Can we see clearly?
Whether the numbers tell you what is happening early enough to do something about it. If reporting arrives six weeks late, every other decision on this page is being made blind.
- Financial Management
- Financial Guidance & Capital
What we do
Six disciplines. One accountable team.
Most firms buy advice in pieces and then pay again to reconcile it. We are structured so that reconciliation happens before the advice ever reaches you.
01 · How the practice fits together
Three questions, answered in the same room.
Nearly every problem a business brings us turns out to be one of three questions wearing a disguise. The disciplines below are grouped by which question they answer, which is also how we decide who joins your engagement.
Are we pointed at the right thing?
Whether the plan, the proposition and the market you are chasing actually agree with one another, and whether the arithmetic underneath them holds.
- Business Planning, Strategy & Execution
- Strategic Marketing
Can we actually do it?
Whether the operation, the systems and the margin can carry the plan. Growth that outruns its operating model does not feel like success from the inside.
- Performance & Transformation
- eCommerce & Digital Commerce
02 · The six disciplines
Engage one, or the whole practice.
There is no minimum bundle and no obligation to take services you do not need. Where a discipline is not the right answer we will say so, including when the right answer is somebody other than us.
01
Financial Management
Order and foresight in the numbers. Management reporting, cash-flow forecasting and controls that let you decide early rather than explain late.
Explore this service 02Business Planning, Strategy & Execution
Decide where the business is going and how it gets there. We pressure-test the operating model, then convert the plan into a cadence your team can hold.
Explore this service 03Strategic Marketing
Marketing judged on contribution, not impressions. Positioning first, then a demand engine built on unit economics you can defend to a board.
Explore this service 04eCommerce & Digital Commerce
From platform choice to contribution margin. Commerce that converts, retains and scales, with clarity on which of the three is costing you money.
Explore this service 05Financial Guidance & Capital
Be ready before the conversation starts. Model, narrative and data room prepared so funding or an exit runs on your timetable rather than someone else’s.
Explore this service 06Performance & Transformation
Protect margin while you grow. We find the cost, process and systems drag that quietly caps profitability, then remove it, with interim leadership where needed.
Explore this service03 · Where people usually start
Start with the symptom, not the service.
Very few people arrive knowing which discipline they need, and it does not matter. Describe what is actually happening and we will tell you which of the six answers it, or that none of them do.
04 · What we do not do
The boundaries, stated plainly.
A firm that claims every capability is describing a sales process, not a practice. These are the things we will refer elsewhere rather than attempt.
Statutory audit and tax filing
We are not registered auditors and we do not file statutory accounts or tax returns. Your accountant does that, and we are glad to work alongside them, and most of our engagements involve exactly that.
Regulated financial advice
We do not advise on investments, pensions or personal financial products, and nothing on this site is an offer or a recommendation to buy or sell anything. Business advisory is a different activity, and we keep the line clear.
Legal advice
We will tell you when something needs a solicitor, and we will help you brief one properly. We will not draft the document ourselves.
Work we would be the wrong firm for
If a specialist would do it better, or if the scope is too small to justify our fee, we will say so in the first conversation. Turning down an engagement is cheaper for both of us than half-delivering it.
05 · Start the conversation
Tell us what is actually holding the business back.
An introductory consultation is a straightforward conversation about your position and your priorities. No charge, no proposal deck, and no obligation to go further.
- What to expect
- Forty-five minutes with a senior adviser, followed by a short written summary of what we heard.
- What to bring
- Your last set of management accounts, if you have them. If you do not, that is already useful to know.
Vader Barclay ConsultingManagement · Accountancy · Marketing