Use case · Work around your existing team
Keep your bookkeeper. Make the handover clear.
Yes. Your bookkeeper can keep preparing the ledger and reconciliations while reporting and planning use those reviewed records. Assign one preparer, a reviewer and a decision owner for each task, then make missing costs and close exceptions visible in the handover.
Define the output missing from your current reporting.
The books arrive each month, but you still need product contribution, a cash plan or help comparing a decision. Identify that output and its source records before changing who prepares the books.
Keeping your bookkeeper changes the division of work. A need for regular CFO strategy follows from the pricing, hiring or funding decisions to assess. Record any transfer of preparation tasks and its effect on the engagement separately.
Check the source version, close status and open items.
Identify who prepares and reviews each report, which periods are complete and which costs or balances remain provisional. Agree the export format or access needed for those records.
Attach completed checks and unresolved items to the handover. The analysis owner needs to know whether a figure is ready to use, requires an estimate with a stated basis, or depends on evidence still to come.
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| Material | What to include | Owner to identify |
|---|---|---|
| Period reports and ledger basis | Income statement, balance sheet, period, currency, accounting basis and version | Preparation owner and named close reviewer |
| Reconciliation schedules | Bank, payout and other agreed account checks with unresolved differences | Preparer and the person who resolves each exception |
| Product and channel costs | COGS basis, fees, fulfilment, returns and acquisition records with gaps | Bookkeeper, brand cost owner and allocation reviewer |
| Forward commitments | Open orders, supplier terms, payroll, expected receipts and assumptions | Brand operating owner and forecast preparation owner |
| Decision and reporting calendar | Required outputs, input cutoffs, review dates and approval authority | Brand decision maker and agreed delivery owners |
Assign preparation, review and business approval.
Use this matrix to choose the preparation arrangement and name the people responsible. With an existing bookkeeper, keep ledger preparation and reconciliations with that owner; assign close review and any adjustment approval explicitly.
The analysis owner uses the reviewed source version and documents the contribution and forecast assumptions. The brand supplies commitments and approves business decisions. Agree who may post changes to the ledger before an adjustment is made.
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| Task | Finance preparation | With your bookkeeper |
|---|---|---|
| Records and cost updates | Brand supplies documents and answers operating questions | Brand and bookkeeper supply records and cost updates |
| Bookkeeping and payout reconciliation | Assign a preparation owner for accounts and settlements | Bookkeeper prepares; assign any additional reconciliation checks |
| Close and adjustments | Assign preparation and review of accounting judgements | Bookkeeper prepares; agree review and adjustment responsibilities |
| Contribution and financial reporting | Build the reports from the reconciled period records | Build analysis from the bookkeeper’s period records |
| Budget and cash forecast | Use the brand’s assumptions, commitments and payment dates | Combine the team’s reports with the brand’s commitments |
| Decision scenarios | Set the question, options and measures for the analysis | Use the same decision brief alongside your team’s records |
| Approval and implementation | Brand decision maker approves and assigns the action | Brand decision maker approves and assigns the action |
A missing cost update holds up the affected analysis.
In this month-end example, the bookkeeper has prepared reports and reconciliations, a product-cost update is missing and the close reviewer is unassigned. Record those two open items and identify the outputs they affect.
The brand cost owner supplies the evidence. The bookkeeper prepares any ledger adjustment, and the reviewer checks the treatment and close status. The analysis owner updates the affected contribution rows from that reviewed version. Until then, keep those rows provisional and identify any spending decision that depends on them.
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| Item | Status | Responsible role | Next check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Period reports | Prepared; provisional | Bookkeeper | Attach the period, basis, version and exception list |
| Bank and payout schedules | Prepared; review pending | Bookkeeper and named reviewer to agree | Resolve differences and record review status |
| Product-cost update | Missing evidence | Brand cost owner; bookkeeper prepares any adjustment | Confirm the source and affected products and periods |
| Close review | Reviewer unassigned | Review owner to agree explicitly | Name the reviewer and agree the criteria for release |
| Contribution comparison | Affected rows provisional | Finance service under the agreed scope | Use the reviewed source version and identify the revision |
| Business decision | Approval pending | Brand's authorised decision maker | Review the corrected analysis before committing spend or stock |
Use the same checklist for every reporting handover.
Agree input cutoffs and review dates with the named owners. Record preparation, review and business approval as separate steps, so the next person can see what is ready and what still needs action.
- Identify the entity, period, currency, accounting basis and source version.
- Attach reconciliations and an exception list with affected amounts or reports, owners and expected resolution dates.
- Confirm product-cost completeness and the basis for acquisition or shared-cost allocations.
- Supply dated inventory commitments and forecast assumptions separately from historical actuals.
- Record review status and who may prepare, approve and post any adjustment.
- Issue the agreed analysis with its limitations, then record the brand's decision and implementation owner.
- When an input changes, identify the revised version and the reports or decisions that need a second look.
Choose the arrangement that fills the reporting gap.
Keep each preparation task with one owner. Transfer it only with a clear list of accounts, periods and open items, and identify additional strategic work by the decisions to assess.
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| Arrangement | Work to agree | Constraint |
|---|---|---|
| Keep your bookkeeper's preparation | Contribution reporting, budget and cash planning from reviewed inputs | Name the close reviewer and the owners of missing inputs |
| Transfer agreed preparation work | Accounts, periods, reconciliations, close and the handover of open items | Setup and historical cleanup need their own scope and quote |
| Add regular CFO strategy | The pricing, marketing, hiring or funding decisions and scenarios needed | Define the additional decision work using the package comparison on Pricing |
Name the people who can review, approve and implement.
The brand nominates its records and decision owners. The bookkeeper and analysis owner agree preparation, review and adjustment responsibilities, along with who resolves each open question.
The authorised brand decision maker approves business changes and assigns implementation. Identify separate tax or specialist work and its delivery owner, then document file access and the materials required at engagement handover.
Bring your current handover and the decision it needs to support.
For the initial finance audit, describe who prepares your books, which reports you receive and the planning question still unanswered. Identify the product, cash commitment or decision date that gives the review its focus.
Use the responsibility matrix to name the missing preparation or review task. The next step is to agree its source records, owner and handover date, then connect the reviewed figures to the analysis you need.
Your next financial question
Put numbers behind the next move.
Start with the decision ahead and the reporting you have today.