When you’re running a founder-led business, finance is often the last function to get proper ownership - even though it’s the one that tells you whether any of the rest is working. We step in as your finance partner, handle the function end-to-end, and give you back the time and clarity to run the business.
FOUNDER, YOU’RE PROBABLY DEALING WITH...
• Bookkeeping that’s always “mostly caught up”
• Management accounts that arrive too late to act on
• Making hiring and spending decisions without real numbers
• Cash flow surprises you should have seen coming
• Being the one chasing invoices, chasing VAT, chasing answers
• A finance setup that’s held together with duct tape and good intentions
WHAT WORKING WITH US LOOKS LIKE
We run the finance function so you don’t have to. Bookkeeping, payroll, month-end close, management accounts, cash flow, VAT - all handled to a proper standard, on a proper timeline, by people who know what they’re doing (and enjoy doing it).
You get numbers you can make decisions from, a cash position when you need one, and a finance partner who’ll sit in on the conversations that matter. Think of us as the finance team you haven’t hired yet - without the overhead of hiring one.
WHAT YOU’LL GET
➕ A finance function that runs itself - without you in the middle of it
➕ Month-end close on time - not weeks later
➕ Management accounts you can actually use - built around the decisions you’re making
➕ Cash visibility - so you know what’s coming, not just what happened
➕ A finance partner on your team - in board conversations, leadership calls, hiring decisions
➕ Your point of contact - we coordinate with your bookkeeper, payroll, and anyone else already in the mix
WHAT THIS CAN LOOK LIKE
An illustrative example of how we work with founder-led teams.
A £1.5m agency with a team of ten comes to us with the classic founder-led finance mess: a part-time bookkeeper doing her best, management accounts arriving whenever they arrived, and a founder making spending decisions based on the bank balance. The founder just promoted someone into a senior role and then realised they have no idea whether they could afford the uplift.
We take over the whole function. Within two months, the books are current, the close was landing by day 5, and the founder is getting a monthly pack with a cash position, P&L by service line, and a simple forecast. Six months in, the biggest change isn't the numbers - its that the founder stops carrying finance around in their head.
ABOUT DAVID
David founded Carr Accounting Studio specifically for businesses like your - founder-led teams that need a proper finance function but aren’t ready to hire a Financial Controller full-time. His background running and operating inside funded businesses means he understands what founder-led teams actually need.
