'I would never have believed how our business could be transformed in such a short time. From struggling to meet our commitments to suppliers and staff, we have seen the company financially reshaped, secured new funding and now have robust reporting and planning in place. This has given us time, freedom and renewed energy to invest in growing our business, and we can again look forward with confidence'.

Did you know that companies who fail to hire a Finance Director can experience huge difficulties in accessing the capital required to kick-start their business and improve their financial growth?

The next question is why? Simply because banks often believe that companies with a Finance Director consistently outperform those without.

Many small businesses have a limited understanding of the benefits a Finance Director can bring to their company. So here's how hiring a part-time Finance Director can help to move your business in to the next stage of growth.

1. Quality - Hiring a part-time Finance Director improves the quality of the company and allows businesses to unlock their maximum growth potential. A Finance Director brings a level of financial rigour that can enhance the health of the company, making it more attractive to banks. This is because they're able to accurately forecast the finances of the company, meaning that businesses can show their bank that their capital will be used effectively and ensure they make a return on the investment. They can offer support in putting together commercially focused business plans, which serious investors will expect of a growing business.
2. Experience - The experience a Finance Director brings to a company's management team is invaluable. Finance Directors will have an excellent track record of relevant experience and bring learning from other business environments. A good FD is full of ideas - not just understanding your company's financial needs, but also knowing what is required to address them. As they have often worked with large organisations or blue chip companies, part-time FDs bring a level of expertise that smaller businesses may be unable to afford on a full-time basis. They can offer proactive suggestions, understand commercial issues and provide the insight that growing businesses need, at a fraction of the cost of a full-time equivalent.
3. Focus - Finance Directors can take responsibility for specific projects such as: raising finance, preparing for investment, developing forward thinking plans, ensuring management information is accurate and shaping decision making. A Finance Director should enable you to focus on leading your business with all of the financial information and support you need. Part-time FDs in particular offer a 'fresh' pair of eyes on your finances, and can help you concentrate your growth efforts on specific short-term goals, as well as ensuring you still meet longer term business objectives.

For those companies who are trying to secure finance, a Finance Director could be the difference between success and failure.

Proactive FD specialise in providing accurate and timely management information, business planning, budgeting and cash forecasting. Most importantly we use this information to respond to opportunities and challenges to ensure the planned outcome is achieved.

If you'd like any help acquiring the relevant capital to help your business grow, then we'd be happy to help. Contact us on 0115 911 2346

The new financial year will soon be approaching, and some of you may be wondering where your business is heading, perhaps you may be thinking about full or partial retirement in the next five years or even starting a new business? You may be unsure how much income you'll need, or wondering whether your business is heading in the right direction as planned. Whatever it is, the last thing you want to focus on is failure.

Anyone who has ever been in charge of a successful event, knows that if it wasn't for their careful planning, attention to detail and of course hard work, success wouldn't have followed. The same can be said for most business successes.

A business plan is important to help achieve business objectives, yet we're shocked at how few businesses take their business planning seriously, and we're even more surprised that a third of small businesses don't even have a business plan at all. Sustained business success rarely occurs come from chance or good fortune. Invariably, it results from a well prepared and effective business plan.

It's vital for all businesses to have a business plan in order to run a successful and profitable company; therefore it is critical to understand, implement and value the process of effective business planning. As Benjamin Franklin famously observed 'if you fail to plan, you're planning to fail'.

A well-drafted business plan is your road map to success, and every business needs one, whether you're borrowing capital to start a new business, seeking investors, defining a new business venture, measuring your business performance and tracking growth, or planning your exit plan in the coming years.

Although it it can be a simple process, developing a plan will help you to think logically about your business strategy and commercial goals, giving you a clear direction about where you want your business to go in the future and how you'll get there. A well designed business plan transforms ideas into actions.

With a new financial year ahead of us, now is the perfect time to prepare and implement a business plan, to recognise where you've been, clarify where you're going, and detail how you're going to get there. If you're serious about the success of your business, taking the time to plan is an essential first step.

Proactive FD are vastly experienced in business planning and helping owner managers to realise their dreams and aspirations. If you need help with your own business plan, call us today on 0115 911 2346.

When you have opened all of the presents, eaten too many festive goodies, enjoyed the indulgence of your Christmas meal, settled down with a glass of your favourite drink and begin to drift off into that perfect dreamlike state, will you be jolted back into reality by the indigestion of the problems you left behind at work?

Is cash management one of your biggest headaches? Not enough cash to go around? Can't pay the rent? Is your business reactive to cash problems? Who is not going to get paid? Who is fielding the calls from disgruntled suppliers? Are we on stop again? Where can we find another supplier who is prepared to give us credit? Is the finance function a difficult place to be? Are the staff wondering what is going on?

The good news is there are tools and techniques to manage cash in a proactive way!

Simple spreadsheet based tools will help you 'model' the future cash flows. You can see where the pinch points are and 'manage' them rather than 'react' to them when it is too late. Far less stress for everyone. You, your staff, suppliers, landlords, HMRC and all of your business partners will benefit from an environment that's far less chaotic and more organised.

Simple techniques which are based around good communication, are the key to making this work. No more saying to suppliers 'You're not getting paid today, and I cannot tell you when you are'. You and your staff are back in control of the situation.

After a short period of time you will stop having those irate and very awkward conversations. You and your staff can then focus on what you are best at..............your jobs!!

Proactive FD offer experienced, driven and proactive Finance Directors on an affordable, flexible basis to clients across the UK. We offer a no-nonsense approach to improve cash management, forecasting and to manage cash flow to ensure you have the cash required to realise your growth potential.

By regularly monitoring cash going in and out of your business, we can develop forecasts to aid decision making and effectively respond to challenges and opportunities in order to drive improved performance and assist with future planning.

Call us if you want to avoid that New Year Hangover.