Secantor Goes Regional

At Secantor we have always valued the benefit of being embedded in the local professional an banking community.

www.secantor.co.uk now represents finance support (part - time FD) within Wales and the Midlands, whilst connected with other Secantor regions to provide the added benefit of a wide base of knowledge to deliver the very best for our clients.

In the Midlands and Wales the business is led by Nigel Bacon https://www.linkedin.com/in/nigel-bacon-3b6865b/ who has many years professional and business experience to support SMEs with a team of qualified accountants and also supported with HR and Health and Safety expertise.

See our client testimonials on youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8DIm8jKdfU4

Nigel Bacon
CEO Secantor
www.secantor.co.uk

The practicalities of implementing a new accounting system

Today, there are many accounting systems to choose from. In recent years, there has been a move to "cloud" based systems and for those businesses "starting out", this has been a natural choice.

The "cloud" has facilitated the outsourcing, or partial outsourcing model, under which Secantor operates. It has enabled business owners to take advantage of a wide range of financial, commercial and strategic expertise at an affordable price. The trick is to engage the right amount of expertise at the right level and to have this as an "on demand" basis. Accounting systems in the "cloud" help the owner manager, or family business, to control their business, day or night, by having "real time" visibility over the management information.

The fact that the Finance Director might not be physically be at  the owners side does not matter. They are on call, on an "as needed basis" . Typically our FDs will visit a business for between 2 days a month and 3 days a week providing a cost effective resource and helping to implement an effective finance function. Whilst the FD may not be "on-site" all of the time the owner/manager has complete  and continuous visibility over " real time" management information which monitors the key performance indicators of the business. In many fast moving businesses this is critical to gauge the impact that decision making is having on the performance of the business.

For many established businesses the thought of changing or developing accounting, or management information systems, is full of trepidation. These systems are "mission critical" and the old adage of "why try and fix what is not broken" often comes into play. However, at Secantor we have considerable experience amongst our people of  developing and implementing new systems for clients, enabling businesses to remain "cutting edge". We are able to lever off practical experiences of our clients that can provide comfort to taking the next step.

To learn more, please contact Secantor. www.secantor.co.uk

Nigel Bacon
CEO

The world has changed

It is often said that nothing really changes but in our world but some things have, and  mainly based around technology.

Externally, for some of our clients this has proved very exciting. Particularly new internet retailing businesses. One of our clients has developed an offshoot retailing business which has grown from nothing to £0.5m turnover in less than 12 months. This particular business is breaking new ground. However, there are many examples of web based retailers "disrupting" traditional businesses all of which gives rise to opportunities, since if businesses don't move forwards and embrace change, they will inevitably go into reverse, and eventually fail. It is often helpful for businesses to obtain support with a strategic review of their business, since management are generally very much involved in operational matters, and don't regularly stand back and look at the broader picture and the opportunities that might await.

It often helps to have someone challenge their thinking and this does not necessarily mean that this person should have deep industry knowledge, but a good grasp of strategic thinking. Many of our people have this sort of training that wraps discipline around an "away day" to add structure and outcomes. Management often appreciate having an objective person to challenge their thinking in a constructive way.

Internally, we have seen substantial benefits from the IT revolution, allowing us to develop communication systems and automation of our business, for the benefits of our associates and clients. Of course, it has also enabled our prospective, and new clients, to better conceptualise our particular slant on outsourcing and the fact that someone might not always be on a clients physical location does not mean that they cannot be involved on client work and be accountable for that work.

All of this leads us to a brighter future with our clients benefitting from cost effective expertise as part of their team.
www.secantor.co.uk

Nigel Bacon
CEO Secantor
01564 330677

26 June 2014 Business finance improving, says Cable

The UK is “on the cusp of a very big break through in business finance”, according to the secretary of state for business, Vince Cable Speaking at the launch of a new guide to small business finance, produced by the British Business Bank, ICAEW and 17 other business and finance organisations, Cable outlined a positive picture for the growing army of UK small business owners and entrepreneurs. Pointing out that difficulties accessing finance have been a historic feature of the British business landscape, he said that things were definitely improving. He explained that while early business start-ups are often funded by what he referred to as “friends, families and fools”, and while at the other end of the scale there’s the stock exchange, there’s a huge gap in the middle. “It’s known as the Valley of Death. At least today there are now some oases appearing in this desert. This new guide will help small businesses seeking finance to find those oases.” The Business Finance Guide – a journey from start-up to growth is targeted at anyone running their own business and highlights the wide array of finance types now available to businesses of all size and stage of development. David Petrie, head of the ICAEW’s Corporate Finance Faculty and co-author of the report, said the crucial issue was timing. “What is crucial for business success is to get the right type of funding at the right time. This guide will help businesses achieve that.” Petrie added that because of the unique nature of the partnership behind the report, it would be sure to reach a large proportion of the UK’s 5 million SMEs. “The guide is supported by 19 partner organisations including ICAEW and the British Business Bank. It’s the first time this has happened and together they represent over 1 million members.” Also speaking at the launch, ICAEW’s chief executive Michael Izza highlighted how quickly the finance market in the UK has shifted. “Even since the Breedon Review in 2012, the market has got more complicated. This guide will help people find their way through the complexity. Really this guide is about building on the work done by the Breedon Review. It recognises that if there is not necessarily a shortage of funds, there is a challenge for those running small businesses in being able to be up to date with the new forms of finance.” The guide, which is available free to download here, covers all the various funding and finance options open to small and growing firms as well as pointing readers in the direction of further advice, help and information.

With thanks to Richard Cree of Economia
http://economia.icaew.com/news/june-2014/business-finance-improving-says-cable?utm_source=economianews&utm_medium=articles&utm_content=headlines&utm_campaign=june27

www.secantor.co.uk

The changing world of funding part 3

Asset Based Finance

Following on from Part 2 http://secantorceo.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/the-changing-world-of-funding-part-2.html we continue to look at Asset Based Finance with a look into the costs. This is very timely with an article in the Times newspaper today
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/business/industries/banking/article4126960.ece?CMP=OTH-gnws-standard-2014_06_22
regarding some of the practices of asset based lenders which remains an unregulated industry. It has to be said that the Asset Based Finance Association www.abfa.org.uk are making moves to clean some of the practices of the industry but the article highlights the fact that there are often hidden charges "in the small print". The article refers particularly to termination charges/penalties. This has long been an issue for buyers of businesses where they want to use their own providers of finance. Often the agreements specify prohibitive costs for transferring title in the debtor book. Having control of the debtor book is seen as important for a purchaser of a business since they do not want a third party being heavy handed with "their customers" and simply collecting in.

The point that the above raises is that the cost of Asset Based Finance is not simply about interest charges. The following ought to be considered when making comparisons between alternative providers of finance and indeed, when comparing with other sources of finance. look out for the following costs and charges and also examine the interest rates;

Arrangement Fees / non-refundable commitment fees
Due Diligence and audit costs / annual maintenance fees
Unutilised facility fees
Covenant compliance fees
Termination fees (referred to above)

Other things to consider are your own company costs of reporting and being compliant with the lending agreements.

Whilst Invoice Discounting or Factoring can be an effective way for a small business to get funding for growth, business owners should be aware that it can increase the complexity of the business. It is critical for businesses to manage their cash effectively whether you have Asset Backed Financing, or not. Secantor www.secantor.co.uk can help with this process through helping to plan the funding requirement and to source the correct mix of funding.

In Part 3 we will continue with the Asset based Finance theme and extend it into other areas, particularly the all important supply chain.

Secantor Supports Equity Investments

As we come to the end of our financial year it is very gratifying to see the number of SMEs where we have helped  raise equity funds. From small business angel investments through to organisations such as Oxygen Accelerator www.oxygenaccelerator.com  up to the £4m investment that the Business Growth Fund www.businessgrowthfund.co.uk  made into Palmer Hargreaves www.palmerhargreaves.com .

We are delivering ongoing support to the SME community...help your business to grow.
www.secantor.co.uk

Informed Business Decisions - at the heart of what we do

The intensively competitive marketplace today demands a level and quality of performance measurement unlike any that ever existed. In the not too distant past, making money and winning at business was much easier: Companies could establish a competitive advantage quite easily and keep it for a very long time; market strength was virtually unassailable; customers were much less demanding; and leaders could manage relatively effectively with good-enough strategies and mediocre execution. but today, "good enough" is not good enough.

With thanks to Dean Spitzer

Secantor - supporting businesses to make informed decisions

www.secantor.co.uk

Mentoring

We are not a recruitment company, we are a professional services frim/outsourcer dedicated to providing solutions to the SME community.

We do not believe in a "one size fits all" approach to business. The core of what we do  is providing an "Effective Finance Function", and this can be done in many different ways. Often I am told by prospective clients that they have a great financial controller or financial manager, but the business has got to a size where reliable historic financial information is simply not enough. In order for the business to grasp the opportunities that might lay head there needs to be a firm grip on "planning and control". The easy answer is to overlay a Finance Director. However, mentoring the Financial Controller to step up a level can be the preferred solution. I am often asked "how can I do that when I am already working full on". The answer often lies in helping everyone in financial function to take a step up which then gets us into the area of effective delegation.

For more about mentoring and effective delegation please ring me on 01564 330676.

Nigel Bacon
CEO
Secantor
www.secantor.co.uk

Strategy Days

Our clients fall mainly within the band of £2m t/o to £50m t/o. Many are either family businesses or entrepreneurial businesses run by owner managers.

Many of these clients lack formal management training, but have created successful businesses through hard work, resilience and robustness. These clients want experienced, qualified and commercial people to help them with Strategy and Finance. We are doing a number of roles with clients where I run strategy away days (usually two sessions per annum) and where we might also run their finance function either through a Finance Director or a Financial Controller (depending on the size of business and the requirement these might be part-time roles). This enables me to keep abreast of how the business is doing and "what drives the numbers", so that I can facilitate a strategy day, and, "hit the ground running".

It is amazing what can be gained by taking a step back and having a helicopter view of the business and the market it operates in. This can also help with exit strategies or succession within a business.

To find out more , ring me on 01564 330676

Nigel Bacon

CEO Secantor
www.secantor.co.uk

Vernon George appointed Regional Director for the East Midlands

I am delighted to announce that Vernon George has been appointed Regional Director for Secantor in the East Midlands.
Following a successful career with NatWest and the IoD, Vernon is ideally placed to help our SME clients in the East Midlands.

uk.linkedin.com/pub/vernon-george/6/a17/975

Nigel bacon
CEO
Secantor
www.secantor.co.uk

Secantor supports Activ8 funding round

Secantor is pleased to support the the latest funding round of Activ8 www.a8i.co.uk a ground breaking company in the field of HR analytics.

Organisations these days are more and more dependant upon their human capital for their success. HR analytics takes HR intelligence out of the HR department and into the organisation so that performance becomes transparent. This is at the heart of what Secantor do from a financial perspective, taking a finance function from something that is to do with compliance and upgrading it to  financial intelligence at the heart of the organisation's decision making process.

The "merger" of HR analytics and financial analytics is a "hot topic" and one which Secantor is proud to be involved with.

Not only does Activ8 look at past performance metrics but combines this with predictave technologies to forecast likely outcomes. A powerful tool in assessing the required criteria for individuals that a business is looking to employ. This is is similar to Secantor's financial approach which seeks to build on historic financial information to forecast "what if scenarios" for SMEs. This effectively reduces risk and maximises return.

Let's get HR and Finance working together to add value for organisations!

Nigel Bacon
CEO Secantor
www.secantor.co.uk

Building Your Finance Function Part 2

Building your finance function is not a one size fits all exercise. There are a wide range of choices:

1) There is the people mix, in terms of matching the differing levels of seniority. Why go to a recruiter as the first stage? Prior to this you need to understand the apprtopriate staff mix for the finance function and this is where Secantor can help you; with the decisions about whether you should appoint at the bookeeper level, the mangement accountant level, the financial controller level or a part-time finance director. All of this will mean that you have the appropriate input of expertise and skills at the appropriate level. In this way you will end up saving costs on your finance function by ensuring the right amount of input, at the right level. Many businesses from £2m t/o upwards should have a finance director but you do not usually need a full time finance director until your turnover is in excess of £30m. At this level, it is not so much about time as it is about skills, and experience.

2) Growing businesses need to start to integrate their finance function as an information centre. This then delivers real value by helping management run the business, and to enable effective delegation that is required for growth.To achieve effective delegation mangament need  regular information for planning and control purposes.  Ensuring that the finance function is delivering value to management is the domain of the FD.

3) At Secantor we have many years of experience of developing finance functions for SMEs. We can help guide you through the maze of what at first sight only appears to be a cost. We can paint a picture for you of how your business might look in the future and the building blocks to get there.  An effective finance function should be coupled with stakeholder management, through your part-time FD so that you can focus on growing the business knowing that your investors and bankers are being kept informed. This means that there are no "shocks or surprises" building confidence that mangment are capable of running a larger business.

4) Systems and processes are critical in the development of the finance function and its linkages with other parts of the organisation. Secantor harnesses the talent of all its people to ensure the right solution for you.

5) Outsourcing. We have many clients that simply ask us to run their finance functions with agreed outputs this can not ony be cost effective but scalable to avoid those step changes you might experience through employing extra people.

For a free consultation call us on 01564 330676.
www.secantor.co.uk

Building Your Finance Function Part 1

The best way to build your finance function is with the advice and expertise of an experienced finance director as provided by secantor www.secantor.co.uk . This could simply be a piece of consultancy work or it could lead to an ongoing role. This role does not need to be full time in businesses up to £50m turnover.

The advantage of using a Secantor FD rather than your external accountants, or other consultants, is that the Secantor FD has practical hands on knowledge of using systems and the sort of people that are required to carry out the various functions. This ensures that the information being produced by the finance function is not only compliant with statutory and other requirements but also suits the needs of the business to help managment teams drive the business forward. The old adage is "what gets measured gets done". The Secantor FD "thinks outside the box" and all are commercially experienced as well as financially qualified. This enables them to look at a whole host of indicators that might be useful for a mangement dashboard not just those of a financial nature.

In building or re-shaping a finance function they are alive to the needs of owners/managers and build it in a bespoke way. This can be from total outsourcing, to parachuting in experienced bookeepers, financial controllers or mangement accountants. This also can be done in a flexible way where Secantor might employ them and deploy them on more than one client all under the wing of their experienced FDs.

The thing that really sets secantor apart is its team based approach and reputation for quality that is recognised by the professional and banking communities and clients where we operate.

Why not book a finance healthcheck  and find out the benefits of improving your finance function function. Ring Secantor on 07887 826824.

www.secantor.co.uk

Why we are different

Many companies described as Part-time FD  companies are in fact recruitment companies.What this means is that they are unable to add any value beyond the person they might place for their fee.

At Secantor we are a professional service firm employing a team based approach, Not only does this allow clients to benefit from our collective knowledge and wisdom but it also means that our FDs are cost effective in focussing on the high level stuff whilst ensuring the more routine financial tasks are carried out in a cost effective way either through the appropriate level of staff, or indeed, outsourcing.

www.secantor.co.uk

Cost and the Effective Finance Function

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkdGsZEDCL8&feature=plcp

The above link takes you to a video where I talk about the Effective Finance Function.

The Effective Finance Function starts with the FD. It is his/her responsibility to ensure that the finance function is effective and needs to build a plan to achieve this. We at Secantor are not prescriptive in how we do this. The answer might be total outsourcing a solution we are able to deploy, or might be a senior bookeeper whom we can source for clients as an employee of our clients or as a Secantor employee.

More and more these days the focus is on cost and in most cases we can revamp a finance function to get improved output (in terms of the quality, reliability and timeliness of information) and also reduce the cost by ensuring the skil mix and mix between full time and part time is right. All of this overseen by an "on demand" Finance Director to ensure that quality is first rate.

Nigel Bacon CEO Secantor Limited

The Effective Finance Function - a tool to save you money

We have developed a tool for analysing and scoring the effectiveness of your finance function.

How does this help. Most finance functions grow as an administration function to satisfy the needs of compliance, whether this be with HMRC, your bankers, or to enable information to be produced so that your accountants can produce year end accounts. Many of these finance functions are ineffective from a cost/benefit perspective. We can help you streamline them to reduce costs but also to help bring them into the heart of the business so that they generate regular and useful information to help you manage the business.

Ring Secantor on 01564 330676 and find out how.
www.secantor.com

How can a Secantor FD make you money?

All Secantor FDs are focussed on bringing value to businesses. Here are some of the ways they do this?

Firstly, they are not full-time and therefore concentrate on as "little as you need" so that they stay on the  shoulder of the entrepreneur or owner manager for the whole of the journey. Their time can increase or decrease according to the needs of a business, at any particular point in time. Their time is therefore utilised in a very cost effective manner.

Secondly, one of the first tasks of a Secantor FD is to ensure that the finance function is set up in an effective way. Often savings can be made in streamlining financial systems and processes not only to save cost, but also to deliver timely, relevant and reliable management information. So often finance departments have grown up in an adhoc way to ensure that a business is complying with the requirements of HMRC and its bank. We often find that routine tasks can be performed in a more effective way and that existing finance staff are capable and willing to do so much more, but need mentoring to achieve this. Driving efficiencies in finance means that the function can cope with greater volumes with little additional cost. Outsourcing maybe be an option but the mission critical nature of finance often means that owner mangers perceive the risks of going this route as too great. However, having a Secantor FD to help them through this process de-risks it leaving  owner managers to focus on growing the business.

Thirdly, the Secantor FD will look at the procurement processes and look at ways to implement cost savings without reduction in quality.

Fourthly, the Secantor FD will look at the cost of capital and determine the optimum capital and funding structures available to a business. The reputation of Secantor is important in raising finance whether it be tratidional bank lending, asset based lending, or equity funding from high net worth individuals (business angels) through  private equity, to the Alternative Investment Market..

Fifthly, the Secantor FD will look at the balance sheet of an organisation and in particular the working capital elements to see if there are areas for reduction to free up cash or, reduce borrowing requirements. They will use techniques such as economic ordering quantities and optimum stockholding levels to professionalise the management of working capital. A focus on the optimum use of scarce resources is fundemental to an organisation achieving goals that were previously unattainable, due to a lack of planning and control.

The above represent some of the areas where a Secantor FD can quickly make a difference. On top of this all of our FDs will be working with the mangement teams to contribute to the opportunities that might be avaialble to increase sales and profits and cash generation.

Why a Secantor FD? It is obviously true that there are many good indiviaul FDs who are able to help businesses. However, all of our people have gone through a formal recruitment, assessment accreditation process as well as having exemplary career histories before joining Secantor. They all have a desire to pursue a portfolio career with small and medium sized businesses where they can make a difference to performance. They all share the common values of Secantor (see www.secantor.co.uk) and work together to share knowledge, expertise and contacts/connections for the benefit of clients. The impact is demonstrated by the testimonials of our clients http://www.youtube.com/user/secantortv .

Lets talk about what we can do for you - 01564 330676.

How Secantor helps businesses obtain funding

Secantor helps businesses of all sizes up to £100m turnover being the upper of the medium sized business spectrum to obtain funding whether it be debt or equity, or the correct balance of both, to obtain the optimum cost of capital when balanced against risk.

Secantor starts by helping SME organisations to define their strategic direction and to properly articulate the strategy into a business plan to attract funding. This is not a "sterile document" but a way of looking at the future which will become embeded in the organisation and continually reviewed and refined.

The difference with Secantor is that we provide an ongoing role as part of the mangement team acting in the capacity of a finance director. This is an extremely cost effective way of obtaining professional input to a mangement team. In addition, the banks and equity funders, with whom we have great relationships, understand that we will be "staying the course" so we will be there to help the organisation to deliver operational success on the back of the strategy. We are therefore very different from consultants who might come in to do a one off piece of work and who do not necessarily have the vested interest of ensuring that long term success is delivered.

Forecasting is often a pre-requisite for a funding application. However, there is far less value in one off forecasting than there is in continual rolling forecasts, where management are able to demonstrate their expertise and give comfort to stakeholders that they are balancing the risk/reward model in an optimal way. Of course nothing ever goes to plan, and there will always be externalities that were not known about, however rolling forecasts give great comfort that management really understand the basic drivers of the business and that they properly understand and are working on the limiting factors. There is a change occuring within the banks where instead of requesting information they are focussing on the quality of their customers' finance function and ensuring that the propoer processes and systems are in place to deliver business intelligence for stakeholders.

As an organisation expands the proper integration of the finance function into the business as a source of business intelligence is essential to attracting finance and giving attracting the support of existing and future stakeholders.

Secantor specialises in converting a finance function from one that is merely compliant (or perhaps not!) to one that quickly becomes a true business partner and is valued by the rest of the organisation.

"Our People" showcased

See "Our People" http://www.secantor.com/part-time-finance-director .

I feel really privileged that we have so many good people at Secantor, who can work together for the benefit of clients.

Nigel Bacon

See the impact Secantor has on its clients -Watch the video

See the impact that Secantor has on its clients http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCZ8Jhkj92Q