FINANCE
WORDS : DAVE ROBSON PICTURE : CHRIS BOOTH
Experienced – Atom Financial ’ s Matthew Fannan , left , and Matt Herrell .
FLEXIBLE FRIENDS
How an outsourced finance director function can help a business grow
Does your business need a finance director ? It ’ s a question many firms will have pondered and decided to either muddle through without one , or bring in a full-time finance director , with the cost and commitment that involves .
But according to growing North-East financial consultancy firm Atom Financial , there ’ s a better , more cost-effective and much more flexible way .
Atom – which has a number of highprofile Tyneside and Wearside clients on its books , including two prominent tech firms – offers an outsourced finance director function , where one of its team will work with a company to not just crunch the numbers but help it on its growth journey .
And that , says Atom Financial director Matthew Fannan , can be a boon for businesses wary of committing to a full-time FD .
He told Wear Business : “ Some firms try to save money by doing it themselves , or they hire an expensive internal finance director – but the time may not be right to do that ‘ in-house ’.
“ With our outsourced function , we go in and work with them , but we ’ re not there permanently . It ’ s a flexible arrangement that fits the client ’ s requirements , whether that ’ s one day a week , two days a month or whatever . For our larger clients , for example , we ’ re currently doing two to three days a week .
“ It ’ s whatever works right now for the
14 business and then being able to scale up the resource as the company grows , and when we feel it ’ s right .
“ It ’ s horses for courses . We won ’ t just try and tell a business ‘ you need three days a week ’ if that requirement ’ s not there . It ’ s not a ‘ one model fits all ’ approach – it ’ s bespoke to a client ’ s needs .”
Based in Stockton but with clients across the north of England , Atom Financial comprises founders and experienced finance professionals Matthew Fannan and Matt Herrell , head of HR offshoot Atom People Nathan Raine , management accountant Claire Dove and newly-recruited finance administrator Emily Anderson .
With more than 40 years ’ experience between them , the two Matts can steer firms through any facet of the finance function , including financial forecasting and modelling , management accounts and bookkeeping , financial due diligence , and that crucial outsourced finance director role .
Matthew added : “ It ’ s all very well firms putting a budget together and having aspirations to get somewhere , but how are they going to get there ? That ’ s where me and Matt use our experience to help guide them towards where they want to go .
“ Some businesses might say ‘ we ’ re not big enough for a finance director ’ but what are those business owners trying to achieve ? We use our experience to help them get
Visit atomfinancial . co . uk where they want to be . It ’ s all about the ‘ so what ’ for us – this is where we are today , so what challenges do you need to overcome and how do you navigate through the opportunities and risks ?
“ It ’ s part of our full finance function as a service offering – we manage it from finance administration all the way up to finance director , or we can work alongside businesses ’ existing finance teams . They might have a finance manager , a bookkeeper or lower level finance staff , but they might also need myself or Matt to come in at a more strategic level to help them out .”
Feedback , says Matthew , has been “ really positive ” – “ firms like our hands-on approach and the fact we get more involved through an onsite presence . If we ’ re there , we ’ re visible and the client can see they get a lot more value , as opposed to someone touching base once a month and just preparing accounts in the background and doing the compliance stuff .”
And Atom ’ s plans for 2023 can be summed up in one word – growth .
“ We ’ re ambitious ourselves , with a keen eye on who we can bring in to bolster our offering , so we will be looking to recruit another senior person into the team very soon .
“ But our main goal is to help businesses grow . We want to work with ambitious business leaders in the north of England and add our experience to their ambition .”