Three business systems increase profit and reduce risk on every purchasing decision, and your year-end accounts run none of them.

Today the quote gets signed on a gut feel and a bank balance.

The cost turns up later, as margin that slipped on a line nobody could name at the time.

Or read on to see how it works.

How a purchase gets signed off when the number is missing

Supplier quote lands
Bank balance looks fine
Signed off on instinct
Order placed, stock arrives
Margin quietly drops
Accounts confirm it later

Every step in that chain is a guess wearing the clothes of a decision.

By the time the year-end accounts confirm what it cost, you have placed the same order three more times. Nothing in that sequence tells you which product, customer or job carried the loss.

Five questions a purchase asks that most owners cannot answer today

These are the questions that decide whether a purchase adds profit or quietly removes it.

Which product line actually carries your margin?
Which customer costs more to serve than they pay?
How many months until this purchase pays for itself?
Is the cheaper supplier still cheaper after wastage?
What does holding that stock tie up each month?

That makes everything downstream harder.

MarginPricingSuppliersCashStockHiring

See where the gaps are

Three systems that answer a purchase before you sign anything

Same day. From live numbers. With the reasoning.

A year-end accountant will tell you accurately what the margin was; these three systems tell you what it is while the order is still open.

3systems, running monthly
Margin by product and job
Payback before sign-off
Supplier total cost
You sign with the number

Each one ends in the same place: a decision you can make this afternoon, with the workings written down.

Find your three gaps

Accurate history is worth having. It is not what an open order needs.

The quote is live now.

What the three systems look like by day ninety

The systems sit on records we keep ourselves, which is why the answers arrive on the day you ask.

Before day one
Records collected for you
We agree the scope, complete the checks and deal with your current accountant or bookkeeper ourselves.
Day 30
Margin visible by line
Books complete and reconciled, with income and cost coded so product, customer and job can be read separately.
Day 60
Payback and supplier tests running
A standing test for any purchase, and a supplier comparison that counts wastage, terms and stock held.
Day 90
Decisions answered the same day
Monthly management information on the agreed date, and an answer on a purchase while the quote is still open.

Start the ninety days

The review is a fixed fee, credited in full if you go ahead

Sixty minutes with Gavin on your own records: how the bookkeeping and reporting run now, what debtors and creditors look like, payroll, and the systems you already have in place.

Your records, not a brochure.

You leave with the top five priorities and an indicative monthly service structure, whether or not you go any further with us.

60 minuteswith Gavin, on your records

Credited in fullagainst onboarding if you go ahead

Capacity is capped at four new clients a month, and the handover from your current accountant is managed at no separate charge.

Who these three systems work for, and who they do not

It is a short list on both sides, and it is better to know now.

This fits if

You buy stock, materials or equipment often enough that margin moves with the decision.
You already have an accountant and still cannot say which job made money.
You want the answer while the order is open, not after the year end.
You can explain how your business makes money and where you think it leaks.
You want a monthly finance routine rather than an annual filing exercise.

This does not fit if

You run a cash business.
Your work is CIS-dependent construction.
You need something we would have to report or could not defend.
You will not complete anti-money-laundering checks.
You want accounts filed once a year and no contact in between.

Check if this fits

Two minutes. If it fits, you’ll book the review with Gavin.

£20,000

of goods supplied and never invoiced

In an owner-managed trading business, we reconciled the sales ledger against delivery records during the first bookkeeping clean-up. The invoices were raised and collected, and invoicing moved into the month-end routine so it could not happen again.

“”

The next quote is already on its way to your inbox

Show me my real margin
Tell me the payback
Compare two suppliers properly
Answer me the same day

That is the work, month after month, built on records we keep ourselves.

Think your numbers should be answering this?

See if Ardein fits

Gavin reads every answer himself.

See if your finance function fits your size / structure

Xero partner Xero payroll certified