Project Planning and Management (PRINCE2™ compliant)

Projects, ranging from the simplest to the most complex, should be rigorously planned and managed to ensure a successful outcome. The most widely accepted formal methodology is known as PRINCE2™, and is usually a pre-requisite for public and private sector project management. This standard provides assurance that all the best practice ingredients of project management will be adhered to, including robust program planning, formal change control procedures, auditable documentation and strong project and team management, thus maximising the likelihood of successful implementation. All our project management is provided by PRINCE2™ accredited personnel, applying the PRINCE2™ principles, to provide you with the piece of mind and assurance you require for the successful implementation of
your projects.

Best Practice Tendering

Some organisations, especially those operating in the charitable, public or not for profit sectors, are obliged to undertake objective and transparent tendering exercises before awarding contracts for goods and services. In fact, most forward-thinking private organisations, including SMEs, now follow this approach, since it represents the strongest assurance that the best commercial outcome is secured, and the scope for miscommunication is minimised through stronger documentation at all stages prior to the final commitment to proceed. We have substantial experience in preparing service and commercial specifications for tendering (ITTs), formal and transparent response evaluations, managing the clarification process without compromising the innate fairness of the exercise and managing the task of advising outcomes and feedback to unsuccessful parties. We will work to support you at whatever level of detail and rigour suits your organisation in this area.

Accounting Software Evaluations

How do you select the right accounting software for your organisation? Is it the one your accountant suggested (because that is the only one they are familiar with, or it integrates most easily with their own software, thus being driven by their needs not yours), or is it because it meets more of your requirements, at the right price, that any other package? Are you clear which products are most suited to not for profits, which to charities, which to manufacturing businesses, which to time-billing service providers and which to complex projects? Do you know how easy (and expensive) it is to integrate your chosen system with other key business application software? We have the knowledge, independence and experience to guide you through this maze and to assist you in making the right choice for your business. We will also help you structure it and implement it if you wish.

Risk Register Development

All organisations should have some risk identification and mitigation processes. The level of formality attached to these processes in your organisation will usually be related to your size and sector, with not for profits and charities, in particular, being required to have much more formal risk management processes in place. The basic elements of a risk management system comprise a core register of risks, likelihood and impact assessments leading to a
classification of identified risks by probability and an individual risk mitigation strategy, and should form the backbone of your organisation’s risk management documentation. We have the experience and expertise to develop a risk management system on your behalf in a professional and compliant manner.

Benchmarking

Knowledge is everything. The more we learn about the performance of others, the more self-aware we become and the more we develop. We will undertake to develop benchmarks through which you can assess your organisation’s performance relative to your sector or competition. These may relate to financial performance or focus on other operational measures. We have also developed sector wide confidential benchmarking data sharing forums allowing a carefully selected set of players within a sector to contribute confidential information which is collated, ranked and shared amongst participants without divulging the performance of individual contributing organisations. We would be very interested to help develop a bespoke forum within your sector.

Business Performance Health-Checks

Just like people, organisations thrive and develop best if their health and performance is proactively monitored. We will do this for you by running surgery- style periodic health-checks, identifying areas that carry excessive risk and which can represent a threat to your survival if not remedied. Areas of review cover cash planning and management, soundness of financial forecasting and reporting, efficiency of accounts processing (often identifying overstaffing as a result of bad processes) and strength of budgetary control across the organisation, and a detailed health-assessment will be provided in all these areas.

Finance Director Service

Small organisations are often unable to justify the cost of an experienced in-house Finance Director. They would, however, benefit greatly if this capability could be secured in an affordable and reliable manner for between 1 or 2 days each month to overview the work of the permanent accounting staff and to provide high level technical and strategic advice when required. This is a service a we would be delighted to provide you with and we believe that you will be pleasantly surprised by the combination of high quality financial management and value for money that you can achieve with us.