SME Freelance Finance

Where we can Help

We bring a breadth of commercial experience to your business; in addition to the purely Financial input you would expect. So we can contribute to all aspects of your strategy including mergers, acquisitions, outsourcing and other commercial negotiations.

We bring the benefits of big company processes to the smaller business – adapted to suit the circumstances, of course. We have been there and have direct experience of running small businesses on tight budgets.

Importantly, we are close enough to understand the detailed workings of your business but separate enough to take an objective view, free from any office politics and the tendency for some employees to tell the boss what they think he/she wants to hear.

Some of the common areas where businesses benefit from our involvement include –

Strategic Business Planning – Businesses without a formal plan are much more likely to fail and are unlikely to achieve their objectives.

We will work with you to identify and quantify the opportunities and challenges that the business faces, how those opportunities can be exploited and how the challenges can be overcome. We will build a detailed financial model of how your business operates and use this to identify what resources the business will need in order to grow and maintain itself, where those resources are going to come from, and to assess the consequences of under-performance or over-performance on the Plan.

Management Reporting Systems – A business without a good reporting system is like an aircraft without any instruments.

We will help you ensure that you identify and measure all the vital Key Performance Indicators for your business. Then structure the appropriate reporting systems on a daily, weekly and monthly basis so that you get the right information at the right time; and with sufficient accuracy that you can make the critical decisions to keep the business on course.

Cash Flow Forecasting and Improvement – Cash is the lifeblood of your business so forewarned is forearmed.

History is littered with examples of profitable and otherwise successful businesses that have failed for the lack of cash – this happens most frequently when they are growing. Accurate and timely forecasting will enable you to predict the impact of changes in your business and identify where action may be required. The action may be raising working capital finance to cover the cost of expansion, controlling the growth of costs or negotiating better credit terms with customers or suppliers.

Banking & Finance – Growing a business often takes more money than the business itself can generate.

It is frequently necessary for businesses to raise outside finance to fund their operations particularly if significant growth is on the agenda. Working with The Freelance FD enables you to talk to the banks and other finance providers in the language they understand and present your case in a way that gives them confidence in your business - providing the best chance of success. Lenders take confidence from the fact that you have good quality advisers on board. We also use our experience to make sure that you get a good deal on the costs!

 Outside Equity or Exit Strategy – You have built a thriving business and a valuable asset - you might want to use it to raise funds.

You may feel the time is right for you to consider taking some of the benefit of the asset you have created. This could be a full exit, a partial liquidation of your investment, or be part of a fund raising exercise to allow the business to grow. Whatever the motivation, we have the experience and contacts to help you manage this process and achieve your ambitions, whether it be through Business Angels, Private Equity, a Trade Sale or a Public offering on a market such as AIM or PLUS.

Critical Control Systems – Some systems are critical to the success of your business.

Your business needs to be in control of all the processes that are vital to its survival and growth. Depending on the business, these may be areas such as credit control & collections, stock control, purchasing, manufacturing systems, sales management and incentives. We will establish world class controls around those systems so that your performance is equal to, or better than, anything the big boys can achieve.

Finance Department Review and Development – Just keeping the score?

Perhaps you have a Finance team but feel you are not getting everything you expect from them in running the business. We can review their activity, work with them, coach and develop them so that they take an active part in the game and contribute to the profitable growth of the business.