We give you the insight and control to accelerate your growth

Are we accountants or bookkeepers?

We’re both, in a different way. This means that we can add value to your business, and support your growth, in ways that they can’t.

 Financial management, even for the simplest business, is anything but simple

Whether it’s completing the VAT return, following the correct payroll reporting procedures for HMRC, getting your head around auto-enrolment, preparing for Making Tax Digital, managing cashflow or just understanding the latest cloud accounting software, your finances are far from easy. Worse still, all these issues distract you from the more important tasks that earn money and build your business.

What’s the answer?

Traditionally you have an accountant for the year-end matters, probably an in-house person for bookkeeping, payroll and general financial administration as well as some kind of accounting package.

But is that the best solution? Probably not if you are an ambitious business owner that values accurate and timely accounting information. Not if you recognise that the numbers, far from being a chore or distraction, are the key business drivers and enablers. A better solution, if you believe that the more advanced your financial intelligence the sooner you’ll achieve your objectives, is to outsource to a specialist like Brook Financial Management.

Why is the Brook Financial way better?

We pull everything together and create a bespoke solution – a joined-up system that is tailored to the unique requirements of your individual business. We also handle all the day-to-day financial management tasks, collate and interpret the data to give you a timely and accurate picture of what’s going on in your business, then provide expert business advice.

With all due respect to accountants many of these tasks go way beyond the services that they traditionally provide. That’s why some of the most successful accounting firms in the South West work with us to provide a joined up solution to our mutual clients. Likewise, bookkeepers and in-house finance staff often welcome the support that we can offer them when we work as an external part of their finance team.

What about the latest cloud accounting systems?

Software developers promise to make accounting so easy that you can virtually dispense with professional help. In practice, unless your business is very small (and plans to stay that way), these systems can become restrictive. In some ways they are a big help for business owners, financial managers and accountants. However, if you really want to get the best out of these packages, stay on top of the numbers, truly understand what the data means and be confident that you are doing everything in the smartest, most efficient and compliant way possible, then a specialist like us can be invaluable.

Exactly what kind of things can you do for my business?

We offer a variety of different services that loosely come under four headings – you can see them all here. As each of our clients is very different we mix and match our services to provide the bespoke solution that best meets their requirements.

You can outsource your entire financial management function to us or we can work with your in-house team to provide additional support and guidance. We will also work closely with your accountants to ensure that the daily processes are handled efficiently, enabling them to focus on their areas of strength such as tax planning and the end of year accounts.

Doesn’t outsourcing reduce my control?

We understand how you feel – it’s reassuring to have in-house staff sat at a desk a few feet away. We can’t offer that but we do provide a team of people who are familiar with your business and who will immediately pick up the phone. If they can’t answer your question immediately they’ll get back to you promptly. And, depending on your needs, we’ll conduct regular phone calls or face to face meetings to discuss how your business is doing. Our clients find this works even better than employing your own in-house team, as you’ll see from our case studies.