The Work I Do
The work takes one of two forms.
The work takes one of two forms, an ongoing retained relationship or a scoped project. Some clients know exactly which they need. Most don't, and that's fine, the right starting point usually becomes clear in the first conversation.
Retained Engagement
A few days a month, embedded in the business. I'm there for the leadership meetings, the monthly numbers, the commercial decisions, the cash flow conversations. Between visits I'm available, a phone call or an email away when something needs a response before the next visit.
Part-time in presence, not in commitment.
Project Work
Some clients start with a diagnostic, a Financial Management Review or a Business Mapping Review. Both are fixed-price, fixed-scope engagements with a clear output, a written assessment of where the business sits and what to address first.
Some arrive with a specific project already defined and start there instead..
The full range of scoped work is set out below.
The Retained Model
Every retained engagement is shaped around what the business actually needs. The scope and tier are agreed at the start and reviewed as the business and finance team develop. The three options below give a sense of how the commitment typically works in practice.
1 day per month
The right level when the finance team is capable and largely self-sufficient, but the owner wants an experienced FD in the room. Each month covers a review of the management accounts, oversight of the cash position, preparation across the full board agenda, and attendance at the board meeting itself. On site for the meeting, available remotely between visits.
2 days per month
Everything in Board Advisory, plus a monthly check-in with the finance team on priorities, progress, and emerging issues. The additional time covers cash flow management, annual budgeting and planning, pricing and margin work, and ad hoc advice to the owner between visits. Board meeting on site, balance of time remote.
4 days per month
The right level when the business is in a period of change — scaling, restructuring, preparing for a transaction, or managing a finance team transition. Weekly on-site presence. Finance team management and development. Twelve-week rolling forecasting. Commercial challenge across operations and delivery. Detailed modelling for specific decisions. Strategic work: acquisitions, funding options, growth planning.
Fees and day rates are available on request. Local travel within Buckinghamshire and Thames Valley is absorbed. All engagements are ongoing retainers with no fixed term, reviewed annually.
Financial Management or BUsiness Mapping Review
A short diagnostic Project to start
Full diagnostic
Business Mapping Review
Across all six dimensions
A structured review of your business, working across all six dimensions of the Business Maturity Mapping model. Finance, operations, governance, commercial, risk and strategy. At the end of it, you'll have a clear, written assessment of where the business sits, where the gaps are, and what to address first.
The right starting point when you know something isn't working but you're not sure where the issue really sits.
Both reviews follow the same shape. A preparation call to understand the context before the day begins. A day, sometimes two, working through the relevant dimensions, talking to you, looking at the data, asking the questions that don't usually get asked. A written report within a week setting out what I found, what matters most, and what to address first.
Most clients find the day itself useful before the report arrives. The process of looking at the business this way — systematically, from the outside — tends to surface questions that hadn't been asked and connections that hadn't been made. The report gives those observations structure and a clear set of priorities to work from.
The goal is simple, that you finish the process knowing exactly where you stand and what to do next.
Focused assessment
Financial Management Review
Inside the Finance Function
A focused assessment of the finance function itself — how it's set up, whether the management accounts are reliable, and what needs fixing to give the business the information it needs.
The right choice when you know the issue is in the numbers and you want someone experienced to tell you what needs fixing.
What this covers
The full range.
Every engagement is shaped around what the business actually needs. The lists below give a sense of the breadth of work, retained engagements typically draw on several of these simultaneously, scoped projects focus on one area with a defined output.
Retained engagement — what it typically covers
Management accounts oversight — accuracy, timeliness, and making them useful for decisions
Cash flow management and twelve-week rolling forecasting
Annual budgeting and planning
Pricing and margin analysis
Board and leadership meeting attendance
Finance team management and development
Banking and lender relationships
Commercial challenge across operations, sales, and delivery
Strategic and commercial sounding board for the owner
Scoped projects — specific pieces of work
Business Mapping Review — six-dimension diagnostic across the whole business
Financial Management Review — focused assessment of the finance function
Finance function build or rebuild
Management information redesign
Cash flow model build
Budget redesign
Pre-sale financial preparation and vendor-side support
Post-acquisition integration support
Client profitability and margin analysis
Pricing review
Interim cover
If what you need isn't on this list, it's worth a conversation. The work tends to find its own shape.
The Work I Do
The work takes one of two forms.
Most businesses arrive at a transition point. Something isn't working, a decision is coming, or the business has simply grown past the financial infrastructure behind it. The work takes one of two shapes, an ongoing retained relationship or a a scoped project, and there are three ways in, depending on where you are and how clearly the problem is defined.
Financial Management Review
A focused assessment of the finance function only. The right starting point when you know the issue is in the numbers. Scoped, fixed price, no ongoing commitment.
Business Mapping Review
The full six-dimension diagnostic. The right starting point when something isn't working but you can't pinpoint where. Scoped, fixed price, no ongoing commitment.
Direct start
Straight into a scoped project or retained engagement when the situation is already clear — a specific piece of analysis needed, a finance function that needs building, an imminent sale or acquisition, or an immediate need for ongoing senior support.
Ready to Start?
The right starting point
is a conversation.
Not a sales call, just an honest discussion about where the business is and whether I can help. Most clients find that the conversation itself is useful, regardless of what follows.
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