Need some professional help dealing with the numbers stuff?
We know it’s a real business jungle out there – a scary place indeed for those who don’t have a firm understanding or grasp of business financials – but ignorance is no excuse, especially when it can negatively affect YOUR OWN BOTTOM LINE!
Too busy building the business to do the numbers stuff yourself?
Need management accountant services, but cannot afford one full-time?
Hate spreadsheets with a vengeance (but recognise their value)
Whatever the reason, if you recognise; a) the importance of business planning, and b) that the timely application of management accounting tools is essential to achieve improvement in bottom line results, Ian can help.
In his consultant /advisory role, he will work closely with you to develop a range of management accounting KPI’s (key performance indicators) – using spreadsheets – specific to your needs. Each spreadsheet will be custom-made to meet your exact requirements. See the link below as an example of a typical building contractor costing spreadsheet. This could be further modified, added to {your logo etc.} or possibly simplified, to meet the client’s exact requirements.
Clients will then have choices:
- To use the spreadsheets created 4U to make future decisions on your own
- If you decide the time is not right to use the tools created to update and maintain the data yourself, we will do it for you (on a monthly basis, or similar), supplying regular updates on the KPIs you requested – ensuring you continue to have the right information at the right time to make smart decisions, and with a lot more confidence!
- At a suitable future time, Ian can deliver the appropriate mentoring/coaching services needed to ensure that you are able to DIY and secure both time and cost advantages.
Ian enjoys working through ideas with clients and discuss options to help them achieve their objectives, but his long-term commitment is that they (or a suitable member of staff) gain the necessary skills to be able to DIY.
Services can be offered to clients in a number of different ways. This includes an occasional 2/3 hour consultation for smaller clients/start-ups e.g. with a business idea or, for bigger organisations, a 1/2 day per month session could be more appropriate. In the second case, Ian will
- download regular monthly payments/receipts etc. and
- from this create a monthly budget and variance analysis reports and
- then go through the numbers with the client in detail – the important bit – to decide appropriate courses of action.
This makes Ian’s service very different from other suppliers. You need to meet with him, or contact him on Skype to appreciate his flexibility and commitment. It’s best to call for an initial no-obligation discussion.
His services are especially effective for businesses who currently use a financial accounting package in-house e.g. Sage 50 but don’t have the time, staff skills etc. to get the required KPI’s prepared. It’s just a short step up to gain valuable management accounting information using our Sage Forecasting package (and you don’t have to buy it). Note, this software can also import data from other accounting packages.
Sage 50 creates a wealth of information, not just for legal purposes. This is downloaded into a spreadsheet format, and then analysed to create reports on issues such as cost, sales or variance reports.
Your book-keeper may not have the necessary skills to do this type of work, or you may have decided this type of analysis may be of a confidential nature (e.g. resulting in hire/fire type issues etc.).
However no job is too small, especially with new start-ups where creative/delayed payment packages can be considered.
Example: Building Quote (Project Costing for Construction Business V2)
A builder has the task of quoting for a major house extension, but have all the cost items been included properly? Are they confident all costs be added up correctly? etc. etc. Putting a dot in the wrong place in a spreadsheet formula can have serious consequences.
Using the many spreadsheet templates we have, we work with clients to design/adapt each spreadsheet for all manner of diffrerent situations (including adding in-built checks to minimise errors!). Ian will then show you how it works/operates, so that you can then consider preparing future quotes himself. Alternatively Ian can undertake a quick check on any quotes prepared by the user, to assess if it is ‘fit for purpose’, avoiding any costly errors, and saving time and money.
Confidentiality is key
The client needs to be certain the information provided is kept confidential and will be used appropriately. Ian offers an initial meeting (visit, phone or Skype) without any obligation to enable the assessment to be undertaken. He loves demonstrating spreadsheet examples and showing/suggesting clients new ways of working to solve current challenges.
This will help potential clients assess his capability and ensure his personality, techniques and methods are right for their business. Experiment with the builder’s template yourself, assess its potential use (note there are two worksheets). If unable to download or view correctly, give Ian a call and he can send in a format which is suitable for your PC or laptop (i.e. earlier/later version of Excel). NOTE: “Project Costing for Construction Business V2″ takes some time to download, so please be patient.
More Details
For Corporates and HR staff just seeking a professional to deliver FFNFM programmes (finance for non-financial managers) please visit Corporate Programme for further details.
For SME’s and Not for Profit organisations wanting coaching services only please go to One2One coaching details.
For anyone else, please give me a call. Mob 07973 330324 or view the coach’ s podcast
To review what clients have said about Ian, please visit testimonials.
