He used to describe his finances in one word. Darkness.

When Nick describes how the business felt before we started, he uses one word. Darkness. He and Heather, who looks after the governance side, were running a growing business on a year-end accountant who filed the accounts and did little else. When they became VAT registered the advice they got was poor, they missed a payment, and they ended up with an audit and a lot of stress they could have done without.

They didn't just need compliance. They needed to actually see the business. We moved them onto a cloud system and monthly management accounts, so for the first time they could model what would happen if they lost a customer, took one on, or hired someone. Their work is seasonal, most of it between spring and autumn, with cash coming in long before it's delivered, so we've built the reporting around that rather than against it. I've helped with the staffing and growth decisions too, not just the numbers.

Nick has a good way of measuring whether it's working. He doesn't put a pound sign on it. He measures it by how much sleep he loses over the finances, and these days he sleeps fine.