What businesses ask before hiring us

Creative agencies and production companies, health and wellbeing businesses, sports organisations, and technology and AI startups. A significant portion of our work is with groups - owners running several companies, or one business operating across multiple locations - where entities share costs, invoice each other and require consolidation. We are equally comfortable with project-based revenue, international clients and businesses going through a funding round. Our case studies show the kind of work.

Complexity matters more than size. Our clients are typically limited companies with staff or contractors, VAT to manage, more than one revenue stream, and growth that finance needs to keep pace with. If you’re a sole trader who needs one self-assessment return a year, a local high-street accountant will serve you better and cost less. We’ll tell you on the discovery call if we’re not the right fit. Not sure? The readiness assessment takes seven questions and suggests a level.

This depends on your level and on what your business requires; we agree the scope with you on the discovery call rather than applying a fixed package. Broadly, it ranges from a monthly profit and loss with commentary through to full management accounts, KPI dashboards, forecasting and multi-entity consolidation. Our services and pricing page sets out what each level typically includes.

Either. Most clients start with us preparing the payment run for their approval, and some ask us to make the payments too. In both cases, you approve before any funds move.

Yes. Credit control is a core part of our service. We chase your debtors, follow up on purchase orders and remittances, and maintain the aged receivables ledger so you have an accurate view of what is owed.

Yes. Cross-border VAT and multi-entity groups are routine for us, including cases where two entities in different countries invoice the same client. We review the treatment ahead of each return rather than identifying errors at year end.

Every engagement has a named lead who reviews all work before it reaches you: Michaela Riaz, our Managing Director, or Anna Quigley, our Finance Manager. Our accounting team runs the day-to-day, and you can deal with them directly too. You won’t be passed between people from one quarter to the next. You can see who they are on our Team page.

No. Our own team does all of it, and we’ll confirm exactly who’s on your account before you sign. Nothing is passed to a third-party processing firm.

A second person always has visibility of your file, and we include a colleague on client correspondence as standard. Deadlines are not affected by annual leave.

Yes, and we frequently do. We work with in-house bookkeepers, operations partners and other advisers, and we agree responsibilities at the outset so nothing is duplicated or missed. Hiring us doesn’t mean replacing anyone.

Yes. We hold professional indemnity insurance covering the work we carry out for clients. Details are available on request.

Retainers start at £1,000 a month at Foundations (turnover under £1m), £5,500 at Growth (£1m–£5m) and £10,000 at Partner (above £5m), excluding VAT. Each figure is the floor of its band, not an average: your turnover sets the band, and the fee within it depends on transaction volume, number of accounts, invoice volume and complexity. You get a quote after a short discovery call, confirmed in writing before you commit. Projects are quoted on their own scope, and our services and pricing page gives a range for each.

We send a revised quote before starting the extra work, and we don’t go ahead until you’ve approved the cost. Add-ons and project work - payroll, systems implementation, audit preparation, remediation - are quoted separately rather than absorbed into the monthly fee. You will not be invoiced for anything you have not approved. As your volumes change, we review whether you are still on the right level rather than leaving you on a fee that no longer matches the work.

No. Questions during the month are included in the fee, and every retainer includes a monthly review call: 30 minutes at Foundations, an hour at Growth, and board attendance at Partner. Defined pieces of advisory work are quoted separately, so the distinction between a question and a commissioned project is always clear.

Your accounting file, records and data belong to you and remain with you. On leaving, we transfer everything to your new accountant and respond promptly to their professional clearance request, at no charge, provided this falls within your notice period. Any work requested after that point is quoted separately.

Three months to start, then month to month with a month’s notice. The initial period allows the work to settle before it is assessed; after that, you are never more than a month from ending the engagement.

It’s free, it takes 20 minutes over Google Meet, and it’s with Michaela Riaz, our Managing Director. We look at your set-up and tell you which level fits, or whether a one-off project would serve you better, and if we’re not the right fit, we’ll say so. Ask for a call through the contact form and we’ll reply within 24 hours to agree a time. If you go ahead, the quote comes in writing before you commit.

Within a week is realistic for most clients, and we work around your timing. If you have an urgent deadline approaching - a VAT return, an overdue filing, a funding round - raise it on the discovery call, so we can plan for it and tell you straight whether we can meet it.

Tell them you’re moving and we’ll do the rest. We write to them for professional clearance and your records, and we agree the cut-off point so nothing is missed between us. Most transfers take around two weeks, with no gap in filing.

Yes. We regularly take on companies with overdue returns, unfiled accounts or outstanding HMRC correspondence, including several years at once. Before we begin, we will set out what is outstanding, what it will cost to bring up to date, and the likely penalty position. Clearing a backlog like this is usually a Remediation Sprint.

No - it is a common starting point. Disconnected bank feeds, unmatched payments, duplicate entries and foreign currency that has not synced correctly are all routine to resolve. Anything we can’t fix on our own, we’ll flag, with exactly what we need from you. A bigger clean-up runs as a Remediation Sprint.

No. We also work with QuickBooks and Sage, so there is no requirement to change systems in order to work with us. Xero is our recommendation and where we work most efficiently; if you would like to move, we handle the migration as a systems implementation project, quoted separately from your monthly fee.

We require adviser-level access to your accounting file and, where relevant, view access to your bank. Subscriptions remain in your name and you can withdraw our access at any time. Your records are never held in an account you cannot reach.

We register as your agent, which allows us to file and correspond with HMRC on your behalf, and we handle Companies House filings and confirmation statements. You retain your own Government Gateway credentials.