Finance Partner

An outsourced finance function

Bookkeeper, payroll, management accountant and finance director on one monthly fee, with the software and reporting included. For businesses in Cheltenham and across Gloucestershire that need more than annual accounts but do not need a full-time finance team.

Your finance team

Bookkeeper

Payroll specialist

Credit controller

Management accountant

Finance director

One fixed fee from£850a month + VAT

Problems we solve

Sound familiar?

Most businesses come to Finance Partner when the owner has become the finance department by default. These are the problems we hear most often.

“I’m doing the books at 10pm.”

Our bookkeepers keep Xero up to date every week, so your evenings are your own and the figures are current when you need them.

“I don’t know if we made money last month.”

You get monthly management accounts and a meeting to talk them through, within weeks of the month end rather than months after the year end.

“Cash is always tighter than the profit suggests.”

We run credit control on your overdue invoices and keep a rolling cash forecast, so you can see a shortfall coming and act before it arrives.

“We need a finance director but can’t justify the salary.”

You get finance director input on pricing, borrowing and big decisions as part of one fixed monthly fee, without the cost of a senior hire.

“Paying suppliers and staff takes a morning every week.”

We prepare the supplier and payroll runs for you to approve, so payments go out on time and you sign off rather than key in.

“The bank wants figures I don’t have.”

Budgets, forecasts and up-to-date accounts are already in place, so a lender, investor or buyer can be answered in days, not weeks.

The team

Five roles, one monthly fee.

For many businesses the whole service costs less than employing one of these roles, and it can be scaled up or down as the business changes.

Bookkeeper

Day-to-day processing, bank reconciliations and supplier payments, kept up to date.

Payroll specialist

Pay runs, RTI submissions, auto-enrolment, starters and leavers.

Credit controller

Overdue invoices chased politely and consistently, so cash comes in when it should and you are not the one making the calls.

Management accountant

Month-end close, accruals and prepayments, and a monthly management pack with commentary.

Finance director

Advice on pricing, margins, funding and the main financial decisions.

Every month

The same rhythm, every month.

The books are closed, the pack is issued, cash is reviewed and any issues are raised on the same dates each month, so you can plan board meetings around it.

Week one

Month-end close and reconciliations

Week two

Management pack and commentary issued

Week two

Cash forecast refreshed

Week three

FD call: what the numbers mean, what to do

What sits underneath

The app stack

Xero, Apron, ApprovalMax and related apps, set up to suit your business and maintained as it changes.

See the app stack →

Live reporting

Power BI dashboards from your own data, refreshed each month. The monthly reporting fee is included; the one-off build is quoted separately.

See live reporting →

Is it for you?

When it is usually needed.

Clients usually come to Finance Partner at one of these points, when annual accounts are no longer enough.

Growth

Turnover has grown and it is not clear which parts of the business are profitable.

A gap

Your bookkeeper or finance manager has left.

Scrutiny

A lender, investor or buyer wants monthly figures.

What it costs

From £850

+ VAT a month

One fixed monthly fee covering bookkeeping, payroll, month-end, the management pack and the FD call. Agreed before the year starts and reviewed annually. Phone calls in between are not charged.

Get a fixed quote See all packages

Compared with hiring

For many businesses it costs less than employing one of the five roles.

What moves the fee

Transaction volume, payroll size, VAT and the condition of the records. We confirm the fee before you commit.

Not ready for all of it?

Growth, at £450, includes quarterly management accounts but not the monthly cycle, credit control or payment runs.

The comparison

What doing it in-house actually costs.

Most businesses our size would not hire four full-time people. They would take on a part-time bookkeeper and buy in accountant and finance director time. Salary is the number people quote; employer National Insurance and pension are the numbers they forget. Move the sliders to what you would realistically pay.

Gross salaries—

Employer National Insurance—

Employer pension contributions—

Less Employment Allowance—

Total cost of employing them—

Finance Partner, monthly fee

£850

—

2026/27 rates. Employer NI at 15% above £5,000, employer pension at the 3% statutory minimum on qualifying earnings between £6,240 and £50,270, and one Employment Allowance of £10,500 where available. Part-time figures are full-time salaries scaled to the days shown. It excludes recruitment fees, holiday and sickness cover, training, equipment and software licences. An illustration, not advice. Talk to us.

Getting started

From first call to first month-end

A free first call

Twenty minutes on how the finance runs today and what is not working. If Finance Partner is more than you need, we’ll say so.

A look at the records

We review your Xero file, payroll and VAT position so the quote reflects the real workload.

A fixed monthly fee

One price for the whole team, agreed before we start and reviewed once a year.

Your first month-end

We tidy up, set the monthly calendar and issue your first management pack, usually within the first couple of months.

Questions

Common questions

Anything else, call us on 01242 226789.

Do we still need our own bookkeeper?

No. Finance Partner includes the bookkeeping. If you have someone in-house we can work alongside them and take on the rest.

How is this different from the Growth package?

Growth gives you quarterly management accounts. Finance Partner adds the monthly cycle, credit control, payment runs and regular finance director input. Compare packages.

Who will we actually deal with?

A named lead who knows the business, with the bookkeeping, payroll and management accounts done by the team in our Cheltenham office.

Can we scale it up or down?

Yes. The fee is reviewed each year, and you can move to or from another package as the business changes.

Will you talk to our bank or investors?

Yes. We prepare the forecasts and figures they ask for, and can join the meeting to take them through the numbers.

Next step

Give us an hour with your Xero.

We will tell you what we would change, how the monthly cycle would work and what it would cost. If your current setup works well, we will tell you that too.

Mon–Fri, 9am–5.30pm