Three things your finance should be able to answer before you sign, hire or apply.

Today those answers arrive after the decision, in accounts filed months later.

So the contract reserves quietly subsidised, and the post nobody could map to an award, both get found at year end.

Or read on to see how it works.

How a contract gets signed when nobody can price the shortfall

Funder offers a contract
Board asks about coverage
Nobody can confirm it
You sign anyway
Reserves cover the gap
Found at year end

The decision still gets made, just without the number that would have changed it.

By the time the accounts explain what the contract really cost, the delivery year is over. The same pattern repeats with the next award and the next hire.

The questions your funders and board ask that nothing answers yet

These come up in the week of a decision, not at year end.

Which awards cover this contract’s staff costs in full?
What share of this new post is restricted money?
Which award pays the rest of that salary?
Where did last year’s grant go, line by line?
Could we evidence that for the funder this week?

That makes everything downstream harder.

AwardsHiringRestricted fundsClaimsBoard meetingsApplications

See which answers are missing

Three answers your finance should already hold before you decide

Same day. From live numbers. With the reasoning.

A year-end accountant files accurate accounts months later; a current register answers while the decision is still open.

3answers, same day
Award coverage before signing
Salary mapped to awards
Evidence pack kept current
Decide this week

Each of the three ends in the same place: a decision the board can take in the meeting it is raised.

Check your funding evidence

Your accounts say what happened. The board is asking what to do next.

Two different questions.

What changes by day ninety, and what happens before then

Four steps, with the handover run for you.

Before day one
Records in hand, handover managed
Ardein deals with your current accountant or bookkeeper, collects the records and agrees the plan.
Day 30
Every award reconciled to income
Awards are matched against money actually received, so coverage and any unclaimed balance are visible.
Day 60
Salaries mapped to the awards paying them
Each post is split across restricted and unrestricted money, so a hire can be priced before it is offered.
Day 90
Evidence goes out the week it is asked for
Board and funder figures arrive on the agreed date each month, with the backup already assembled.

See if Ardein fits

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

Sixty minutes with Gavin on your own records: a funding-flow review, restricted-fund visibility, an evidence checklist, a board-reporting gap review and a claims and reporting timetable.

It is the Funding and Finance Evidence Review.

You leave with the priority actions for the next ninety days, whether or not you go any further with Ardein.

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 carries no separate charge.

Who this answers for, and who it will not suit

It is worth two minutes to know which side you are on.

A fit if

You run a CIC, charity or community organisation with more than one funding stream.
A funder or commissioner has asked for evidence you could not produce quickly.
Contracts or awards are coming up and nobody can confirm what they cover.
You are about to hire and need the salary mapped to restricted money first.
The chief executive is running finance alongside running the organisation.

Not a fit if

The organisation takes most of its income in cash.
The work depends on CIS construction subcontracting.
You need records presented as something other than what they are.
Anti-money-laundering checks will not be completed.
Nobody can explain how the organisation’s money currently moves.

See where the gaps are

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

£200,000

of funding for which the paperwork had never been completed

It surfaced at a grant-funded not-for-profit during onboarding, reconciling funding awards against income received line by line. The claims were completed and submitted, and a funding register is now updated monthly and reviewed at each board meeting.

“”

Three answers, or another year of finding out afterwards

Keep the funding register current
Map salaries to awards
Send evidence the same week
Bring figures to every board

The point is not tidier records; it is signing, hiring and applying with the number in front of you.

Think your numbers should be answering this?

Check your funding evidence

Two minutes, and you will know whether this is worth a conversation.

See if your finance function fits your size / structure

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