Outsourced FD

As a business travels through its lifecycle, from start-up to being established and thriving, its needs also develop. The expertise required to shape and steer the business grows in proportion to the challenges the business faces, and at the many decision points that arise, the level of knowledge and experience required can leave business owners struggling to keep up.

People start businesses for all sorts of reasons, and with many different backgrounds, but it’s highly unusual for them to have a solid financial experience, or to be able to afford to recruit the level of flexible expertise they could really benefit from, into the business.

Initially there’s no need to have that level of experience ‘in-house’ as the call upon it isn’t significant enough to warrant the expense, but as time goes on the need for the expertise grows, though still not necessarily to the point of wanting, or being able to afford, a full-time recruit.

That’s where we come in!

For a fraction of the cost of recruiting an internal, full time resource, our Outsourced FD service offers the perfect solution for developing businesses, whatever stage they may be at, or whatever size they may be.

We provide the focus, financial experience and advice that’s required, supplementing the existing knowledge in the business and providing vital support to the owners and management team.

A totally bespoke and flexible package, services adapt to the specific and changing needs of each client, and will include as a minimum:

• An initial, lengthy meeting to investigate and understand the reasons for enquiring about Outsourced FD, the business challenges and goals. This is the opportunity for both parties to establish whether the relationship will be successful; there needs to be absolute honesty and trust for real success. We’ll also look at the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that will make the most difference to the business, and find out whether those can be found easily within the business, suggesting ways to make this the case.
• Regular discussions around predetermined areas and objectives, alongside more general updates on events, successes and challenges since the last conversation. These can be monthly or quarterly, with conversations in between as needed.
• Regular checks on progress towards agreed action points and targets, bringing accountability and focus.
• Reviews of financial developments such as performance against agreed budgets, and identified key KPIs.

What is the benefit for me of an Outsourced FD?

Having offered a similar service for more than 15 years across a range of industries, business owners have seen the following benefits, amongst others:

• Broad ranging, forward looking and proactive advice, rather than historical figures.
• Higher profits, in some cases up to 400%
• A greatly improved understanding of their business, how it works and the processes to implement to improve it.
• A much better understanding of the biggest influencers to the business’s success.
• A clearer set of goals for the business that are more congruent with personal goals and aspirations.
• Someone who will challenge opinions, goals and plans. Being a business owner can be lonely, with few who will do so; we will! Then, we’ll support you every step of the way to achieve what you set out to.
• More control over the demands of the business, and subsequently a better balance between those demands and a private life.
• Access to an external, impartial sounding board to ‘sense-check’ ideas, then someone who can provide the support until they are achieved.