Has your business grown to the point that you need someone managing the finance aspect of your business, but you don’t want the risks and complications of having a full time, employed, in house Finance Director?

How it works

We use a mixture of Cloud Solutions, document sharing, on site visits and off site communications to offer you the service of an FD at a fraction of the cost. There is less risk and complication for you, as well as no redundancy and HR issues, no worries about covering holidays, whether there is enough work there to fill their time and also takes away the hassle of keeping up to date with new regulations and compliance issues.

You will be given a designated Client Relations Manager, with whom you can contact by telephone, mobile, email, Skype or even text! So they can be contactable whenever you need them. You will also be given a support CRM as a back-up for annual leave and sickness – so someone will always be there when you need them (within reason)!

How much will this service cost?

• Typically an in house Finance Director will cost £50k plus (including on-costs) and included in this would be a holiday entitlement of 5.6 weeks per annum.
• Our service is a fixed fee package, calculated based on the number of transactions that occur on average per month in your business and turnover.
• If you are new to this model and require “catch up” work to be done to get your books in state to continue under this model, then this work will be quoted for separately.
• Our caluculated fixed fees require payment by monthly standing order.

  Get our Virtual FD Service

Benefits of having a Finance Director Service

Management accounts are not compulsory, but businesses of all sizes should really consider them as a “must”. Are you guilty of falling into the trap of sending your paperwork into your accountant as a reaction to a filing deadline coming? Meaning that you could be finding out 6 months after your year-end that you either achieved good profits last year and now have a huge tax bill to find the cash for in the coming months, or actually lost money last year and are now trying to react to this in a period where your losses could be getting bigger?

By having on-going management information, you can see patterns in your profits and spending. You can then use this information to be reactive to your business industry and ensure that your business decisions are in line with your aims and profit expectations. If you know how much profit your business is making, you can also determine future tax bills much earlier and plan your cash flow for these events.

By letting us handle this process for you, you will have the information in terms of the accounts, including a profit and loss, balance sheet and report of your performance and position but also have an accountant to interpret what the accounts mean.

What is typically included in a Virtual FD package?

• Bookkeeping – This will include processing of your sales and purchase ledger, reconciliation of bank accounts and cash accounts, identify and account for capital expenditure.
• Payroll service – If required on a weekly or monthly basis
• Tax Review – We will assess your tax bill on a monthly basis and carry out a six monthly tax planning review
• Monthly or Quarterly management accounts – We will prepare management accounts and include adjustments for accruals, prepayments, depreciation, hire purchase accounts, loan accounts and reconcile all balance sheet items
• Board review and report – Your monthly or quarterly management accounts will be presented to you in a board meeting, either at your premises or ours, outlining the position and performance of your company during the last period. We will include a small report, outlining any specific findings, cost savings or improvements that could be made or ideas for discussion with the board.
• 2 on site visits per month – (Including board meeting) - This helps us understand your business and see if from an in house point of view. We can ensure all queries get resolved as early as possible and be around for you if you need any general financial advice.
• Unlimited general financial advice phone calls – Unlimited general advice phone calls, should you require any in depth project, this will be quoted for separately.

What can be added as optional extras?

• Supplier payments – If preferred we can get involved with the creditor payment runs if you require (ultimately the payments would have to be authorised by a Director)
• Cash flow forecasting – If we are involved with the payment of creditors then we can get involved with weekly or daily cash flow forecasting. This is particularly useful where cash flow is tight and can help make important decisions and eliminate problems such as unpaid items and related bank charges. It can also help improve credit performance. Where we are not involved with the payments and receipts system, we can assist you in setting up a cash flow system and train you on using and monitoring it regularly.
• Credit control – Management of your aged debtors is an automatic part of your subscription, however at your request we can involve automatic systems to keep on top of your debts – with a set structure of sending reminders, second reminder and further action. Beyond this we have relationships with debt collection agencies that can take matters further at your request (use of the debt collection agency would incur a fee from them direct based on amount collected and would be agreed in advance)
• Year-end accounts and tax returns (if we are not already doing this)
• Coaching support – helping to hold you accountable to taking the most important actions to stop you being the busy fool and help you move your business forward.
• Be SMART - In addition to understanding the numbers in your business it is also important to have one eye on the bigger picture. It is simply not enough to look backwards you must also be planning and taking steps forward.  This service is designed to give you an opportunity to take a step back from the nitty gritty on a regular basis.
• SMARTer Team Building - One of the easiest ways to increase a team’s motivation and commitment to the business is by asking them for their feedback. Many businesses have annual team surveys, but our SMARTer Team Building service is completed in a way that increases the levels of honesty making the process much more effective.
• SMARTer Teams - We all know instinctively that our people are different. Our SMARTer Teams service will help you to understand the people that work for you. Not only can this improve communication and the ease of implementing change, but it can also improve overall efficiency levels in the business.
• SMART HR - This service is designed for those business owners who want to get the most out of their appraisal process. A good appraisal process will increase your team’s motivation and efficiency levels.  We can also help guide you through your people related frustrations and offer impartial advice.