Case Studies
Virtual finance operation and strategic support for business growth
How our B2B commerce client escaped day-to-day accounts admin and reclaimed control, and how our support helped this business with 125% growth in 4 years
Commercial (B2B)
Bookkeeping
VAT & Accounts
Xero Software Setup & Training
Business Structure Reviews
Cashflow Projections
Turnover grew from £800,000 to £1.8 million in four years
Director freed from day-to-day admin, with team ownership in place
Monthly management accounts (with full virtual finance function run by us) now guiding planning and decision-making
Credit control fully under control, reducing stress and improving cash flow
Strategic support in place, enabling share buyout and long-term planning
What was happening
The company director came to us when they were at a crossroads in life and business. At that point (early 2022) turnover was £800,000.
The director was a 50% shareholder in the business. The other shareholder / director was a silent investor with no involvement in the day-to-day running of the business or in the business strategy.
The company’s existing accountant was offering transactional compliance work, but little in the way of strategic support or guidance.
Our client felt they had two options: sell up or turn things around.
What needed fixing
Director-led bookkeeping
This was time-consuming, very manual in process and wasn’t up to date.
Inefficient invoicing
This was being done from Excel and manually input into Sage.
Sporadic credit control
There were lots of debtors, cash collection was poor, and there was increased stress on the business owner.
Too much responsibility sitting with one person
The director was doing all the selling, organising of the team, invoicing, bookkeeping, payroll and more.
How we approached it
- Identified a need to recruit
We gave our client the confidence to keep going with recruitment after a series of knocks until the right person was found. - Worked on business strategy
We discussed various options available to our client and helped them to see a way forward to meet their objectives. - Moved the business accounts onto Xero
Our team also transferred a year’s worth of data for comparison purposes. - Took on the handling of the full finance function
The client emails all supplier bills to Dext using a dedicated email address. Bank feeds are set up in Xero. Sales invoices are now raised from an industry-specific software integrated with Xero. - Sorted credit control systems
This is now handled in the first instance by Chaser app (integrated with Xero). - Organised a dedicated payroll provider
Payroll is now handled externally. This moved from weekly to monthly. - Started undertaking monthly management accounts (as part of full finance function)
These are now prepared by the McKilligan Financial team with insights into the figures given to the owner to see the performance of the business - Monthly meetings to provide business and strategy support
One-to-one support from Elaine McKilligan to discuss planning, forecasting, profitability, and confidence-boosting conversations to get and keep the business on track. - Supported with stage 1 of a company share buyback
This was needed to buy out the silent investor. - Preparation of full projections
These show projected profitability, cash flow and balance sheet position over the next 2 years. - Supported with the move to a new bank and introduced to a financial planner
The bank move now offers a more supportive financial environment for the business, and the financial planner is reviewing personal pension provision.
What Changed
The team now takes ownership and has allowed the company director / business owner to step away from most of the day-to-day admin of running the business.
The business strategy support has “lit a fire” inside the business owner to take action and make things happen.
The business owner now has far greater awareness of who hasn’t paid, daily.
Admin burden has reduced.
Initial profitability struggles are gone, with goals and structures in place to achieve this.
The buyout of the silent investor helped the managing director to reach their personal goals and strategic objectives.
The business can now compare projections to actual figures each month to help with planning.
The client is now working towards their 10-year goal alongside strategic short and medium-term goals that support this.
Turnover (4 years on) = £1.8 million
Elaine has been, and continues to be, a huge asset to us, as we have expanded our agribusiness. She works closely with us throughout the year, over email, phone and farm visits to ensure our financial position is favourable. She completely understands us as individuals as well as our business and aids us in driving forward and growing.
Ross and Kirsten Williams
R&K Williams
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