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International Expansion

Outsourced Finance Department for UK SMEs

A UK SME usually needs a finance function well before it can justify hiring a finance director, and the gap in between is where the books drift, invoices go uncollected and the board finds out about a cash problem the month it becomes one. We run the finance department as a monthly service: books kept current, management accounts produced on a fixed date, cash flow forecast forward rather than reported backward, and a set of numbers you can actually take into a board meeting or a bank conversation.

Start a projectWhat’s included

Scope

What'sincluded

Everything below is in the standard engagement. Anything outside it is agreed in writing before the work starts, never after.

  • Monthly bookkeeping and reconciliation across every UK bank and payment account
  • Management accounts: profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow, delivered on a fixed working day each month
  • Budget versus actual reporting, with variances explained rather than merely listed
  • A rolling cash flow forecast, so a shortfall is visible weeks before it arrives
  • Credit control: an ageing report and a follow-up process for overdue invoices
  • A monthly finance review call walking the board or the founder through the numbers and what needs a decision

Who this is for

Built for three situations

  • UK SMEs without a finance director
  • Founders raising debt or investment
  • Companies that have outgrown a part-time bookkeeper

Process

How thisactually runs

  1. Finance health check

    We review your current books, systems and reporting, whatever state they are in, and set out in writing what is missing before we build anything on top of it.

  2. Set up and catch up

    Chart of accounts, reporting templates and a forecast model built around your business, with any backlog brought current first.

  3. Monthly cycle

    Books closed, management accounts produced, cash flow forecast rolled forward, and overdue invoices chased, on the same schedule every month.

  4. Review and decisions

    A monthly call through the numbers and the variances, with the finance team available between calls for whatever decision the business is actually facing.

Deliverables

What you end up holding

  • Monthly management accounts: profit and loss, balance sheet and cash flow
  • A rolling cash flow forecast, updated every month
  • Budget versus actual reporting with variance commentary
  • An accounts receivable ageing report and credit control log
  • A board-ready reporting pack for investors, lenders or your own board

What we need from you

Documents required

  • Existing bookkeeping file, or bank statements if none exists yet
  • Prior management accounts or budgets, if any
  • Sales invoices, purchase invoices and payroll records
  • Any existing lender or investor reporting requirements

Missing something? Tell us anyway. We can usually work around a gap, and it is better to know before we start.

Next step

Tell us your situation and we will scope it.

Talk to us about it

Scope, fee and dates confirmed in writing before anything starts.

Questions

AboutOutsourced Finance Department for UK SMEs

  • How is this different from just outsourcing our bookkeeping?

    Bookkeeping records what already happened. This adds the layer on top: forecasting, budget analysis, credit control and board reporting, run by people who can explain what a number means, not only enter it. Most SMEs start with bookkeeping alone and add the finance department layer once the business is large enough that someone actually needs to act on the numbers, not just file them.

  • Do we get the same person every month?

    Yes. A named finance lead runs your account and sits on the monthly call, backed by the bookkeeping and tax team rather than working alone. Continuity is the point of the service: a board or a lender should not have to re-explain the business every quarter.

  • Can this replace a finance director for a funding round?

    It gets you most of the way. Clean management accounts, a credible forecast and a finance lead who can answer investor questions cover what most seed and early Series A due diligence actually asks for. A finance director becomes worth hiring once the business needs someone in the room making capital allocation calls day to day, which is a different job from producing the numbers.

  • What size of business is this built for?

    Most clients are UK SMEs with revenue from roughly £500,000 up to a few million pounds, past the point a spreadsheet and a part-time bookkeeper can keep up, and not yet at the size that justifies a full-time finance director. Below that, our standalone bookkeeping service is usually the better fit.

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