Because we do things differently at The F Word, we’ve put together a
few FAQs that explain exactly how we work and what we do.
Because we do things differently at The F Word, we’ve put together a
few FAQs that explain exactly how we work and what we do.
What does working with us look like?
Financially successful businesses rarely happen by accident. You need to be all over your numbers weekly and monthly, and need to actively manage and drive your results in line with your business and financial strategy. The few achieve great results but the majority of small businesses never reach their financial potential. We work with the business owners who know they want better than this for their business, their life and their family.
We make things happen. We implement stuff that will make your business stronger and more profitable. We help our clients make big shifts in their life by making sure their business works for them, and that starts with the finances. And we support you through the process to make sure the changes stick and you get the results you wanted. We’re all about delivering lasting changes to your business and your bottom line that will continue for years to come.
This can be different for every client we work with. You’ll have a unique set of challenges that will need its own approach. We always make the best possible use of the resource you have in your business, which keeps your cost down.
Our focus and expertise is your internal financial management. This means we’d never get involved in your year-end statutory accounts or tax work. We work with all the practical things like cash flow, getting your management accounts just right, forecasting, improving your profitability and getting great financial skills into your team.
For our large wrap-around projects we deliver everything from the financial fitness health check and strategy through to training you on cash flow, or we can help with a single element like getting better forecasting into your business, or making the best use of cloud accounting technology.
Could you do my monthly management accounts for me?
No, we tend to work on a project basis, and we believe in putting the skills into your business so you are less reliant on outside people. We can help you find someone though to prepare your accounts and we have a fabulous cloud based software product that will pull your management accounts together without needing advanced excel skills!
So you’re like a Finance Director then?
Actually no, we don’t really get into Finance Director territory in the traditional sense of preparing monthly accounts, cash flows and business plans etc.
However we do work with many of our clients on a long term basis helping them to continually improve their business and help them keep control of their finances as they grow.
Where would I start?
The best place to start is our unique Financial Health Check. Our extensive diagnostic tool will tell us and you, everything we need to know about your finances. From there we’ll agree with you the priorities of what will make the biggest difference, and create an action plan of how we make that happen. We’ve been doing this for a long time so we know how to make things happen quickly.
I already know what I need to change in my business; I just need some help
Perfect – then we can help you map out what needs to happen and help you wherever you need us to make that change happen.
I just think I need a bit of training – can you help?
We most certainly can. A lot of the work we do is around training the key finance skills into your business. We can deliver as little as a half- day session on topics like cash flow and forecasting, and we always make it bespoke to your business so you can start making changes straight away.
Are you qualified accountants?
Yes indeed we are. Most of us are Chartered Management Accountants, which is the commercial accounting qualification, and we’ve all spent our careers working inside businesses, so our experience is real. We all run our own businesses too, so we know just how you feel as a business owner.
But I’ve already got a book keeper and an external accountant, where do you fit in?
Exactly between the two.
There’s a vast gap between your legally required book keeping, and the legally required compliance and tax work.
This gap is financial management. We plug that gap where your book keeper doesn’t have the skills or experience to make the changes you want or to come up with the ideas, and where your accountant might only see you once or twice a year and is focussed on the compliance work.
Most small companies will never fill this gap. They exist on the minimum book keeping and the minimum at year end – the statutory accounts and tax returns.
We help you to fill this gap. show you what great financial management looks like, get your business and financial strategy sorted out so you have a route map to follow as you grow your business, and give you the tools, knowledge and mastery to take your business to another level
The work we do makes the year-end accountants life easier and quicker, so frees up more time for them to give you more strategic support.
But doesn’t / shouldn’t my year-end account be doing and telling me this stuff?
A very good point. In most cases, you’ll have engaged your year-end accountant just for the compliance work; your statutory accounts, corporation tax return and personal tax returns. Unless you have engaged them, and are paying them for advice through the year, then probably not – they just don’t have the time to allocate to your business. Also the area of internal financial management isn’t the area of expertise of many year- end accountants.
What will it cost?
I’m very glad you asked that! You should always make sure you can justify any expenditure you make. Any form of training or consultancy should always be viewed as investment and not an overhead – so you can work out what the return is going to be on your investment.
After our initial health check or meeting with you, we’ll always agree with you what the outcome of the work should be. Eg to increase the net profitability by x%, to improve cash flow by £x.
And we only take on work where we’re confident the investment will be worth the result. We’re all about delivering lasting changes to your finances, so the pay-back will continue for years to come.
So can you guarantee we’ll get the results then?
Well obviously not, we can’t make you follow through and embed the work. As with any business improvement it’s always down to us as business owners to implement the changes and make them stick.
The follow up financial coaching is the perfect way to help you really get the new processes in place and make sure the business keeps on track to get the improvements we agreed on.
But we do know that the work we do delivers great results. And because we’re very keen to protect our track record, we only work with business owners who are ready to make changes, not ones looking for the magic bullet!
To find out more about how we work with clients, you can download our programme here which explains exactly how we’ve worked with 8 typical clients and the results we helped them get.