Approach
We sit beside the people who already close the books. The work is easier when that relationship is clear: your accountant remains responsible for the ledger; we remain responsible for the pack, the forecast and the models that read from it. The method below is the one we use on most engagements. It is short on ceremony and long on written artefacts, because a file that cannot be explained will not survive the next close.
Principles
Revenue, cash and contribution are defined once and reused in the pack, the forecast and the dashboard. If a number needs a special treatment, the treatment is written next to it. Parallel versions of the same month are how trust leaks out of a finance team, and we will not keep a second unofficial file in circulation.
A pack is not finished when the charts look tidy. It is finished when the control accounts have been tied out and the cash line can be walked to the bank. We would rather send a thinner pack on time than a decorated one that cannot be defended in the room.
Profit is a monthly conversation. Cash is a weekly one. The 13-week file is rebuilt from the bank and the receivables file, then compared with what actually cleared. A forecast that is never marked against actuals is a story, and stories do not pay suppliers on a Friday afternoon in this city.
Every model, pack and dashboard is documented to a standard an incoming manager can follow. If a step exists only in our heads, it is not finished. Handover is part of the build, whether you keep us on a retainer or take the layer in-house after the second live close.
Diagnostic
The diagnostic is a scoped piece of work with a written fee. It is how we learn whether we can help, and how you learn whether the plan is worth commissioning. We spend the first days on interviews: finance, the operator who already runs a shadow spreadsheet, and whoever signs the pack. We then walk a recent close, list the systems and files that feed it, and test a handful of figures that the business already argues about.
At the end you receive three things. A findings note that states what is late, what cannot be reconciled, and what the pack is being asked to do that the data cannot support. A data map of entities, ledgers, extracts and the spreadsheets that still hold the truth. A prioritised build plan with indicative effort and a recommended sequence, so reporting and cash come before a dashboard that would only decorate the same problem.
Nothing in the diagnostic commits you to the build. The note is yours. If you take it to another provider, it will still be a usable brief.
Build
Data access is arranged through systems you own. We use named users, time-limited access and the least privilege that still lets us extract what the pack needs. We do not copy the ledger to a machine we keep. Working files live in your tenancy or in a shared space you control. When a spreadsheet is still the right tool, it is built so a refresh is a sequence of steps, not a feat of memory.
Model structure is agreed before the first large sheet is locked: entities, currencies, the chart mapping, and the cuts the commercial views will need. Review cycles are short. Your finance lead sees a working file early enough to object to a definition while it is still cheap to change. We run at least one live month through the new pack or forecast and reconcile it to the ledger before we treat the build as complete.
If the data cannot support a view you wanted, we say so in the review and we cut the view rather than invent a figure. That conversation is easier in week three than in week ten.
Run
The run phase is where the file becomes a habit. We agree a monthly pack calendar in writing: flash date, pack date, commentary owner, and the meeting that will use it. A typical rhythm is a flash in the first week, a pack by day eight to ten, and a thirty-minute review with finance and whoever has to act on the variances. The pack contents stay still from month to month so the meeting can be about the business.
Cash is weekly. The 13-week file is rebuilt, last week is marked against the bank, and a short call names the receipts and payments that will move the next fortnight. This is also where working-capital issues surface while they are still invoices, not a surprise at month-end.
Once a quarter we reforecast the remaining year in the same structure as the budget and the pack. Drivers are updated; the original budget remains as the board reference. If you are on a retainer, this cycle is part of the monthly fee unless the quarter includes a structural change that needs a separate model.
After two or three live closes we ask, in writing, whether you want a handover or a continuing retainer. Either answer is a complete one. The documentation is produced in both cases.
Confidentiality
We sign a non-disclosure agreement before we see anything beyond a public website. Access is through client-owned systems: your accounting tenant, your drive, your warehouse. We take the least privilege that still lets us do the work, and we give it back when the engagement ends. Working papers that contain your figures live in your space. We do not keep a private archive of client ledgers “for reference”.
Form submissions on this website are validated and then discarded; they are not written to a file or a database on our server. The privacy notice sets out what we collect, the lawful basis we rely on, and how to ask a question about your data. If a later engagement needs a data-processing schedule, it will be in the written proposal, not implied by a website form.
Next step
If you want a findings note and a build plan before you commission a pack, the diagnostic is the right first engagement. Two weeks, a written fee, and a document you can take to your board.