KBS Finance

Start small. Only carry on if it's worth it.

A fixed-scope review. I would look at how the function actually runs rather than how the org chart describes it: the month end process, what gets rekeyed, where the controls are thin, how forecasts and reports are produced, and what the numbers are actually used for.

  1. 01

    Finance Function Review

    Two days — fixed scope, fixed fee

    I start by looking at how the finance function works day to day: where work is duplicated, where controls are weak, how reports and forecasts get produced, and who uses the numbers. That shows where automation and better processes will make a real difference.

    You get A written findings document and a prioritised list of what to fix, with an estimate of what each one is costing now.

  2. 02

    Transformation projects

    Scoped individually

    These could arise out of the finance function review, or you may have an area that you want working on specifically. Typically this means rebuilding a process, cutting out duplication and using automations where appropriate. The kind of workflows would be; rolling cash flow, month end reporting pack, a financial forecasting model.

    You get A working process the team can run, documented, owned by the business.

  3. 03

    Ongoing CFO retainer

    One to four days a month

    I would work with your team to own the financial strategy, cash flow forecasting, budgeting, management reporting and board-level insight that a growing company needs but can't yet justify as a full-time hire.

    You get Continuity — and a finance function that keeps improving.

On the tools

Some engagements produce software and some do not. Where they do, it is because building something was the cheapest way to solve the problem in front of us — not because I had a product to place. Nothing is licensed, there is no seat fee, and the business owns whatever gets built.

The reason this is affordable at all is that the economics of building bespoke tooling have changed. Work that would once have needed a development budget is now within reach of a business that simply wanted its month-end to stop hurting.