Could your accountant for Shopmobility schemes show the council where its money went this week?
Accountant for Shopmobility schemes run by councils, charities and CICs, where grant awards, hire fees and donations land in one bank account and then have to be told apart on demand.
Most schemes can show the total spent. Far fewer can show which award paid for the scooter servicing, the town centre unit and the coordinator’s hours. That gap tends to surface the week a funder asks, which is the worst week to find it.
Ardein is an outsourced finance function for grant-funded organisations including Shopmobility schemes, run remotely from Chester by Gavin Jardine MIAB. It tracks restricted funds, produces monthly evidence and board packs, and handles payroll, accounts and CIC filings. Fees are scoped to the work after seeing the records, and the handover 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 answers you would have before the funder asks
Answer the council’s evidence request in the same week
Every award carries its own line, so spend maps back to the funder that paid for it.
Know whether hire fees cover the running of the scheme
Hire income, donations and grant income are reported separately each month instead of arriving as one total.
Sign off the next scooter purchase knowing which fund pays
Restricted balances are visible before you commit, so the board is not guessing what is still unspent.
What mixed income costs a scheme when the records cannot separate it
Three conversations that come up in schemes where grant, hire and donated money share one account.
- Funder
“The council asked what its grant had actually paid for. We sent a total and got four more questions back.”
Three weeks went on rebuilding the answer from bank statements. The spend was legitimate. Nothing in the records tied it to the award.
- Salary
“We charged the coordinator’s hours to two awards and found out at year end that one of them would not accept it.”
The cost had to be moved and reserves absorbed it. The allocation was never written down when the claim went in.
- Purchase
“We put off replacing two scooters for a year because nobody could say which money was still unspent.”
The funds were sitting in a restricted balance that was never reported to the board. Users waited while the trustees guessed.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
Each award has a line in a funding register that is updated monthly. Restricted, unrestricted and trading income are reported apart, so the board sees what the hire fees really cover. When the council writes, the evidence is pulled from the register rather than reconstructed. The claim goes back the same week, with the spend listed against the award that funded it.
Quick check · no email
If your accountant cannot tell you this week how much of the council’s award is still unspent and what it has paid for, you have the wrong accountant
Answer three questions about the accountant looking after the scheme now.
Question 1 of 3
Could they tell you by this afternoon how much of each award is still unspent?
Could they show which grant paid the coordinator’s hours last month, without going back to bank statements?
Could they hand you a funder evidence pack before your next board meeting?
The evidence exists somewhere in the records, but nobody can produce it to a deadline. That is what the review is for.
You are in a reasonable position, and the area to check is whether awards reconcile to income received line by line. That check is how over £200,000 of incomplete funding paperwork came to light in a grant-funded not-for-profit.
Your funding reporting is already doing its job and there is little for us to add. The guide on the first ninety days will show you how we would keep it that way.
Annual accounts or monthly evidence: which one answers the council in time
Both have a place. Only one of them is available in the week a funder asks.
The year-end route
Accounts prepared once a year and filed to deadline.
Fund splits worked out retrospectively, months after the spend.
Claims written from bank statements when the funder chases.
Board sees the position after the decisions have been taken.
The monthly evidence routine
A funding register updated every month and reviewed at each board meeting.
Restricted, unrestricted and hire income reported apart as the year runs.
Claims drawn from records already tied to the award.
Board sees unspent funds while there is still time to use them.
Eight questions a Shopmobility board should be able to answer today
Work down the list and note where you would have to go and look.
- 01
Do you know how much of each award is still unspent?
If the figure comes from memory rather than a register, the next spending decision is a guess.
- 02
Can you show which fund paid for the last scooter purchase?
Purchases coded to one pot at the time are evidence. Purchases sorted out later are an argument.
- 03
Is hire fee income reported apart from grant income?
Merged into one total, nobody can say whether the hire fees cover the unit and the staffing.
- 04
Are staff hours allocated to awards when the claim is written?
Allocating salaries after year end is how costs end up back with reserves.
- 05
Could you produce spend evidence for the council within five working days?
The evidence usually exists. The delay is in assembling it from bank statements.
- 06
Does the board see restricted balances at every meeting?
Funds that are not reported tend to sit unused until the award period closes.
- 07
Are donations recorded separately from trading income?
Mixed coding makes both the accounts and the next funding application harder to defend.
- 08
Do your management figures arrive on the same date each month?
Reporting that moves cannot be built into a claims or board timetable.
What we take off the scheme’s desk, and what that frees up
One finance function covering the books, the payroll and the evidence the funders want.
Income separated as it arrives
Awards, hire fees and donations coded at source, with a funding register the board can read.
Claims and funder packs on a timetable
Claim deadlines mapped, spend evidence assembled from records rather than rebuilt from statements.
Payroll, accounts and CIC filings handled
Regular payroll and pension duties, year-end accounts and the CIC or charity filings prepared from the same records.
Entry 01
What a line by line check of awards against income turned up
One entry from client work, anonymised by organisation type.
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 by day ninety, and what has to happen first
A defined onboarding, so the evidence routine is running before the next reporting round.
Every award on one list
We agree scope, complete AML checks, collect the records and list the awards, contracts and hire income the scheme is holding.
You can see what each fund has paid for
Bookkeeping is complete, banks reconciled and spend coded to the award that funded it, with historic gaps flagged.
Claims stop being a scramble
Claim dates, payroll allocations and the evidence checklist sit on a timetable, with someone named against each part.
The board pack arrives before the meeting
Restricted balances, hire income and running costs are reported on the agreed date each month, and funder questions are answered from the register.
When we are not the right fit for a scheme
We do not take on cash businesses, and a scheme collecting most of its hire income in cash without records will not work.
We do not work on construction contracts that depend on CIS.
We walk away from anything reportable or from records we are asked to misstate, and we need AML checks completed before we start.
The relationship does not work if nobody at the scheme can explain how the awards and the trading side fit together.
If none of that applies, the review is the sensible place to start and the fee for it is credited in full against onboarding.
Questions schemes ask before they get in touch
Is the Funding and Finance Evidence Review a sales call?
No. It is a paid piece of work with an output: a review of how funding flows through your records, how visible restricted funds are, an evidence checklist, a claims and reporting timetable, and the priority actions for the next ninety days. The fee is a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding if you go ahead.
We already have an accountant. Why would we need an accountant for Shopmobility schemes?
Most accountants prepare the annual accounts well and are not set up to answer a council in the same week. If your existing accountant can tell you today what each award has paid for and what is unspent, keep them. If the answer takes three weeks of bank statements, that is the gap we fill.
What happens with our current accountant if we move?
We manage the handover. We write for professional clearance, collect the records, agree who is responsible for what and set a transition plan around your year end and your claim dates. There is no separate charge for that work. You do not have to run the conversation yourself.
Are we committing to anything by doing the review?
No. The review stands on its own and you can act on the findings with whoever you like. If you do want us to run the finance function, we scope a monthly fee after seeing the records and how the scheme actually runs. Capacity is capped at four new clients a month.
How does an accountant for Shopmobility schemes handle grant, hire fee and donation income?
Each award gets its own line, and income is coded as it arrives rather than split later. Hire fees and donations are reported apart from grant money, so the board can see whether trading income covers the unit and the staffing. Spend is tied to the award that funded it at the point it is entered.
Can you work with a scheme outside the North West, and can you do the CIC filings?
Yes. Ardein works UK-wide and remotely from a base in Chester, so location is not a constraint. We prepare year-end accounts and the CIC or charity filings alongside the monthly reporting. From 1 April 2026 CIC accounts must be filed with Companies House using software, which we handle.
Three ways to take the next step
Start with the Funding and Finance Evidence Review
You get a written view of your funding flows, the evidence gaps and the actions for the next ninety days, and we tell you plainly whether we are the right fit.
Check your funding evidence 02 · A question firstGot a question about your awards?
Call or email Gavin directly and describe the reporting problem you are stuck with.
Ask Gavin a question 03 · Still decidingStill deciding
The guide sets out what happens in the first ninety days, so you can see what the scheme would have to supply and when.
Read the guides →