Services

02. Managed services

Growing - Small and Medium size Entity (SME)

Who is this service for? An SME that cannot afford it's own full time professional advisor or financial expert

A business that is growing has slightly different challenges from a start-up. Some of the issues such businesses must consider include:

How do we put in place systems and procedures for example to ensure that the owner(s) is/are not spending sleepless nights on the business?
What makes our service unique?
How do we grow our sales and profits to beat the competition?
What other opportunities exist in the market?
We are (at risk of) failing - what can we do to turnaround the business?

Our advisory service comprises of "coming alongside" the entrepreneur and the other shareholders to help them put together a strategy to deal with the issues they face and then helping them monitor its implementation.

Managed services (aka fractional CFO services)

For those SMEs that are keen to have more hand holding, the "Managed Services" offering is day to day support which some might call a "fractional CFO service". What we provide is a case manager or administrator who supports you including in the following:

Ensuring regular management accounts are prepared and/or analysed.
Ensuring that your internal controls are working as designed and monitoring for how findings are being addressed.
Putting in place regular board meeting packs.
Undertaking a regular review of the company's marketing strategy including its digital strategy, the competitive landscape and doing field research as necessary.
Additional administrative tasks as necessary (e.g. compliance with regulatory requirements).

An example case study of this service is as follows:

The problem

A client invested in a modern poultry hatchery. They needed to understand how they were performing after 1 year in business- they needed accounts as well as a review of their internal control systems.

The solution

Working with them, after preparing their management accounts, we were able to successfully help them significantly improve their bookkeeping and internal controls. We for example noted that in some instances sales were being underreported. We also worked successfully with them to develop a model for valuing their parent stock(birds) so as to reflect these in the accounts. Our internal control review also pointed out a number of weaknesses in their systems such as concerns about the safety of their parent stock birds and weak controls over their various fixed assets.

Phase 2 of our work with them is expected to include regular business support (including accounting support/internal control review) as well as developing a business plan for their expansion into commercial poultry.

Turnaround management

Who is this service for? A business that is failing or at risk of failing

Why do businesses fail? If the entrepreneurs themselves knew, they would solve the issues. Often they need help. Nevertheless, there are 10 main causes of business failure but the top 3 are:

There is not enough demand for the product or service at a price that will produce a profit for the entity.
Owners who cannot get out of their own way. They may be stubborn, risk averse, conflict averse.
Out-of-control growth.

Our work with you will start with a diagnosis or analysis of the primary reasons for your challenges. Once we identify the core reasons, we shall work with you to develop a turnaround plan covering some of the following (as applicable):

Financial and reporting
Personnel
Customer relations

Failing is a very difficult season for any entrepreneur and so you want someone who will walk beside you. We shall work with you to put together a turnaround strategy and a timeline to deal with the issues you face and then help you to monitor the plan's implementation and successes. This will be an iterative process as sometimes the challenges have been there for a number of years and it takes time to deal with them.

Non Executive Director (NED)

Who is this service for? A business needs an independent professional (e.g. family businesses)

The typical SME is a family business - for example husband and wife and children. This is great, for they have passion, but there is a downside - "familiarity breeds contempt" as the saying goes and often ideas might not get considered fully or the informality of a family setting means good corporate governance is not put in place. A growing business needs good corporate governance if it is to succeed in the cutthroat competitive world of business. An independent NED will typically bring the following:

Experience - to fill in the gaps of the existing management team.
An independent and fresh perspective - as they are not involved in the day to day business they can ask questions that might seem obvious but are critical for a business, for example - "What is the direction of the business?", Are targets being met?" "Which competitors should you watch out for?" "Should you incur this expense or draw out this money?" Such questions help to keep the management team in check (in a healthy way).
Business connections and contacts.

We shall work with you to develop good corporate governance practices including a board charter (if none), board responsibilities and establishing a good frequency (cadence) of board meetings.

70 Years of Accumulated Practice

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Growing businesses in an increasingly competitive landscape need more than just financial advice, they need help in identifying the right strategy, how to deal with competitors, how to market, how to deal with risks and various other matters. Professionals who can do all this are not always available. The Managed services helps address this need.

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