisions have all been taken.
Advice available when you ask, drawn from figures that are months old.
A finance function reporting monthly
Management information on an agreed date, covering cash, debtors, creditors and performance.
Unbilled work priced every month, so late invoicing shows up while it can still be raised.
Recovery by client and matter, so the retainer that costs you money is visible in weeks.
A same-day answer on the hire, the price rise or the drawings, with the reasoning behind it.
Eight decisions your current reporting should already answer
Answer each one yes or no before your next partner meeting.
- 01
Do you know today what unbilled work the firm is carrying?
If not, cash is being managed without a quarter of the picture.
- 02
Can you name the client with the worst recovery rate?
Most firms name the largest client instead, which is rarely the same one.
- 03
Would a new senior hire pay for itself, and by when?
That needs utilisation and committed cost on the same page.
- 04
Do you know which fee earners are writing off the most time?
Write-offs are usually a pricing question rather than a performance one.
- 05
Is the corporation tax liability visible now, not in nine months?
Drawings taken against an unknown liability create the January problem.
- 06
Do invoices go out on a fixed date each month?
Late invoicing is the most common reason a profitable firm runs short of cash.
- 07
Can you see how long clients actually take to pay?
Debtor days by client tell you which terms need renegotiating.
- 08
Could you price a new engagement from last month’s numbers?
If pricing is set from last year’s accounts, it is already out of date.
What we run so the answer is ready when you ask
One monthly fee covering the routine underneath and the reporting on top.
Management accounts
Cash, debtors, creditors, unbilled work and recovery, delivered on the agreed date.
Virtual CFO and FD support
A finance lead for hiring, pricing, drawings and funding, without a full-time salary.
Bookkeeping, VAT, payroll and year end
Records kept to a routine, so year end confirms what you already knew each month.
Entry 01
The date the report lands, and why the partner meeting can be planned around it
One promise, kept for every client.
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 is true by day ninety, and what has to happen before it
A defined ninety days from the first conversation to a finance routine you can plan around.
You stop running the handover
Scope agreed, AML checks done, records obtained from your current accountant or bookkeeper at no separate charge.
You can see what is unbilled
Books complete, banks reconciled, debtor and creditor balances that make sense, and work in progress identified.
Invoicing stops slipping
Billing, supplier bills, credit control, payroll and reporting all run to a routine with a named owner for each.
The hire decision takes an afternoon
Monthly management information on the agreed date, covering cash, recovery and performance, in time to act on it.
When Ardein is the wrong answer
We do not take on cash businesses, whatever the sector.
Construction work that depends on CIS sits outside what we do.
We walk away from anything illegal or reportable, and from anyone who will not complete AML checks.
The relationship does not work if an owner cannot explain their own firm or say what they need.
If none of those apply, the review is where we find out whether the rest fits.
Questions partners ask before they move
Is the Finance Function Gap Review just a sales call?
No. It is a sixty-minute review of your bookkeeping and reporting workflow, debtor and creditor visibility, payroll and systems, ending in your top five priorities and an indicative monthly service structure. It carries a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding. You keep the findings whether or not you go further.
We already have an accountant, so why would we need an accountant for professional services firms?
Most firms of this size have an accountant for the filing and nothing month by month. If your accounts are correct and on time, keep that in place. The question is whether anyone prices your unbilled work, reports recovery by client, or can tell you this week whether the next hire is affordable.
What happens with our current accountant if we switch?
Ardein handles it. We write for professional clearance, obtain the records, agree a transition plan around your year end and map who is responsible for what. There is no separate charge for the normal handover. You are not asked to chase your previous accountant for anything.
What are we committing to?
A monthly fee scoped to the work, agreed only after we have seen the records and understood how the firm runs. Ongoing engagements are monthly rather than tied to a multi-year contract. Capacity is capped at four new clients a month, so start dates are agreed rather than assumed.
How does an accountant for professional services firms handle work in progress?
Unbilled time is valued as part of the month-end routine rather than once a year for the balance sheet. That gives you a monthly figure for what has been done and not yet billed, recovery against what was written off, and a reason to raise invoices while the work is still fresh.
Do you work with law firms and consultancies outside the North West?
Yes. Ardein works UK-wide and remotely from a base in Chester, with clients from Edinburgh and Newcastle down to Bristol, Exeter and Cardiff. Everything runs through Xero and agreed reporting dates, so location makes no difference to when your numbers arrive or how quickly questions are answered.
Three ways to take the next step
Take the Finance Function Gap Review
We look at your records, then tell you the five things to fix and what a monthly structure would cover.
See what you’d be told 02 · A question firstGot a question about work in progress or drawings?
Call or email Gavin directly and get a straight answer before you decide anything.
Ask Gavin a question 03 · Still decidingStill deciding
The first ninety days guide sets out what changes each month and what we need from you.
Read the guides →