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Business Pulse
Plan the year, track performance and make better decisions. We build the year’s plan with you, track the business against it, and meet every quarter or every month to decide what happens next.
Run by Andy Jackson and Peter Allen · AAT licensed · ICPA member · FreeAgent and Xero partner
- A budget for the year, built with you
- Management accounts against the budget
- A rolling 12-month cash flow forecast
- A review meeting that ends with agreed actions
Quarterly or monthly
You can move between the two at any time.
Quarterly Business Pulse
For established businesses with steady trading that want a structured review every quarter.
- Quarterly management accounts set against the budget, with written commentary
- A 12-month cash flow forecast, rolled forward every quarter
- A 90-minute review meeting every quarter, ending with agreed actions
- Your figures in Buzz OS: budget against actual, KPIs and every action
Monthly Business Pulse
For businesses with staff, borrowing, changing margins or big decisions ahead, where one month can change the year.
- Monthly management accounts set against the budget, with written commentary
- The forecast rolled forward every month
- A 60-minute review meeting every month
- Priority support between meetings
The same five steps every quarter or month
Close
Bookkeeping brought up to date, the bank and control accounts reconciled, and the period closed.
Measure
Management accounts produced and set against the budget, line by line.
Understand
Which variances matter and what caused them: volume, price, margin, timing or a one-off.
Review
A meeting about what the figures mean for the decisions in front of you.
Act
Priorities and actions agreed, each with an owner and a date, and checked at the next review.
What one quarterly review found
A grounds-maintenance company with nine staff budgeted £300,000 of revenue and £33,000 of operating profit for the quarter. Revenue came in at £330,000 and operating profit at £26,900.
Splitting revenue by type showed contract work at a 44% gross margin and project work at 20%, because project prices had not been reviewed since materials costs rose. Four decisions came out of the 90 minutes, including a 35% margin floor on project quotes. On the same £82,500 of project work, that is worth £12,375 a quarter.
Operating profit for the quarter
| Budgeted operating profit | £33,000 |
| Extra £30,000 of revenue at the budgeted 43% margin | +£12,900 |
| Gross margin at 38% instead of 43% | −£16,500 |
| Payroll and overheads above budget | −£2,500 |
| Actual operating profit | £26,900 |
An illustrative example. The business is not a real client and every figure is invented.
Questions about Business Pulse
What happens in the review meeting?
We go through sales and gross margin, then payroll and overheads, then cash, late-paying customers and the VAT, PAYE and Corporation Tax coming up, and then the decisions ahead. Before the meeting ends, the decisions, the actions with an owner and a date, and any change to the forecast are written down.
Can I change between quarterly and monthly?
Yes, at any time.
Do I need to buy forecasting software?
No. The budget, the forecast, the management accounts and the agreed actions are kept in Buzz OS, which is included in the fee.
What if my bookkeeping is not up to date?
We check the bookkeeping before the service starts, and any clean-up is quoted separately. If it is well behind, a Finance Manager can bring it up to date and keep it there.
How is Business Pulse different from the finance team?
Business Pulse plans, reports and reviews, and you or your bookkeeper keep doing the day-to-day work. The finance team does the day-to-day work: bookkeeping, payroll, VAT, customer invoicing and supplier payments.
How is it different from a part-time finance director?
The finance director service adds an annual one-page plan, a KPI dashboard and a quarterly board meeting with Peter Allen, and includes the day-to-day finance work as well.
Talk to us
Tell us about the business and which level you are looking at, or book a 30-minute call.
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07476 989568Accreditations and partners
