Virtual Finance Services

Tailored to you and provided by a team of dedicated specialists, our virtual finance function can operate alongside your current processes and people or as a full-service offering.

Lauren

Lauren McCluskey

Head of Virtual Finance Function

Contact Lauren Meet the team

Who we can help

  • AIM LISTED COMPANIES
  • ENTREPRENEURS
  • MULTINATIONALS
  • PRIVATELY OWNED & LISTED BUSINESSES
  • PUBLIC & SOCIAL SECTOR ORGANISATIONS
  • SMES
  • STARTUPS

How we can help

 

VIRTUAL & STRATEGIC FINANCE SOLUTIONS FOR YOU

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Our Virtual Finance Function (VFF) is a bespoke service tailored to the size of your business and the scale and complexity of your needs. Delivered by our highly skilled team, many of whom boast years of industry experience, it utilises cloud-based technology to furnish valuable, real-time financial insights about your business, accessible wherever you are and whenever you need them.

A Virtual Finance Function works alongside your business to ensure you have access to the right levels of expertise, matched exactly to the complexity of your requirements. By drawing on the skills of the whole team at AAB, we can provide a fully outsourced finance function solution and essential, timely financial information to make evidence-based decisions that enhance both your confidence in the data and your business agility.

This saves you time and empowers you with the insights that can support you to run your business, utilising a suite of key performance indicators to manage overhead spend, forecast cashflow and ensure that the information is usable and meaningful. These are some of the crucial advantages of the Virtual Finance Function.

ADAPTABLE AND EASY TO USE

VFF is suitable for a wide range of organisations throughout the lifecycle of their business. Its flexibility gives you options and puts you in control. We have the resources and expertise to support international groups and large listed companies with their highly complex transactions. At the other end of the scale, if you are downscaling, upscaling or have a special purpose project (perhaps as a joint venture) and want an alternative to recruitment, VFF could well be the answer.

VFF also works well if you’re a fast-growing business or SME, you could run your business with either a reduced finance team or perhaps no finance team at all – saving you money and helping focus on growth. Alternatively, by using our senior finance professionals and not recruiting an internal CFO, you could avoid the need to give up equity to attract key finance staff.

For example, for businesses who are new to the UK and need local expertise as your business grows, the flexibility of VFF means you can avoid the burden and expense of expanding your back office to cope, and instead concentrate on succeeding with new clients in new markets.

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  • "VFF provides us with excellent day to day financial support and efficient/informative month end reporting; it also assisted the move to a cloud-based accounting software. Allowing us to focus on developing the organisation’s long term strategy"

    David Mackay, SCARF

  • For me, business is all about relationships, and the quality of what the team at AAB do to support us is a fundamental lever for us as we strive to meet the challenges and succeed as a group through and beyond challenging times.

    John Walsh, Online Electronics Limited

  • I was particularly impressed by AAB’s appreciation of the strategic importance of the deal. Additionally, the AAB team quickly understood the very complex structure of the target and were pivotal in advising on how best to approach this.

    Ross Baxter, Harbro Limited

  • Working more closely with the team has been a real pleasure. They are open and straightforward, eager to understand our requirements and provide solutions to issues that arise. Overall it has been a refreshing experience!

    Karen Williamson, Apache Corporation

WHAT DO YOU GET WITH A VIRTUAL FINANCE FUNCTION?

At AAB, the Virtual Finance Function is provided by our dedicated and experienced team, who are specialists across all the different aspects of the finance function. They’ll ensure your business is always compliant, as well as managing your day-to-day finances efficiently, proactively and on time.

This is a bespoke flexible service that takes advantage of the latest accounting technology. You select the services you need, depending on your organisation’s resources and set-up. Along your business journey, we can adapt those services to cater for temporary or longer term changes in your business, such as a restructure, fundraising, merger or acquisition.

You’ll have easy access to them on a regular or ad-hoc basis, all via one convenient point of contact. Everything about our Virtual Finance Function is designed to be dependable and give you real peace of mind.

Find out more about VFF

BENEFITS AT A GLANCE

  • A fully bespoke solution tailored precisely to your requirements. 
  • Delivered by experienced specialists who take care of your vital finance services. 
  • We manage the entire transition process, including training if required.
  • Gives you easy access to invaluable real-time financial information on your business. 
  • Takes care of regulatory and tax compliance.  
  • Easy, continual access to experts who’ll answer your financial queries. 
  • Adapts to your business circumstances, whether upscaling or downscaling. 
  • Integrates with your existing culture and workflow. 
  • Allows you to concentrate on running and growing your business. 
  • Can avoid the need to release equity to attract key finance staff. 
  • Frees up money that can be better spent on driving your business forward. 
  • A highly cost-effective way to ease your workload and optimise your performance. 

Saves you the time involved in: 

  • Recruiting skilled people for all the various roles associated with managing your finances 
  • Procuring, setting up and maintaining a suitable system.
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STATUTORY ACCOUNTING

Most businesses do not require a full-time statutory accountant or currently struggle to recruit and maintain the statutory accountant skill set. Our Strategic Finance Solutions team can step in and remove this burden from your existing finance team, allowing them to focus on the normal monthly reporting processes. Not only will we prepare your statutory accounts we will project manage your audit further reducing the pressures on your finance team.

You will get access to a team of dedicated statutory accountants who have experience in producing annual reports for small FRS 105 companies up to large multinational IFRS consolidated accounts and from retail businesses to financial services to oil & gas companies. All of this whilst ensuring you receive quality outputs underpinned by AAB expertise and training.

Explore our statutory accounting service

SECONDMENTS & PROJECT SUPPORT

Often companies have recruitment challenges or one-off projects that need to be completed in short time scales. The Strategic Finance Solutions team has a wealth of experience to fill those recruitment gaps or to assist finance functions in implementing those new projects. These projects can span from finance system implementations to new product launches to data reconciliations.

Whether you are looking for interim support from the Senior Finance level to Accounts Payable processing, from a Management Accountant to Payroll processing we have the right person with the right skills to support you now. There is no need to wait for the long recruitment process we are here to bridge the gap and ensure your finance function continues to operate smoothly.

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PROCESS & CONTROL REVIEWS

After a business has grown rapidly in a short period or grown through several acquisitions it can be common for processes and controls to no longer be fit for purpose for the new organisation. The Strategic Finance Solutions team has significant experience in performing process and control reviews for family-owned businesses right through multinational listed organisations giving you peace of mind about the financial robustness of your business.

If you think that a potential listing is in your company’s future get ahead of the curve by making sure your business is ready for the Financial Position and Prospects Procedures (FPPP) requirements or simply want to better combat fraud and enhance the quality of corporate reporting and governance allow our experts to guide you through best practice controls and documentation.

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Transform Your Finance Function With Cloud Accounting

Say goodbye to manual processes and hello to smarter finance management. Our cloud accounting service helps businesses of all sizes move to secure, intuitive platforms like Xero, Iplicit, and Microsoft Business Central. Gain instant access to real-time financial data, streamline operations, and collaborate effortlessly with your team and advisors. From selecting the right software to full implementation, training, and support, we ensure a smooth transition that saves you time and maximises efficiency. No matter where you are in your business journey, we’ll tailor a solution that fits. 

 

Learn more cloud accounting

TECHNICAL ACCOUNTING SUPPORT

When your business is growing rapidly it is common for the growth of your company to not be matched by the growth of your finance function. Our team of technical accountants can make sure you are aware of the accounting implications of different funding decisions, new product launches or potential listings. Making sure key finance information is fed into the decision-making process.

If you do decide that listing is in the future of your business the team can support with your conversion to IFRS, process and control review and production of your Financial Position and Prospects Procedures (FPPP). You will benefit from experts with a full range of specialisms.

As accounting standards change over time our team of technical accountants can assist you with accounting policy reviews, new accounting standard implementation and accounting standard training that is tailored for your business’ needs.

Get technical accounting support

INTERNATIONAL OUTSOURCING

As a bespoke service, VFF offers the flexibility to suit a range of international organisations, such as global groups and listed multinationals, businesses expanding internationally and special purpose projects, such as joint ventures. It supports you with the resources and expertise to manage and report on highly complex transactions and ensure compliance across international tax and regulatory jurisdictions. 

VFF can be ideal for smaller enterprises expanding abroad. For example, you could run your business with either a reduced finance team or perhaps no finance team at all – saving you money and helping you focus on growth. Alternatively, by using our senior finance professionals and not recruiting an internal CFO, you could avoid the need to give up equity to attract key finance staff.  

As your business grows, the flexibility of VFF means you can avoid the burden and expense of growing your back office to cope, and instead concentrate on succeeding with new clients in new markets. 

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