I can now look at our management accounts in an analytical way to make sure I’m giving the most accurate information to our directors, supporting them to make the decisions needed to be a successful business. We’re able to be think and act quicker which is paramount in business and this means we can be fully prepared for any eventually. Everything I’ve learned so far has enabled me to step up and support the business at a whole new level.

Serena has given me the confidence to present our management accounts which seemed very daunting at first but I’m now confident in our numbers and able to explain how we’ve reached them. It’s starting to become second nature now!

The last 6 months have given me the drive to continue my financial studies into CIMA so I can become more knowledgeable and grow even further. My role has grown so much since the start of the year and I am excited to see where this takes me going forward and how much more I can learn and put into practice within our business.

Now I feel like the Finance Director and know how important my role is. I know that what I do drives the company forward and keeps it on track.

During my coaching I’ve introduced really comprehensive management reporting and weekly flash reporting which means we can forecast ahead and always know where we are financially. I’ve massively stepped up how I contribute at board meetings and in the day to day running of the business. I feel confident to present my ideas for helping the business to grow and to tackle things that need sorting. I definitely think more strategically now and that’s a big win for my business.

We’ve recently revived our monthly management meetings and as a result we’ve put in place a rigorous process of checks and balances.

Personally, I too have a much clearer understanding of what I want my financial position to look like and we now have the right plans in the business to achieve this.
In what feels to me a relatively short space of time your support has provided us with a leap forwards and I am very appreciative of your advice and the progress we’ve made.

Our financial skills have improved dramatically. We know what needs to be looked at and when, and understand when to bring in the expert accountants, or get external support

• We have a clear view of our financial goals, and have a practical strategy to get there
• We’ve also never had a better work life balance and job satisfaction. We’re hugely excited about the next financial year ahead and about what we’ll be able to achieve in the future

But they didn’t understand why I wanted and needed more, and for years I felt frustrated, patronised and out of control.

Then my bank manager introduced me to Serena. She knew exactly what I was talking about. She understood where I was coming from…. and more

She came into the business and after a look at what we do, how we do it and the skill set of my team, she came up with an action plan. The rest, as they say, is history.

I now have week by week, month by month, year on year visibility on what is happening in real time in the business. The business levers are identified which shows me where to pull and push in the business to get the financial effects that I want to achieve.

I use my information to involve my senior management team; the whole team has become empowered to look at how we roll with the money and they are relishing it

And I can now set prices at the right level to ensure the health and continuity of the business.

The finance team have had extensive training and mentoring, putting systems and processes into place; they now report to me on key issues such as income, cash flow, debtors. They understand how the quality of their information helps me to make the decisions that affect the company. They are all proud as peacocks and quite right too.

Business credibility with our external financers has taken a boost and they are impressed by our level of understanding and control of our finances. No shocks, no surprises, factual and controlled – just the way that banks like to see things.

Thank you, Serena

Over the years, I’ve have asked accountants to help with financial understanding, and have consistently drawn a blank. I still couldn’t make sense of my business finances. I was devoting more time to finance and less to serving my clients. Which was very frustrating.

Serena helped us translate our figures into something meaningful that we can use to steer our business forward. She TRULY cares about helping people to reach clarity and clearing the confusion surrounding their business finance. She speaks without jargon and holds your hand throughout the process. She is diligent, client focused and sets the bar very high for business integrity.
If you want to know how your business is performing and move your business forward, financial intelligence is a must. Serena can help you develop an intimate understanding of your business finance and move your business forward.

If you want to take the pressure off you and your business this cashflow training is the answer.

After the initial set up and a little planning our business was transformed.

• We now control our cash flow instead of it controlling us.
• We no longer have suppliers chasing payments and our purchase ledger staff are no longer being placed under daily pressure.
• Our banking fees have been reduced
• We have control over our sales ledger.

The training and tools we have had from Serena has changed our world for the better.

We put financial reporting place so I could track monthly and forecast profitability and together with the cash flow forecast and KPIs I’ve been able to track our most successful marketing campaigns and measure the results to keep the business growing whilst getting stronger.

I feel so in control of the business as I have a firm handle on the financial micro management and direction. And the Deep Work Serena talks about all the time has really helped me to focus deeply on our marketing to the point we have grown turnover 102% this year!

I’ve even been inspired to start training for my professional accountancy qualifications!

I will always remember and be grateful for what you did to get me started. Thank you! 😊

Not only does this save money but we’ve got much more control over our information and better financial visibility. We now have a budget and can reforecast throughout the year so we always know where we’re going, and we use the information to plan different scenarios and make better informed business decisions.

Before I felt like I was just processing the numbers but now I feel have full control and a lot more confidence. I can look at the accounts in depth to understand what’s really going on, and having graphs and KPIs means we can see everything right across the business and can plan for the future in a way we never could before.

The F Word and SFC have also encouraged me to continue my studies and I am working towards the CIMA Professional Qualification. Serena gave me great advice on how to approach the course which has been very beneficial to my progress. I’m keen to develop my career and progress within my role as Finance Manager to give the best life to my little girl and family, and also to bring more knowledge and understanding to the Company I work for. I’m very grateful to my employer for giving me this opportunity.

Quite honestly it is the best day I have ever spent with an external consultant.

I was totally staggered by the sheer scale of your drive, energy and commitment during our day yesterday. I have worked with many professional people previously, the vast majority of them (in particular accountants) will go through the motions, I am frequently sat at the other end of the table feeling I have to wind them up to get a response. This was categorically not the case with you.

I would like to thank you for the passion you showed in trying to help me and our business, considering this was the first time you have visited the progress already made is very encouraging.

After struggling to get the monthly management and reporting we needed from traditional accountants, Serena gave us a process and helped us organise how we keep a handle on the finances internally. She tops this off with her incisive brand of consultancy. She probes to the heart of the matter, exposing risks and opportunities to help us grow the business.

Serena does a superb job of steering our financial strategy, growth planning, recruitment and more. If we have a tricky issue to solve I give her a call.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart!
I will keep you posted!!!

Serena has a really engaging training style that keeps employees focuses for the whole day. Her passion is what makes her so engaging as a trainer. She was able to explain key finance terms to our staff including P&L and balance sheets in order for our staff to understand the story of what happens in their sites from a different perspective and remove the fear of figures that many have.

As a result of her workshops, our employees that attended have a clear understanding of how the work that they do affects the top and bottom line. All employees left with greater knowledge and understanding than before they attended and are actively involved in initiatives to help both the top and bottom lines.

I recommend Serena for any finance training that you require for your business

She quickly got behind the numbers, implemented a stock and wip control system, and was able to relate the figures to our business in a way that previous accountants had been unable to. We did not believe our accounts before, and that really created doubt and uncertainty as the business grew.

The other benefits of having Serena in the business were that we had someone from the outside, with a breadth of knowledge and experience from other industries, who brought enthusiasm and a fresh perspective, who could be the catalyst for the changes we wanted to make. I found it incredibly valuable having someone independent to confide in about business issues, especially someone who would tell it straight and not necessarily agree with me!

Very quickly and immediately we started using our brains a bit more with our money ince then, our profit margins have improved because Serena made us look further into the detail…what were we doing and how was it costed? We started to cut through the wastage.

Digging deeper, Serena introduced the Monthly Information report, and a 13 week rolling cash flow forecast. Initially unpleasant to look at but I now have the clarity on a monthly basis looking at the budgets and see what isn’t going well.

It has given me and the management team a great deal more confidence, the scrutiny of the numbers gives a better message to the staff, that things are being checked and that we have accountability. We have more cash in the bank, we’re more organised and have better systems and processes in place. SO much better than where we were two years ago.

Sharon is a genius who comes in and gets into the details, and doesn’t let us get away with things. Serena is a great coach. She cuts straight to the point of the problem; it’s an innate skill, and is prepared to challenge me.

I would 100% recommend Serena and The F Word to others, for the feeling of being in control of my own business, and not running after it.

With every good wish,
Cathy

Thanks again. You and Wendy have made the world of difference here and it couldn’t have come at a better time

Despite being fairly small at the moment, Emma and I knew that the money would be one of the most important things to get right. Serena gave us a very clear, step-by-step process to make sure we’re finding out what we really need to know, and explained it in a way that got us really excited about it.

Mixing a broad range of understanding with specialist proficiencies, she is able to see the end game and still apply empathy and discretion to the myriad of details that have to be addressed in order to attain sustainable success.

It has been a pleasure and privilege working with Serena and I would recommend her services to those with a serious ambition to succeed.

Serena has identified the problem areas, streamlined all our accounting processes, trained my accounts team to delivery accurate work to a monthly timetable so that we get our group accounts out by week 2, and trained me to manage the accounts team and how to understand the accounts better.

She has torn our stock and margin position apart and put in place systems and controls to make sure the gross margin is always accurate. We now are able to raise finance easily from the bank to fund our continued expansion, as the bank know we have a firm grasp on our financials, and the monthly information means we can spot problems quickly and fix them.

Serena also constantly keeps us focussed on the projected full year result and on increasing the net return.

I feel safe now that Serena is part of the business, she keeps me focussed and is my safety net.

Serena put together a great document summarising exactly what would be useful – and then helped out by putting the rest of our accounts in order – not a task for the faint- hearted as we had been led down a garden path by a succession of so-called accountants. We are now in a very much better place with accounts that are running just a week behind, and everything available to view online through a great programme called xero…. I can’t thank her enough!!

Our monthly finance meeting gives us the dedicated time we need to monitor the progress of our business, whilst analysing threats and opportunities. We can then get on with the day to day running of our business, working to deliver our plan, secure in the knowledge that our finances are in safe hands. If you don’t have a ‘Serena’ in your business, it’s about time you did.

It was also fun – and I don’t think ‘fun’ and ‘finance’ go in the same sentence very often. I really benefitted from our sessions and am looking forward to growing my business with her help and guidance.

The biggest difference will be for me to delegate more as I have learnt to focus more on my main role and not get distracted by doing other roles that can be done by others allowing me to spend more time focusing on company finances and use the considerable financial expertise & systems available to me.

The training exceeded my expectations and has made me re-focus my role in the company. I have also learnt new technologies and been given new tools to improve my effectiveness to the company.

Serena highlighted areas that required improvement & gave us the tools and advice to implement the changes.

The course was enjoyable & delivered professionally without being too indepth.

A highly professional, outcome focused and personable individual; the Board and Senior Management Team have enjoyed working with her and will continue to call on her services in the future.

I can without hesitation recommend Serena to provide both strategic and operational policy support whether it be in the private, public or third sectors.

Thanks for your help with getting my KPIs and financial structure in place – it makes total sense.  I can’t thank you enough as this really helps!

Then there is the F-Word.

Serena Humphrey has realised the emperor is naked, and identified that in many boardrooms up and down the country, directors simply do not have a sufficiently robust handle on their numbers.

For those confident enough to admit they are not omniscient, Serena uses her considerable expertise to bring not just clarity, but revelation.  Uniquely, she does this with empathy and encouragement.

Serena has been pivotal in helping us claw our way out of a loss-making position, through break-even, and into profit; all this in a highly volatile market with very lumpy cashflow.  We are now able to identify meaningful targets and robust measures to identify where we are on the journey to meet them.

I would not hesitate to recommend the F-Word for ANY company – even as a financial health check for those who think they know better

I recently called upon the f word for one to one cashflow training following a period of financial difficulty. As a new business owner, cashflow is something that you have to get to grips with from day one, and yet most of us have never had the experience of, or the worrying that comes with, cashflow. The f word gave me very friendly expert guidance and cashflow planning techniques which have developed my understanding of the mechanics and importance of cashflow and helped my company gain greater control over our  company finances. Needless to say that without the assistance of Serena and Wendy at the f word my business wouldn’t find itself in the stronger financial position that it is in today.

She’s managed to make business finance accessible without dumbing it down, and leaves you with insights and tools that can immediately transform the financial health of your business. If you’re after a day that just might change your life, I urge you: spend it with Serena.

Well packaged, structured and delivered – thanks Serena.

Serena’s training is an excellent journey into the secret world of finance by a genuine ambassador for making finance clear and simple.

Serena doesn’t attempt to mystify with jargon and draws on real experiences/case studies to demonstrate how concepts work and how they can be applied to your business.

I walked into the session feeling apprehensive and after a brilliant one-day workshop walked out armed with a a healthier view on finance and a toolkit of ideas for how I can support the business I work for.

Be that down to time or in my case with finance, an admitted lack of knowledge. I met Serena at a networking event and appreciated her no nonsense approach and we arranged to have a one-to-one session to go over the key principles. Within half an hour I was dangerously close to actually enjoying looking at the numbers (a very odd experience) and crucially, understanding how best to use them to forecast and plan for optimum profit and performance.

Wendy is a fantastic coach …

Thank you very much for all your hard work today I believe what and how you’ve taught me today will make a real difference to my business and family.

Fantastic day very empowering I have completed a weeks worth of input , all good so far managed to get the numbers to tally when checked and double checked after an initial error.

Makes sense more now I have had time to let it all sink in – I was surprised what I didn’t know and I’ll now be making more time to set aside for my finances.

She combines expertise in all things financial alongside an ability to understand how a business operates.

In all aspects Serena has performed to levels above expectations, and always with a very satisfactory outcome. We have no hesitation in recommending her for any finance or senior personnel project that may be presented to her.