Management Accounts & Cash Flow
Knowing where the business stands, early enough to act on it.
Yes. We can review margins, pricing, overheads and performance trends to identify where profit may be improved.
Yes. We can compare purchase, lease and finance options and show the impact on cash flow and profitability.
Yes. We can model the likely impact of new staff, equipment, premises, pricing changes and other growth decisions before you commit.
Yes. We can prepare cash flow and profit forecasts to support planning, funding applications and decision-making.
Yes. We can help improve financial information, identify issues, prepare forecasts and support the financial side of sale planning alongside your legal and corporate finance advisers.
We can help prepare forecasts, management information and supporting figures for lenders or investors, although the final lending decision remains with the provider.
Yes. We can help translate your goals into realistic financial targets and measures that can be reviewed regularly.
Yes. We can prepare a practical budget and compare actual results against it throughout the year.
Yes. We prepare clear financial reports — traditional management accounts, giving you a regular snapshot of your business's financial performance, including your profit and loss, balance sheet and key financial information. However, we believe business owners need more than just historical reports. Through our Strategic Review & Insights service, we transform those figures into meaningful insights, helping you understand what's driving your business today and what actions you should take next. By combining regular reporting with cash flow forecasting, profitability analysis, strategic planning and practical advice, we help you use your numbers to make better business decisions—not just look back at what's already happened.
Yes. We can build and update cash flow forecasts to help you anticipate pressure points, plan spending and make funding decisions.
It's not essential, but it helps. Because we work in the cloud with Xero, we can keep your forecast updated automatically from real transactions rather than relying on manual figures.
It isn't essential, but it makes a real difference. Because we work in the cloud with Xero, your reporting can be built from live transactions rather than figures typed up weeks later — so it's accurate and it's timely.
A short-term weekly view is useful when cash is tight, while a rolling 12-month forecast is often more useful for planning tax, recruitment and investment.
Monthly for most businesses, and within a few weeks of the month ending — late figures are history, not management information. Quarterly can be enough if the business is stable and predictable, but if cash is tight or growing quickly, monthly is the minimum.
Monthly updates are a sensible minimum for many businesses, while businesses with tight cash or rapid change may need a weekly rolling forecast.
As often as it's useful for you — many clients find a monthly or quarterly review keeps them firmly in control of cash and growth plans, with the forecast kept live in between.
Monthly works best for most businesses, because it keeps you close to what's happening. Quarterly can be right if your business is steadier or seasonal. We'll recommend what genuinely suits how you trade rather than selling you the biggest package.
Not at all. It's just as valuable for healthy, growing businesses — it's how you plan investment, hiring and tax with confidence rather than crossing your fingers.
Management accounts are usually part of it. Outsourced Finance is the complete finance function — bookkeeping, payroll, VAT, reporting and Virtual FD support together. If reporting and interpretation are what you're missing, this service on its own may be exactly the right starting point.
Yes — we'd start by getting the bookkeeping accurate and up to date, because reporting is only ever as reliable as the records behind it. We take over from an existing bookkeeper or accountant regularly, including part-way through a year, and we'll tell you honestly what needs putting right first.
The KPIs worth tracking depend on the business. Choose a small number that explain revenue, margin, cash or capacity � for example debtor days, utilisation, recurring revenue, average order value or labour cost.
A balance sheet shows the business's assets, liabilities and equity at a point in time. It includes items such as cash, customer debts, supplier balances, loans and tax liabilities.
It is our service for business owners who want to look forward, understand performance and use their financial information to make better decisions.
A profit and loss report summarises income and expenses for a month, quarter or year and shows the resulting profit or loss.
Debtors, creditors and working capital broadly reflects short-term assets and liabilities such as customer debts, stock and supplier balances. It helps explain why a profitable business can still need cash to fund growth.
The right measures depend on your business. They may include gross margin, cash runway, debtor days, recurring income, utilisation or profit by service or product.
Recruitment, marketing, systems, premises, stock and professional support can all increase before the additional sales are collected. Include the timing of those costs, not just the annual total.
Review sales, gross profit, overheads, net profit and cash every month. Those figures tell you whether the business is growing, whether it is keeping enough of what it earns and whether the profit is turning into cash.
Year-end accounts are a statutory record of a year that has already finished — they satisfy Companies House and HMRC. Management accounts are for you, produced monthly or quarterly while you can still act on them. One is compliance looking backwards; the other is information you can make decisions with.
You may have recorded sales that customers have not yet paid, bought stock, repaid loans or paid for equipment. Those cash movements do not necessarily match the profit recognised in the same period.
We'll go through them with you. A report you don't understand is no use to anybody, so your client manager will talk you through what's changed, what's working and what needs attention — in plain English, without the jargon.