Insights
Short, practical perspectives on the questions we hear most often — cash, margin, reporting, funding, systems, exit.
Many business owners have a relationship with their accountant that can best be described as cordial, transactional, and largely seasonal. A bag of paperwork is dispatched at year end, a bill arrives shortly afterwards, and everyone politel
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Let’s begin with a familiar scene. It’s a Thursday afternoon and you’re on hold to your bank, listening to a tinny loop of elevator jazz while scrolling through an inbox full of emails marked “URGENT”.
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There’s a particular kind of meeting happening in boardrooms across the UK at the moment. Energy costs are up, input costs are rising, margins are tightening, and the consensus tends to be that there’s a need to reduce costs. What follows i
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Imagine a business, let’s call it BrightSpark Solutions Ltd , a perfectly respectable SME turning over a healthy few million pounds, staffed by well-meaning professionals who pride themselves on being ‘client-focused’. Driven by the pursuit
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It begins innocently enough. You’re a director of an SME and you receive an email explaining that, under new legislation, you must verify your identity with Companies House. It sounds straightforward. Two steps: A login. Possibly a photogra
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Every business owner has encountered one at some point along their journey – perhaps even employed one. They’re loyal, deeply knowledgeable about the business, and possess an impressive ability to remember what the bank balance was on the t
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Management Information (MI) is often seen as dry and technical, filled with unhelpful numbers and jargon; and far too long!
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In today’s data-driven world, management information (MI) is no longer a nice-to-have; it is a must-have.
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In today’s digital age, small businesses in the UK have a plethora of accounting software options to help them streamline their financial operations.
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Buying a business can be a strategic move to complement and accelerate growth of an existing business you own, a way to diversify your portfolio, or simply to fulfil a lifelong dream of entrepreneurship.
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Many business owners have a relationship with their accountant that can best be described as cordial, transactional, and largely seasonal. A bag of paperwork is dispatched at year end, a bill arrives shortly afterwards,
Continue reading →
It begins innocently enough. You’re a director of an SME and you receive an email explaining that, under new legislation, you must verify your identity with Companies House. It sounds straightforward. Two steps: A login.
Continue reading →
Every business owner has encountered one at some point along their journey – perhaps even employed one. They’re loyal, deeply knowledgeable about the business, and possess an impressive ability to remember what the bank
Continue reading →
Management Information (MI) is often seen as dry and technical, filled with unhelpful numbers and jargon; and far too long! But it does not have to be this way. It is not that difficult to prepare MI that can be a powerf
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In today’s data-driven world, management information (MI) is no longer a nice-to-have; it is a must-have. It is the lifeblood of any organisation, providing crucial insights that should drive your decision-making and str
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Running a business is rarely easy. Change is the new normal and this brings its own challenges. If you are running a business and there is significant change, these are the sort of signs to look out for that could mean t
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These are what we see as the 4 key benefits of having a fractional FD/CFO rather than a full-time permanent member of staff: Expertise – you will get someone who is not only a highly qualified finance expert, but someone
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We have already outlined the role of an FD/CFO in this article, whether that is full time, interim or fractional. A fractional FD/CFO provides the financial oversight but they will be supporting multiple businesses – per
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Soundbite: A FD/CFO is a highly experienced finance profession who is responsible for the strategic financial management of the business. What does this really mean? We can view this as two main areas: Tactical – Helping
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It is all too easy to make assumptions, isn’t it? And, as I found out to my cost, doing this can come back to bite you. More specifically, when asked what Tectona does, my answer is usually something along the lines of:
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Understanding and benefiting from Research & Development (R&D) tax credits can be crucial for businesses, especially with recent updates and increased scrutiny from the government and its agencies. In January 2024, the N
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Plan for the worst? There’s no shortage of advice or opinion on currency markets but, the truth is, most of it is unhelpful, unactionable, and usually wrong. Financial executives needn’t be plugged into second-by-second
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In our previous 2 articles we looked at: Pricing vs. Charging: What’s the Difference? The 5 Gotchas of Discounting Discounting certainly has its place. But make sure you are clear just why you are doing it. Here are some
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Discounts can be a powerful tool for businesses, but there are also some perils for the unwary. Here are 5 of them: Discounting … Can erode brand value: If you offer discounts too often, customers may start to see your b
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