FD Solutions - an experienced team of part-time finance directors

GROWING BUSINESSES

If you run an existing business going through a growth spurt, at some stage in the development you will feel the strain. Perhaps you are trying to run the finances yourself, or leaving them in the hands of a junior accountant who can't give you the information that you need, or possibly relying on a senior accountant whose skills haven't kept pace with your company's growth. Either way, FD Solutions will provide a suitable FD with knowledge of your industry and the work involved, be it systems implementation, capital raising, or management of the accounts department.

We are a part-time FD service that takes the financial strain and helps clients to grow faster and stronger. We act for many growing companies, including those you can read about by clicking here.

Each of our FDs has been full-time permanent FD of one or more successful businesses prior to joining us, and now they juggle a portfolio of FD roles. If you run a growing business, you can't be sure how much of our time you'll need, so whether it turns out to be a day here and there, or a week at the year end, and the occasional phone call in between, our FD will be available when needed.

To see how we've helped our clients grow their businesses please see our case study for Freight Investor Services

ACCOUNTANTS

With ethical guidelines that prevent accountants from providing ancillary services to companies for whom they undertake audits, conflicts of interest can be avoided by getting FD Solutions involved.

We're not a traditional firm of accountants. We don't undertake audits; we don't give tax advice. We offer a service that is complementary to mainstream accountancy practices, increasing numbers of whom are recognising how we can help their clients.

When a partner in an accountancy firm has a client who would like some FD-type help - preparing budgets, clarifying & improving management information, the sort of thing an auditor can't undertake - we provide that service. The accountant benefits from better information on his client, better audit working papers, and probably a more profitable client too.

Accountants who - along with their clients - have benefited include those who introduced the clients detailed in the case study here.

AIM

Nominated advisers no longer require that every public company's FD is full-time. Sure, the FD still needs to be strong and capable, but many companies are turning to a bought-in resource, and FD Solutions is their most popular choice.

We act for over a dozen AIM-quoted companies, and with our experience provide the FD credibility that is so important. We attend investor meetings, liaise with lawyers, NOMADs and brokers, and of course attend board meetings and present the FD's report - everything the full-time incumbent would do if one was needed. So we'll prepare the three-year projections that are needed and the financial reporting procedures manual for your flotation that your NOMAD will require.

Examples of our work with AIM companies can be found by clicking here.

OVERSEAS COMPANIES

With London recognised as a major financial centre, plenty of companies with operations abroad are quoted on the UK's stock exchanges, AIM in particular. This requires them to have a UK presence that doesn't merit their own office staffed by their own accounts team. FD Solutions acts as an outsourced accounts department for PLC companies with activities as unusual as drilling for oil in South America or developing catalyst technology in Italy.

We have multi-lingual experience too. Contact us if this service is of interest to you or a company you're involved with, or have a look at a recent example by clicking here.

PLUS MARKETS

Now considered a realistic alternative to AIM, more companies are using the Recognised Investment Exchange status of Plus for their initial leap as a publicly-traded share. We have strong links to Plus Markets and provide the part-time FD service which so many companies aiming for Plus require.

Our service mirrors that offered to AIM companies - attending investor meetings, liaising with lawyers, reporting accountants and brokers, and of course attending board meetings to present the FD's report - helping them through the flotation process, joining the roadshow to prospective investors, and generally being the financial back-up which many small-cap companies don't have.

We even acted for Plus Markets itself - click here to read more.

BANKS

Banks are interested in having secure clients whose stability gives the bank comfort that the company can meet its financial obligations, and who have the ability to grow which leads to more lending opportunities. Sometimes the ambitions are not matched by the numbers, or the financial plan is not clear to the bank.

So bankers regularly insist that clients strengthen their finance team - for the clients' own benefit as well as to improve the figures that get presented to the bank. But they recognise that many clients can't justify the cost of a full-time FD - nor do they always have the workload to keep someone busy five days a week. So a resource that can be turned on and off like a tap is the ideal answer. The client gets FD-level assistance when they need it, and the bank know that the payment going through their client's bank account is to pay for an hourly service from which the client is getting great benefit.

Clients introduced to us by banks include the case study found by clicking here.

PRIVATE EQUITY

It is said that VCs and private equity investors back people, not businesses. It is also said that there are no bad businesses, only bad management. But private equity houses increasingly recognise that the strong management of businesses in their portfolio - or those in which they are looking to invest - sometimes doesn't extend below the entrepreneur who acts as CEO or managing director.

A strong FD is high on the 'must-have' list, and we regularly sit in the financial hot-seat as an interim until a full-time permanent FD can be found. On occasions the private equity house and the investee company's MD recognise that the role doesn't need a full-time incumbent; we can undertake the role to the required level.

With the likelihood of an onwards sale within three to five years, an advantage to eventual buyers is that their own FD can step in. We can exit 'stage left' with no strings attached.

To see how we've helped our clients secure private equity please see our case study for The Money Gaming Corporation

IFRS

Standardising accounting from country to country under International Financial Reporting Standards has put additional workload on companies' shoulders which their auditors are unable to assist with because of conflicts of interest.

Eventually, all companies will be required to use IFRS but, for now, quoted companies are the guinea-pigs, and FD Solutions is preparing IFRS-compliant accounts for listed clients. The transition to common reporting under IFRS has created an enormous amount of work, and we're able to take the task off your hands. Click here to see our website video about this.

If your company is required to incorporate IFRS principles in its accounts, FD Solutions is well placed to help you with this complex exercise. Our experts understand the rules and regulations, and will be able to assist you, not only with the transition required in your day-to-day systems, but also with the production of final reports themselves, and with any audit-related problems.

To see our IFRS case study, click here. You can see our video about IFRS accounts preparation by clicking here.

MENTORING

FD Solutions have been mentoring FDs informally for years and we now offer a structured mentoring service. A mentor is someone who can help you overcome challenges that you are facing.

Investors and directors look to an FD to make sure a company achieves targets on time and without undue risk. So the FD's role is a stretch, requiring someone with independence and integrity to reconcile often conflicting objectives: sharing in the organisation's risk profile; and controlling and reducing it where possible.

Our mentoring service helps FDs address challenges: developing a strategy to deal with competitive pressures; delivering the numbers in that strategy; finding staff to deal with these pressures; managing their own time effectively; complying with regulations; progressing their own career; and dealing with the organisation's politics, knowing who to talk to, how and when.

FD Solutions is unique in having a wealth of practical experience from which to draw: we are FDs who have each been finance directors of many organisations, public & private, and now have a portfolio of businesses with whom we work. Our mentors draw on this experience and have appropriate tools and techniques formally acquired from accredited coaches and facilitators.

To read a testimonial from a mentoring client, click here.