Virtual CFO
FP&A
FP&A work tracks your UK company against its budget every month, breaks down margin by product, service line or customer, and explains in plain language why the numbers moved, turning closed management accounts into a pack your leadership team can actually use.
13-week cash forecast
Illustrative client · August 2026
GBP
- Cash today
- £244,220
- Lowest week ahead
- 239,800
- Largest outflow
- Payroll, 46,300
Illustrative. An example of the document, not a client's figures.
Numbers that explain themselves
A closed set of management accounts answers what happened. It does not answer why, and it definitely does not tell you what to do differently next month. FP&A sits on top of a close, ours or your own team's, and turns the raw comparison into something someone can actually act on.
The monthly pack, built to be read
Expect three things most months: a budget-to-actual walk-through with the real drivers named rather than just a variance percentage, a look at margin by whichever split matters for your business, product, site or customer, and a tracker linking headcount or a major cost line back to what the budget assumed. We aim for something read start to finish in ten minutes, not skimmed and filed away.
The question that comes up between reports
Alongside the recurring pack, FP&A covers the one-off question: what does a second site do to margin, what happens if a key customer renegotiates terms, is a planned price rise worth the volume it might cost. These run off the same underlying data as the monthly pack rather than a fresh guess each time.
Sits on top of whatever close you already have
You do not need to move your bookkeeping to us to get FP&A. We build on a close done under FRS 102 or FRS 105, including the Periodic Review changes to revenue and lease accounting that apply for accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026, whether that close comes from our team or your existing accountant. It works well alongside KPI design and fractional CFO time.
Questions
Frequently asked questions: FP&A
Do we need a fractional CFO to also get FP&A work?
No. FP&A can run as its own monthly deliverable. Many companies start with FP&A reporting alone and add fractional CFO time later.
How is margin analysis broken down?
Typically by product line, service line or customer segment, depending on where your business actually has margin variation. We build the split around your chart of accounts and sales data.
What if our budget was built by someone else?
That is fine. We can work against a budget built internally or with a prior adviser; FP&A tracking does not depend on us having built the original budget.
How quickly after month end is the FP&A pack ready?
That depends on how quickly your books close each month; we agree a specific delivery date during onboarding based on your close timeline.
Can FP&A work flag a KPI trending the wrong way before it shows up in the monthly numbers?
Yes, we track leading indicators alongside the lagging financial metrics where the data supports it, since a metric like customer churn or pipeline conversion often signals a coming revenue problem weeks before it shows up in the profit and loss statement itself.
Is FP&A only for larger companies?
No. Any business tracking a budget benefits from someone explaining the variances each month rather than just reporting the numbers.
What is included in the monthly pack?
Typically a budget-versus-actual summary, margin trends, key variances and a short written narrative, tailored to what your leadership actually reads.
Can FP&A work run alongside our own controller?
Yes. FP&A sits on top of the books your controller or bookkeeper closes each month; we do not need to own the close to deliver the analysis.
How do we get started with fP&A?
Getting started with fP&A begins with a short review of your current records and software access. Once that is done we confirm scope and timing in writing, and ongoing work begins on the schedule agreed with you.
Related services
- Virtual CFOBudgetingAn annual budget built from your real numbers, broken out by month and department, that becomes the baseline every later report is measured against.
- Virtual CFOKPI designA short list of the numbers that actually run your business, defined once and tracked consistently, instead of a dashboard nobody opens.
- Virtual CFOFractional CFOA senior finance lead who works your numbers on a part-time basis: monthly reviews, board and investor prep, and a second opinion before a big decision.
Industries
- SaaSBookkeeping and reporting for subscription software businesses tracking recurring revenue, deferred revenue and burn.
- Startups and VC-backed companiesBookkeeping and reporting for early-stage, venture-backed companies watching burn, runway and investor reporting closely.
- Agencies and consultanciesBookkeeping for marketing agencies, design studios and consulting firms billing clients on retainers and project fees.
- Professional servicesBookkeeping for professional service firms such as engineering, architecture and IT consulting billing clients by project or retainer.
Next step
Talk to the team that would run your books
A short call covers your setup, your software and what a first month would look like. You get a written scope and price after it.