A Chester owner deciding on a second van today: could your books tell you by this afternoon whether it pays?
Owners who can answer sign the order that week. Owners who cannot wait for year-end accounts and decide on feel. Ardein keeps the bookkeeping behind your Chester business current, so the number is there when you ask and the answer comes back the same day.
Three things you’d know before you signed anything
Know which job or customer is carrying the margin
Sales and costs are coded the same way every month, so one period can be compared with the next.
Sign off the purchase with the payback in front of you
Live cash, debtor and creditor figures sit behind the decision instead of last year’s accounts.
Decide on the next hire in an afternoon
Payroll costs and committed outgoings are already in the records, so the affordability check is short.
Three Chester decisions that went the wrong way, and the number that was missing
Each of these came from a business with an accountant and books that were running behind.
- Purchase
“We bought the second van in March. By August it was barely covering itself, and I only saw that at year end.”
The payback was never worked out, because the bookkeeping was three months behind. Two quarters of lease payments went on a van that earned almost nothing.
- Supplier
“I moved to the cheaper supplier to save on unit price. Nobody tracked the wastage until the stock count in the autumn.”
The saving on paper cost more in the yard. Purchase records were never read against usage, so the real cost stayed out of sight.
- Hire
“I put off hiring for six months because cash felt tight. Turnover was fine. I just could not see where the money went.”
Debtors had drifted past sixty days and nobody was chasing. The cash existed, sitting in other people’s bank accounts.
- Day 90
What it looks like when the answer is in the room
By day ninety the books are current, so the question gets answered on the day you ask it. You know which jobs carry the margin and which customers owe you money. The purchase decision takes an afternoon, with the payback written down. Year end becomes a confirmation of figures you already read every month.
What a year-end accountant is for, and what it leaves you deciding blind
Both jobs matter. Only one of them helps on the day you have to decide something.
A year-end accountant
Files the accounts and the corporation tax return accurately after the year has closed.
Answers questions from the last approved set of figures.
Sees the business once a year, in one sitting.
Tells you what happened, usually months after you could have changed it.
A finance function reporting monthly
Bookkeeping kept to a routine, so the ledger is current when you ask.
Cash, debtors, creditors and margin looked at every month.
Answers come back the same day, with the reasoning behind them.
Year end confirms figures you have already used to make decisions.
Eight questions that show whether your books are ready for a decision
Answer each one from memory. Anything you have to look up is the point.
- 01
Do you know which customer made you the most money last month?
If that answer waits for year end, your pricing decisions wait with it.
- 02
Could you list today what you are owed and by whom?
Cash that feels tight is often cash sitting in someone else’s account.
- 03
Do you know the payback period on the last thing you bought?
A purchase without a payback figure is a decision made on feel.
- 04
Has a supplier change ever cost you more than it saved?
Unit price is easy to compare. Total cost needs records that are current.
- 05
Do you know whether your next hire is affordable at today’s margin?
Payroll and committed costs should already be in the ledger before you advertise.
- 06
Are your bank accounts reconciled to the end of last month?
Nothing above the bookkeeping is worth reading until this one is a yes.
- 07
Did your last price rise go to every customer at the same rate?
Margin by customer tells you who could take more and who could not.
- 08
Does year end ever tell you something you did not already know?
It should confirm the figures you have been acting on all year.
Send your accountant three questions this week. If the answers need your year-end file, a fortnight of digging, or a call about getting the records up to date, you have the wrong accountant
- 01Could they tell you this week which of your jobs made money last month?
- 02Could they tell you today what your customers owe you and how old each balance is?
- 03Could they tell you by Friday whether another hire is affordable at your current margin?
Three yeses and you’re fine. Anything else is what the review is for.
Entry 01
The invoices nobody had raised, found while the ledger was being cleaned up
One entry from client work, anonymised. It is the sort of thing a ledger hides when nobody reconciles it.
Figures as recorded in client work · names withheld
“”UK SME owner
What changes between now and the day the answer arrives same-day
Ninety days, run to a timetable, with the point of each stage written down.
You find out what the records actually say
We agree the scope, complete client and AML checks, and collect the records. If you already have an accountant or bookkeeper, we manage the handover.
Cash stops being a guess
Bookkeeping brought complete, banks reconciled, debtor and creditor balances that make sense, with any historic gaps flagged to you.
Questions get answered without a search
Routines for supplier bills, credit control, payroll and reporting are set, so the figures stay current between month ends.
The decision takes an afternoon
Management information arrives on the agreed date each month, so purchases, hires and price changes are checked against live numbers.
What we run for Chester businesses, and what it lets you decide
The bookkeeping is the product. Everything else is built on top of it.
Records kept current, not caught up
Transactions posted to a routine, banks reconciled, sales and purchase ledgers that agree with reality. This is what makes the same-day answer possible.
Deadlines handled from clean books
VAT returns prepared from reconciled records, with the treatment questioned. Payroll and auto-enrolment run on schedule for your people and The Pensions Regulator.
Monthly figures you can act on
Cash, debtors, creditors and performance reported on an agreed date, while there is still time to change the outcome.
Where this does not work, so you can stop reading now
We do not take on cash businesses.
We do not take on construction work that depends on CIS.
We walk away from anything illegal or reportable, including falsified VAT records, and from anyone who will not complete AML checks.
The relationship does not work when an owner cannot explain their own business or say what they actually need.
If none of that applies, the review is where we find out what your records will and will not tell you.
The questions Chester owners ask before they book the review
Is the review just a sales call?
No. It is a worked review of your records, reporting and workflow, with the top five priorities written down. It carries a fixed review fee, credited in full against onboarding.
We already have an accountant. Does this still apply?
Yes. Most clients arrive with filing handled properly and no month-by-month support at all. The gap is between deadlines, not at them.
What happens with our current accountant or bookkeeper?
We deal with them directly, obtain the records and agree a transition plan around your year end. The handover is managed by Ardein at no separate charge.
What are we committing to after the review?
Nothing automatically. Ongoing work is a monthly fee scoped once we have seen the records, and new capacity is capped at four clients a month.
Do you need to be in Chester to work with us?
We work remotely across the UK from a Chester base, with clients in Liverpool, Manchester and further afield. Records, calls and reporting all run online.
Make the next Chester decision with the number already in the room
Tell us what the records look like and what you are weighing up. You will get the priorities either way.