Get the day-to-day records, monthly reporting and year-end preparation working together. Consult EFC helps growing UK companies agree who handles each task, when the numbers will be ready and what management can use them to decide.
Discuss your requirementsAs transactions, employees and reporting requests increase, the same finance team may be entering data, chasing reconciliations and trying to answer board questions. Start with the process causing delays, then agree which tasks to delegate, which approvals stay with management and how the work will be reviewed.
| Service | Typical work | Useful when |
|---|---|---|
| Bookkeeping, VAT and payroll support | Transaction processing, bank reconciliations, VAT records and payroll inputs or coordination where scoped. | The ledger is falling behind or information is arriving late. |
| Month-end close and management accounts | Reconcile balances, record agreed adjustments and produce monthly reporting with commentary. | Management needs reliable results and cash visibility. |
| Year-end accounts preparation | Prepare the trial balance, supporting schedules and handover for statutory accounts or external audit. | The reporting date is approaching or the close has unresolved balances. |
| Agreed-upon procedures | Agree specific checks and report the factual results to intended users. | A funder, board or other stakeholder needs evidence against a defined brief. |
Choose bookkeeping, VAT and payroll support for day-to-day records, month-end accounting and management accounts for the monthly close, year-end accounts and audit preparation for annual reporting, or agreed-upon procedures for a specific evidence request. For ongoing support across several finance processes, see our outsourced finance function for SMEs.
Look at where the work stops. A ledger full of unallocated receipts is a bookkeeping problem. A clean ledger with unexplained margin changes is a reporting problem. A year-end deadline with no agreed owner for the trial balance is a handover problem. Pinpointing the issue helps you buy the right support and gives the person doing the work a clear starting point.
| What is happening | First piece of work | What you should expect to see |
|---|---|---|
| Your records are behind | Start with bookkeeping and catch-up support. | A list of periods and balances to clear, plus an exception log with owners. |
| Management gets numbers too late | Start with monthly close and management accounts. | A close calendar, signed-off reconciliations and a pack that explains the main variances. |
| A reporting deadline is approaching | Start with year-end accounts preparation. | A reconciled handover pack with a tracker for adjustments and open questions. |
| A funder asks for specific checks | Send the request for an agreed-upon procedures engagement. | Agreed procedure wording and a factual findings report if the engagement is accepted. |
A business has accurate bank feeds but closes six weeks after month-end because invoices and payroll adjustments arrive late. Start by agreeing cut-offs, owners and an exceptions list. Then introduce a pack that shows profit, cash and overdue debt. Once those steps are repeatable, the same schedules can support year-end preparation.
Expect a defined period and list of entities, the outputs and review cadence, responsibilities for approvals and submissions, and the fee basis. If historical clean-up is needed, ask for that work to be scoped separately so the ongoing arrangement reflects the normal monthly workload.
Yes. We can agree who owns the ledger, reconciliations, reporting, statutory accounts and submissions, with a clear handover between the people involved.
Yes. A close review, reconciliation backlog or year-end preparation project can provide a defined starting point. The proposal confirms deliverables, fee and responsibilities.
Transaction volumes, number of entities, condition of the records, reporting detail and the division of work between teams all affect scope. Share those details for a proposal.
Tell us your accounting software, number of entities, next reporting deadline and the task taking the most time. We can use that to scope a one-off clean-up or ongoing support.
Enquire about accountancy support