Questions
Before you get in touch.
The things people ask us, answered here rather than in a proposal. If your question is not below, ask it directly. We would rather answer it now.
01 · Working with us
Who we work with, and how it starts.
If you are trying to work out whether this firm is relevant to your situation, start here.
Most clients turn over between £1m and £50m, or are approaching that range quickly. Below it, a diagnostic plus a focused piece of finance or marketing work is usually the right scope rather than a full engagement. Above it, we typically work alongside an existing finance function rather than replacing it. These are guidelines rather than rules. The more useful question is whether the problem is one of the three we are built to answer.
We are generalists by design. The financial and commercial mechanics of a mid-market business (cash conversion, margin structure, acquisition economics, operating leverage) are considerably more alike across sectors than sector specialists find it useful to admit. Where genuine regulatory or technical specialism is required, we say so and work alongside a specialist rather than pretending to be one.
An introductory consultation is normally arranged within a few working days. A written proposal follows within about a week. Diagnostics usually begin two to three weeks after sign-off, depending on the availability of your records and the people we need to speak to. If the situation is genuinely urgent, say so in your first message and we will tell you honestly what we can move.
Both. Diagnostic interviews and delivery workshops are markedly better in person, so we come to you for those. Reporting, modelling and monthly reviews run just as well remotely, which keeps costs down and pace up. We do not charge for travel within reasonable distance and we will tell you in advance if a particular engagement would fall outside that.
Yes, and reasonably often. Where a specialist would serve you better, where the scope is too small to justify our fee, where a genuine conflict exists, or where the decision has already been taken and what is wanted is endorsement rather than analysis, we will say so in the first conversation. Declining is cheaper for both of us than half-delivering.
02 · Fees and scope
What it costs, and what happens if it changes.
Fuller detail is on the engagement and fees page.
Diagnostics are a fixed fee agreed before we start. Ongoing advisory is a monthly retainer scoped to agreed deliverables and reporting. Project work is quoted as a fixed price against a written scope. We do not bill in unexplained hourly increments, and no invoice will ever exceed the figure in the scope document without a prior conversation and a revised document.
Because a fee quoted before we understand the work is either a guess or an opening position in a negotiation, and neither is useful to you. What we can publish, and have, is exactly how the number is arrived at and what is never charged. You will have the figure in writing before you commit to anything, and preparing that proposal is at our cost.
We stop, explain what we have found, and put a revised scope and price in front of you as a decision. You may accept it, decline it and continue with the original scope, or end the engagement having paid only for what was delivered. What does not happen is an invoice that quietly grew.
As a rule, no. Contingent fees create an incentive to recommend the transaction that pays rather than the decision that is right, which is exactly the conflict we have built the firm to avoid. In rare cases a component of a fee may be tied to an agreed measure, always alongside a base fee and always set out in writing.
Retainers end on one month’s notice in writing, at any time, without a reason and without a penalty. There is no minimum term and no automatic renewal. Projects can be stopped partway; you pay for what has been delivered and you receive it. Everything created for you belongs to you in editable form.
03 · What we do and do not do
Where the boundaries sit.
These answers matter more than most. An adviser who is vague about the limits of their remit is a risk to you, not a convenience.
No. Your accountant handles compliance, statutory accounts and tax. We handle the management information, forecasting and commercial decisions that sit on top of that. We work with your existing practice, are happy to sit in the same meetings, and generally make their job easier because a cleaner close serves everybody.
We provide business advisory services. We are not registered auditors, we do not file statutory accounts or tax returns, and we do not provide regulated financial, investment or legal advice. We do not advise on investments, pensions or personal financial products. Where you need a regulated party (a corporate finance house, a broker, a solicitor, an insolvency practitioner), we will tell you plainly and help you find one.
No. We accept no commission, referral fee, introducer payment or vendor rebate from software platforms, lenders, brokers, agencies or any other party we might recommend. Our only income is fees paid by clients, and our fee is identical whichever recommendation we make. You are welcome to ask us to confirm this in writing.
No. We define what needs to be true and work with whoever executes: your team, your agency, your developers. Keeping specification separate from build is deliberate: an assessment of whether a piece of work is necessary should not be made by the party who would be paid to carry it out.
That is where most of the value is, so it is where we stay. We work through implementation with your team and report monthly against the measures agreed at the outset. Retainers can be paused or ended with a month’s notice, and we will raise it ourselves at the quarterly review if we think ours has stopped earning its fee.
04 · Confidentiality and difficult situations
If things are not going well.
A meaningful number of people who reach this site are dealing with something serious. These answers are for them.
Yes, from the first minute, before anything is signed and whether or not you go on to engage us. We will sign your non-disclosure agreement or provide ours, whichever you prefer. Nothing discussed leaves the engagement team, and we do not name clients, publish logos or write case studies without written permission.
Almost certainly not, and it is the conversation we would rather have sooner than later. Cash pressure is a condition businesses pass through, frequently for reasons that had nothing to do with a bad decision. The first step is a short cash view so the position becomes factual rather than feared, and from there the realistic options are usually clearer than they feel. There is no judgement in that conversation.
Then say so, and we will tell you honestly whether there is a smaller piece of work that would genuinely help or whether the money is better spent elsewhere. The introductory conversation is free and carries no obligation; if the outcome of it is that you should not engage us, that is a legitimate outcome and you will have lost nothing but forty-five minutes.
Yes, and early rather than in a report six months later. Some of what we find will concern how the business is currently being run, and some of it will be uncomfortable for people we are working with. An adviser who only says what is welcome is an expensive form of agreement, and we would rather lose an engagement than provide one.
We check for conflicts before accepting any engagement and will decline where a genuine one exists, including where a direct competitor is already a client. If a potential conflict emerges during an engagement we raise it with you immediately rather than managing it quietly.
Still unanswered
Ask the question directly.
If something you need to know is not on this page, write and ask. You will get an answer from a senior adviser rather than a brochure, and asking does not put you into a sales process.
- Response time
- Within one working day.
- Or
- Use the contact form. It asks four questions, and none of them is your budget unless you want to give it.