Business Mapping Review
Most businesses that come to a fractional FD think they have a finance problem. The cash flow is unpredictable. The management accounts aren't useful. The margins are eroding. Those are real. But they're usually symptoms, not causes. This Business Mapping Review model exists because the whole picture is what matters.
The cash flow problem turns out to be a pricing problem. The margin erosion is actually an operational efficiency problem. The late management accounts are a governance problem. When you look only at finance, you see symptoms. When you look across all six dimensions, you see causes.
The financial performance is driven by how work is won, how it's priced, how it's delivered, and how decisions get made. Those sit in operations, commercial, governance, and strategy. Unless someone looks across all of them, the diagnosis is incomplete and so is the fix.
You've probably had advice before. From your accountant, from a consultant. The advice wasn't wrong, but it didn't quite hit the mark. Usually that's because it addressed one piece of the puzzle without seeing the whole picture.
Before the fix,
the diagnosis.
The Model
The six dimensions.
Where does your
business sit against each?
01 Financials
The numbers layer
Are the numbers accurate, timely, and useful? Can you explain last month's performance without opening a spreadsheet? Do your management accounts arrive within ten working days of month-end — and do you trust them enough to act on them?
“When did you last look at your accounts and immediately know what needed to change?”
Lots of FDs arrive and start in the numbers. That's understandable, it's what they're trained to do and they’ve only ever worked in finance. But a business doesn't run in a single dimension.
02 Commercial
The revenue layer
How does the business win work? Is pricing based on evidence or habit? Do you know which clients and services are genuinely profitable? Could you say, right now, what your margin is on your five largest clients or products?
“How do you decide when to walk away from work that doesn't make money?”
03 Governance
The decision layer
Are decisions clear, owned, and accountable? When was the last time a decision fell through the cracks because nobody owned it? Do you have a regular rhythm of meetings that actually drive action?
“When something goes wrong, is there a structure to catch it — or does it land on the owner?”
04 Operations
The delivery layer
Does the business run consistently when you're not watching? Are key processes documented, or do they live in people's heads? If your most experienced employee left tomorrow, what would fall apart first?
“When something goes wrong operationally, how long does it take before you know about it?”
05 Risk & Control
The resilience layer
What could go wrong, and is it managed? If a major client defaulted on payment next month, do you know how long you could operate? Are your financial controls strong enough that you'd spot a problem before it became a crisis?
“When did you last review your key risks — and what happened as a result?”
06 Strategy & Leadership
The direction layer
Where is the business going, and is the team aligned around it? Is the plan written down, or does it live in the owner's head? Can every member of your leadership team describe the same priorities?
“When did you last step back from the day-to-day and genuinely think about where the business is heading?”
What happens in a Business Mapping Review
A day that
pays for itself in clarity.
A Business Mapping Review is a structured day or two inside your business. We work through either just the first dimension on Financial Management or all six dimensions for a full Business Mapping Review, talking to you, reviewing the data, and asking the questions that reveal where the gaps sit.
Within a week, you receive a structured written report showing where the business is across each dimension, what to address first, and what good would look like. Not a hundred-page consulting document. A written set of priorities you can pick up and act on.
Most clients find that the exercise itself — the process of thinking about the business in this structured way — changes how they see their challenges before any work begins.
This is how I've always worked. In every organisation, the first thing I did was understand what was really going on across the whole business, not just the finance function. The Business Mapping Review model makes that process explicit and structured.
See where your business stands
Ready to start?
The output has value whether we work together beyond that point or not.
The Business Mapping Review is £3,000. The Financial Management Review is £2,250. Both are fixed-price with no ongoing commitment.
Not ready for a full review? The self-assessment questionnaire gives you a structured starting point in around an hour. Get in touch to request it →
If you know the issue is in the finance function specifically, the Financial Management Review is the more focused option.
Have a question? Read the FAQs →
Or if you're ready: Start a conversation →