Business problems

The problems that cost money quietly.

Nobody arrives asking for “a costing review”. They arrive because something is wrong and the accounting system will not say what. Below are the problems that come up most — each with a straight answer about what you would actually get.

The most common ones are marked Worked example — those have a complete case you can open and work through, start to finish.

01 — Cash

“There is never as much money as there should be.”

The gap between a profitable month and a comfortable bank account is almost always timing.

Worked example “How long does our cash actually last?” What you get: a week-by-week picture of your bank balance for the next quarter, showing exactly which week gets tight and by how much — not one runway number that hides the shape. Open the full case Cash “We are growing, so why is there less money?” What you get: the amount of cash your growth is locking into unpaid invoices and stock each month, and the point at which growing faster starts to be unaffordable. Planning & Forecasting Cash “Customers pay us late and I do not know what it costs.” What you get: your collection delay converted into money, where the delay really begins — usually your own invoicing, not the customer — and what ten days faster is worth. Planning & Forecasting Cash “A big bill lands and it always hurts.” What you get: tax, insurance, rent reviews and equipment mapped onto a calendar against your cash, so the quarter is planned instead of survived. Planning & Forecasting Cash “The bank wants forecasts and I do not know what to send.” What you get: a projection pack a lender will accept, with the assumptions visible and defensible — which is the part that decides how the meeting goes. Planning & Forecasting Cash “I do not trust the cash figure in our accounts.” What you get: reconciled bank, receivable and payable balances, and a plain explanation of every difference between the ledger and reality. Accounting Support

02 — Profit & pricing

“We are busy. I am not sure we are better off for it.”

Revenue is visible. What each piece of work costs you almost never is.

Worked example “Which clients are we actually losing money on?” What you get: every client ranked by real profit once overhead is shared out fairly — and the ones you would genuinely be better off without, which is a much shorter list than people expect. Open the full case Worked example “Are we charging enough?” What you get: what your work truly costs, what a price rise does to profit, and how many customers you could afford to lose before it stops being worth doing. Open the full case Pricing “Our biggest customer is asking for a discount.” What you get: the extra volume that discount would have to bring in just to break even, and what it sets as a precedent with everyone else who finds out. Costing & Pricing Costing “I do not know what one job really costs us.” What you get: a defensible cost per job, product or hour — including the labour and overhead currently sitting in a general expenses line where nobody sees it. Costing & Pricing Profit “Our margin is slipping and nobody can say why.” What you get: the drop broken into its causes — price, cost, mix or work given away free — so you fix the one that is actually moving instead of all four. Costing & Pricing Profit “How much do we need to sell just to stand still?” What you get: your break-even in units, jobs or revenue, per month and per line — and how much headroom you have before a quiet month becomes a loss. Costing & Pricing

03 — Growth & big decisions

“I have to commit, and I am guessing.”

The decisions that are hardest to reverse are usually the ones made with the least analysis.

Worked example “Can we afford to hire?” What you get: the hire tested against your cash floor rather than your profit — usually an affordable answer with a different start date attached. Open the full case Decisions “Should we take this large contract?” What you get: margin, cash profile and concentration risk together — because a contract can be profitable and still be the thing that breaks the business. Fractional CFO Planning “What does next year look like?” What you get: a budget built from things you control — volume, price, headcount, terms — rather than last year plus ten percent, and a monthly check on how it is going. Planning & Forecasting Planning “What if our best month never arrives?” What you get: a base, a bad case and a good case on the same model, plus the decision you would take first in each — so the difference is assumptions, not mood. Planning & Forecasting Decisions “Should we buy the equipment or keep renting?” What you get: the two options compared on cash, not on the sticker price, over the period you would actually keep it — including what it does to your borrowing capacity. Fractional CFO Decisions “One customer is half our revenue and it worries me.” What you get: what losing them would actually do to profit and cash, how long you could carry it, and what has to be true before you are safe. Fractional CFO

04 — Risk & control

“We grew. Our habits did not.”

Almost never dishonesty. Usually a process that fitted a business half this size.

Worked example “Could money be going out without anyone checking?” What you get: every payment in the period checked for being paid twice, split under an approval limit, or approved by whoever entered it — with a figure against each finding. Open the full case Controls “Only one person understands our finances.” What you get: a written record of how money actually moves through your business, so the knowledge stops living in one head — and a realistic second pair of eyes for a small team. Financial Controls Controls “Anyone can change a supplier’s bank details.” What you get: the specific gaps in who can change what, ranked by what each one could cost you, with the smallest change that closes each — not a policy borrowed from a large company. Financial Controls Internal audit “Can someone independent look at how this really works?” What you get: one process — purchasing, payroll, expenses or sales — walked through and tested end to end, with findings rated by risk and a plan with names and dates. Internal Audit Controls “Expenses and company cards have got out of hand.” What you get: what is actually being spent and by whom, where the limits are being worked around, and a policy short enough that people will follow it. Financial Controls Internal audit “Stock never matches what the system says.” What you get: where the difference is created — receiving, issuing, returns or write-offs — what it has cost over the year, and the control that stops it recurring. Internal Audit

05 — Knowing where you stand

“By the time I see the numbers, it is too late to do anything.”

Reporting is not paperwork. It is how quickly you find out you were wrong.

Reporting “Our accounts arrive six weeks after month-end.” What you get: a close calendar and a pack that lands on a known date every month, containing the six numbers that change what you do rather than forty that do not. Management Reporting Reporting “We rebuild the same spreadsheet every month.” What you get: your scattered records brought into one reconciled view, produced the same way each month instead of from scratch — and written down so it survives without you. Management Reporting Reporting “We do not have the reports you are asking for.” What you get: them, rebuilt. Cash flow, aged debtors and costing can all be reconstructed from records you already have — and that rebuilding is often the first thing of real value. Management Reporting Accounting “The books are behind and I am avoiding them.” What you get: the ledger cleaned up and reconciled, with a plain list of what was wrong and what it changes — no lecture about how it got that way. Accounting Support Monthly “I want someone senior looking at this every month.” What you get: close, reporting, an updated forecast and a monthly conversation about what to do — not a report emailed to you and never discussed. Monthly Finance All of it “Several of these are true and I do not know where to start.” What you get: a Financial Health Review — all seven areas examined at once, every finding costed, and a ranked plan telling you which problem is actually the expensive one. Financial Health Review

Your problem is not on this list?

Then describe it in one sentence. You will get a straight answer about whether it can be solved, roughly what it would take, and what it is likely worth — before any question of working together comes up.

Describe your problem Start with a Financial Health Review