About you

Legal & professional services firms

Between 1996 and 2015 I worked for four different legal firms, and also for a firm supplying software and outsourced cashiering services to the legal sector.  In these firms I variously held the positions of Finance Director, COFA and a member of Management Teams.

Therefore, if you are in the legal sector, or you are looking to invest in a law firm or an ABS, I am extremely well-placed to advise or help on any finance or accounting related requirement that you may have.

My business partners also specialise in other areas of the legal sector, covering software, cashiering, and general consultancy.  Please follow the links to see what they do.

Potential investors

You have some funds to invest in a business, and you’ve identified a target that seems like a good fit.  The owners are keen to bring you – and your money – on board.  But is it a secure investment with a good return?  Or will your money be swallowed up by an overtrading firm and never be seen again?

I will work with your target firm to carry out a comprehensive financial due diligence exercise, looking at historic accounts and business performance trends, working capital lock-up, budgets and forecasts, future revenue streams, and a thorough and detailed review of cash flow and bank statement history, to ensure that there are no nasty surprises or hidden pitfalls when you make your investment.

If the business is struggling and your investment is critical to its future, I can advise you whether the funds that you have to invest will be sufficient to turn the business round, or whether you will just be throwing good money after bad.

Business start-ups

You are on the verge of setting up your own business, but already there aren’t enough hours in the day to deal with all of the commercial aspects, without the added time-consuming burden of thinking about how you’re going to set up your accounting systems and procedures, and prepare budgets and plans that your bank and potential investors will need.

I will work with you to set up a simple and effective set of processes that are the right size, shape, and cost to suit your business.  I can also refer you to my business partner The Accountancy People who will help set up your company from a compliance and tax point of view.

Growing businesses

Your SME business has been successful so far, and you’ve decided it’s now time to take things to the next stage.  Will your current management information systems still be sufficient to provide you with the financial information you need to manage your firm properly?  Do you have adequate cash reserves or borrowing facilities to cope with the increased cash flow pressure that will inevitably come from growing your business?  A firm is never more cash-vulnerable than when it is growing quickly, as it needs to invest in stock, people, maybe premises, weeks or even months before it begins to see the returns on these investments.

I will help you to build a robust management reporting and information structure that will enable you to fully understand your enlarged business.  I will also leave no stone unturned in preparing a detailed daily, weekly, monthly and yearly cash flow forecast that will show you exactly what you can afford, where the pinch-points are likely to be, and how much (and when) you might need to borrow if necessary.