Our Services
Tailored finance business partnering services to help grow your profits
We have a complete range of services we can offer to help your business grow, organised into the 4 areas below.
Pick and choose what you require based on your business needs and budget - we're confident we'll soon become a vital member of your team. Or equally if you're not sure what you need, but know you need some help - please get in touch for a no obligation conversation.
Your part time Finance Director (FD)
Nick can act as your part time Finance Director, providing your business with the insight, experience and skills you need, without the expense of a full time employee - an ideal solution for most SMEs.
Most Small and Medium sized Enterprises can neither afford nor require a full time Finance Director - so who will help guide the MD through the critical finance side of running their business? That's where an experienced part time FD can be instrumental in helping your business both survive and thrive.
We can work alongside you, offering:
- help and guidance on the financial health of your business;
- reviewing the completeness, feasibility and funding of your growth plans;
- creating bespoke financial forecast models to plan for growth and working capital requirements
- management and oversight of your in house finance team;
- preparation and/or review of management accounts and budgets;
- advice on costs savings or growth opportunities;
- advice and help with financing;
- implementing and evolving processes, systems and governance procedures suitable for your company size as you grow.
- advising on an exit plan and overseeing a sale process
As someone who also has previous experience working as a Managing Director of two successful SMEs, and a Non-Executive Director, aswell as career expereince in commercial roles, you will aslo find Nick a great sounding board for all things finance and beyond. This means you effectively get a bonus Non-Exec as well as your Finance Director when you appoint us.
As with all such working relationships, chemistry, alignment and understanding is key, so please get in touch to start the conversation and see if we can be the right fit for you.
Accounting & Tax
For SMEs on FreeAgent or Xero we can also provide the full suite of Accounting and Tax compliance services you require:
- Annual Accounts - preparation and submission, either under FRS105 for Micro-entities, or FRS102 Section 1A for Small companies.
- Corporation tax - computations and submission of annual CT600 return.
- VAT returns - calculation and submission monthly or quarterly.
- Payroll - monthly preparation of payslips, and submission of EPS & FPS. Annual calculation of P11D.
- Self-assessment tax returns - annual preparation and submsission of of SA100 returns for Directors.
- Confirmation Statements - annual review and submission of CS01 confirmation statement.
We also work with a a number of trusted partners, including but not limited to:
- a specialist payroll provider for larger payrolls.
- a trusted R&D tax credit advisor for eligibility exploration and calculations within this complex specialist area.
- a financial advisor specialising in pensions, mortgages and personal tax planning.
- a large accountancy firm specialising in personal tax planning for inheritance tax and capital gains tax.
- an SME focussed law firm.
We will also look for opportunities for you to enhance your business and earnings as we work through these services, helping you to optimise your remuneration and profits.
If you are already working with an accountant providing these services, and don't wish to move, we can still work with you via the FD, Consultancy or Bookkeeping services that these firms will typically not provide.
Bookkeeping, Management Accounts & Software
Bookkeeping
All good information requires good source data – accurate and timely Bookkeeping is where it all begins.
Bookkeeping is the cornerstone of good financial management and insight, as without it you simply cannot rely on the information your finance system is giving you.
Raising customer invoices, reconciling bank transactions, processing supplier bills, posting and reviewing employee expenses and posting journals are all essential elements. Done accurately and in a timely fashion, they will give you information that can be relied upon for decision making, and ensure you stay the right side of the law when it comes to your reporting and tax obligations.
Some of the common problems we see with poor bookkeeping are:
- Customer payments not reconciled against invoices in a timely or accurate fashion, meaning you are chasing customers who have already paid, or you don’t know what debt is ageing.
- Suppliers getting paid twice.
- Incorrect treatment of VAT – the VAT rules are notoriously complex and this is an area where incorrect submissions can prove costly, either in missed input VAT being reclaimed, or penalties and fines from HMRC.
We can be your bookkeeper, freeing up your time to run your business, taking the stress and time out of bookkeeping. Our tailored approach works well here, with us being able to agree how we dovetail – for example many clients like to raise their own customer invoices, with us then doing the rest.
Even if you decide to do your own bookkeeping, at a bare minimum we will provide a “co-pilot” service, regularly checking how you are getting on and advising of any corrections that need to be made, or opportunities we spot. This is especially important before any compliance milestones (such as VAT returns or annual accounts) are completed.
Management Accounts
Management Accounts are essential in every large business, but often overlooked, incomplete or irregular in smaller businesses.
Whereas Financial Accounts are designed for compliance purposes to satisfy HMRC and Companies House, Management Accounts are purely made for an internal audience. They are tailored to the individual business, reporting on the KPI’s or information that will help the directors understand how results are arising and make informed decisions.
They should always cover off the Profit & Loss AND show the Balance Sheet and Cash Flow statement for the period (the last two are often overlooked). Typically they will also show variances to Budget and prior year, so you can assess performance against plan and previous periods.
We also always provide a Balance Sheet Reconciliation file alongside our management accounts, giving you a schedule of what makes up each Asset or Liability on the balance sheet, and peace of mind there are no black holes or unknown "reconciling items".
If you’re a single director personal service company, the built in reports within your accounting software will likely suffice. However if you are larger and/or growing business, getting some bespoke management accounts and a budget in place sooner rather than later is advised.
As both a chartered management accountant, and someone who has implemented many bespoke sets of management accounts across small and larger businesses previously, this a real strength of Nick’s.
Software
The two accounting software packages we work with are FreeAgent and Xero, and we are a certified partner with each.
FreeAgent is a great tool - not only is it simple to use (with all the bookkeeping features you'd expect), but it can also complete and file your annual accounts and corporation tax if you are classed as a Micro-Entity, keeping your year-end costs down, aswell as your personal self-assessment return.
Furthermore, it's free if you have a NatWest, RBS or Mettle bank account.
Xero is ideal for slightly larger SMEs who have more complex accounting needs and require more features, better reporting or want more integrations with other software.
As a general rule, FreeAgent is great for small businesses up to circa 10 employees mainly providing services. Over that number, or if you are a product-based business with stock, want multiple integrations with other cloud software, or want monthly management accounts it is worth considering Xero.
If you are unsure, we can help you make the right choice. If you already use either software, transferring on to our partner dashboard (FreeAgent) or XeroHQ (Xero) is very straightforward.
Communication with Jackdaw Four Finance is both secure and easy via our Client Portal, keeping you both safe and informed.
Consultancy
We can offer a variety of finance based consultancy services, for one off projects or ongoing support.
These include, but are not limited to:
- Bespoke Financial Forecast Models
- Integrated Profit & Loss, Balance Sheet and Cash Flow forecasting models tailored to your business goals via its revenue and cost drivers. In our opinion this is absolutely critical for any business.
- Management Accounting
- design and production of management accounts to give you critical and timely insights into the performance of your business
- Funding advice
- help on how to fund your business via either Equity or Debt, and help obtaining financing
- Financial Systems & Processes (inc Governance)
- advice on how to get efficient and robust processes in your business, on appropriate software
- Help creating or transitioning your company
- Guiding you through the Companies House process, and advising on all other aspects e.g. bank accounts, VAT, PAYE, Corporation Tax etc
- Cashflow Management and Forecasting
- Cash is critical - whether you are trying to fund growth or want to understand what resilience your business has, every business needs to understand the impact of their plans or scenarios on their cash position, short and long term. We can help with putting in place the controls and models to give this insight, as well as advising on how to put in place the right funding.
- Exit planning
- helping you understand the options and create an exit strategy. We can also advise you through a sale process.
- or... [insert your project here] - what challenges or opportunities do you need help with?
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