Case 1

A small, but ambitious and growing client approached us to help them recruit a financial controller to improve the financial information available to them.  They were using a marketing employee to input information and it was taking more and more of their time, issues were not being resolved quickly enough and the business was suffering.

Diane Brennan comments “We discussed their requirements further and found that they were at a critical point in their business development.  They obviously needed accounting support to help drive the business forward but could not justify the cost of a full time Financial Controller.”

Diane continues “We seconded a member of our outsourcing team to the client once a week to raise the sales invoices, post the purchase invoices, perform supplier statement reconciliations, and look after cash management, including the settlement of suppliers.

We implemented new controls, set up systems and undertook not only all the essential administrative accounting work but also reported on the monthly accounts we produced.  This, not only released existing staff to return to their own specialties, but also provided the information and analysis to allow management to concentrate on the strategic direction and growth of the business.”

“Although they are now large enough to justify employing their own accounts department and Financial Controller, they have asked us to continue with our outsourced service as we are still much more cost effective and they are pleased with the reliable and timely information and analysis we provide.”

Case 2

An established client with an extensive sales mix, was a profitable business and looking to expand.  The client’s current accounting system, however, did not provide the information to enable them to evaluate which direction the expansion should take, so they asked us to help.

Mike Jackson explains “We worked with our clients’ accounts staff to breakdown and analyse the business within the different sales areas. Work culminated in the production of a contribution statement, summarising turnover, cost and contribution for each market segment within the business.”

“The results were more enlightening than anticipated and, not only did we find that some areas of the business were more profitable than others, one sector was actually loss making.  The information produced by our management accounts, was analysed and acted upon to enhance the performance of the business as a whole.”

“Following our initial work, we devised a plan of action to exit the loss making part of their business and work with our client, to raise funds to invest in developing the most lucrative sector.” 

“They have also engaged us to produce quarterly management accounts and variance analysis that they say is an invaluable tool, vital to their management decisions.  Indeed they are now achieving higher gross profit margins and have significant cash reserves for future investments and the directors get more time to spend on the golf course!”