Someone goes on leave.
The books don’t.
When the person who runs your finances is away for months, payroll still runs, VAT is still due and the invoices still need chasing. We step into the role for as long as you need, then hand it back.
When businesses call us
- Maternity or paternity leave. Your bookkeeper or finance manager is off for six to twelve months and you need the role covered properly, not patched.
- Someone hands in their notice. Four weeks is not enough to recruit, interview and train a replacement, and the owner ends up doing the books at night. We cover the gap while you take your time to hire well.
- Long-term sickness or a sabbatical. Cover that starts quickly and runs for an open-ended period.
- A role you are not sure you want to refill. We cover it, and you decide later whether to recruit or keep it outsourced.
How it works
- A short scoping call
What the role does each week and month, which software you use, and the dates. We quote a fixed monthly fee for the cover period.
- Handover before they go
Ideally a week or two of overlap with the person leaving: passwords, routines, who to chase, what is odd about your set-up. If they have already gone, we work it out from the records.
- We run the role
Bookkeeping, payroll, VAT, CIS, supplier payments, credit control and month-end reporting, in your software and to your deadlines, by the same people every month.
- Handover back
When they return, or your new hire starts, we hand over clean, current records and a written note of where everything stands.
Why cover rather than a temp
An agency temp is one person, learning from scratch, who may leave before the cover ends. You get an experienced team that already runs payroll, VAT and month-ends for dozens of businesses, with no training cost, no employer’s National Insurance, no holiday to cover and no risk of a second gap. If the person does not come back, the cover simply continues as outsourced finance support until you decide what you want to do.
Cover questions
How much notice do you need?
As much as you can give, because a handover with the person leaving is worth a great deal. In practice we have started within a week when someone has left suddenly; the first month is simply spent getting the records to a standard we can work from.
Can you cover part of a role?
Yes. Often the owner or another member of staff keeps the invoicing or the banking, and we take payroll, VAT and month-end. The fee reflects what we actually do.
Do you work in our software?
Yes. We work daily in Xero, Sage and QuickBooks, and we have covered roles on other systems. Nothing moves and nothing changes unless you ask it to.
Is there a minimum period?
No fixed minimum, though cover under three months rarely gives the handovers time to pay off. The fee is agreed in advance for the period you need, and extended by the month if the return date moves.
Their professional approach, financial expertise and reliable service have been invaluable at an important stage in our journey.