To keep your business moving forwards (without the faff).
The Minerva Momentum Review is a sharp, monthly business check‑in for owners who want progress, not another report they’ll never read.
In 30 minutes we boil your business down to one page:
3 key numbers that actually matter
What’s going well, what needs attention, and what’s quietly shouting for help
Clear actions, with names next to them (because things only get done when someone owns them)
No jargon. No waffle. No 40‑page management accounts destined for a drawer.
This review keeps you focused, accountable, and looking forwards, not just backwards at last month’s numbers. It’s structured enough to be useful, relaxed enough to be human, and designed to keep momentum going month after month.
Think of it as a regular business MOT; quick, practical, and far cheaper than fixing things once they’ve broken.
One page. Three KPIs. Clear actions. Real movement.
1.Increase average order value – cross sell to existing clients. What else do you offer that they could use? (This could be the case for business advice sessions or our monthly Minerva Momentum Reviews)
2.Improve client retention – it is always cheaper and easier to retain your existing clients than to go out and win new ones. Stop the leaks before you try to fill the bucket.
3.Upsell to existing clients – who has grown and is now in a position to upgrade and take on a new level of service?
4.Reduce scope creep – be clear on what is included in your contracts. Anything extra should be charged BUT make clients aware of this beforehand so they don’t get any nasty surprise. Every request for extra work should be greeted by “Yes and … that will cost £X”
5.Improving operational efficiency – with so much technology and AI around there is plenty of opportunity to improve your internal efficiencies allowing you to take on more work without impacting on your existing clients.
6.Pricing strategy tweaks – don’t forget that increasing prices is the single most effective way of increasing your profitability (but do make sure that you’re still providing sufficient value)
You’ll probably hire your first manager when your team reaches 5-8 people. It’s at this level that communication starts to breakdown with too many direct communication lines and you may run out of time to train more junior members of the team
As a rule of thumb, if you’re spending more than 1/3 of your time managing your team, answering questions, reviewing work, chasing updates, or managing issues then you would be better off employing a manager. Whilst you will have to cover an additional salary you will also free up your valuable time. It will also mean that you have the right person in place BEFORE to accommodate further growth.
If you’re becoming the bottleneck because everything needs your approval then it may be time to find the right person to delegate to. A good manager should make 80%+ of decisions independently and you won’t need to handle questions from the rest of the team.
Your first manager should be hands on and comfortable doing the work AND managing the team. They should also be a good communicator to liaise with both the team and yourself.
You will then be freed up to move to deciding the direction of your business while your new manager will ensure that everybody on board is pulling in that same direction. As you move away from the day to day you will also have a clearer view of your business which will enable you to lead it better.
It’s too easy to have KPI overload. Even accountants can lose focus with too many numbers so it helps to have just THREE numbers to monitor that will help to transform your business. Having just 3 key numbers helps to create clarity rather than getting lost in the fog of too much data. KPIs shouldn’t just be passive but should show the results of your ACTIONs.
So which ones should you choose? Well, it depends on your business goals so your three KPIs will probably be different to mine. Are you aiming for growth, profitability, cash stability, efficiency, work-life balance or something else? Proactive accountants can focus on the three numbers for each of their business clients in order to offer the most appropriate advice.
Start by thinking what a good year would look like for you.
You can then identify one KPI in each of the following areas:
1.Profitability
e.g. gross or net profit.
This helps you to develop a sustainable business and should be a consideration in all pricing conversations. As our overheads are fairly fixed I focus on monthly turnover.
2.Cashflow
e.g. cash runway, debtor days.
Cash keeps you in business and gives you the stability and confidence to invest in whatever you need to achieve your efficiency or growth targets. Most of our clients are on monthly fixed fees and direct debits but I focus on any late payers amongst our smaller annual clients and ad hoc consultancy work.
3.Performance/growth
e.g. revenue per full time equivalent employee, average client value, utilisation rate.
This is an essential part of efficiency and scalability. I track my total working hours so that I don’t get sucked into the long bours trap. When my kids were small and my working week was capped at 25 hours (the length of a school week) I focused on my profit per hour. My favourite KPI was with a coaching client who tracked her golf handicap to ensure that her work-life balance allowed her enough time on the golf course and not slaving over her desk.
KPIS should be simple to understand and measure and directly related to the management action.
KPIS are not set and forget. They should be reviewed weekly, monthly, or even daily. And you may change your KPIs as you grow stronger in one area and need to shift focus a little as your business evolves.
Clarity beats complexity and using just three KPIs keeps things clear and simple.
If you want somebody to help you set and track your three numbers for a successful business then please get in touch:
Times are tough at the moment and small business owners don’t know where to turn. Those who are fortunate to have an accountant who already provides business advice have a headstart on their competitors. The real value of a good accountant goes far beyond ticking boxes, filling in forms, and meeting deadlines. This is the basic service that we offer our ‘Essentials’ clients in return for a ‘no frills’ fee.
Business is advice is more than just tax advice! Business advice is about improving profitability, growth, and work-life balance. More and more of our clients are asking us for additional advice sessions throughout the year.
It’s not just about preparing management accounts that nobody bothers to look at but about sharing ways that will improve the business. An accountant can explain what the numbers mean, highlight trends, and identify issues early. I’m not just an accountant and an entrepreneur myself but am also a qualified Coach and Mentor so at Minerva Accountants, we are able to provide so much more than just financial advice.
Business advisers can play a vital role in strategic planning and decisions such as pricing, hiring staff, investing in equipment, raising finance, expanding into new markets or just growing your share of your current market. And they have an open book of contacts when it’s time to call in experts.
Why wouldn’t any small business take advantage of business advice from their accountant when times are tough? And why aren’t more accountants able to offer this advice?
In short, business advice from accountants is not a luxury for small businesses, it’s a strategic asset. By working with an accountant who focuses on understanding the bigger picture, small business owners gain clarity, control and confidence. Compliance keeps a business legal, but advice helps it to grow, even through tough times.
If you’re looking for support in this area, we have a few options for you:
Stage 1: Owneroperator. On starting up it’s just you and you may choose to bootstrap and spend your time instead of your cash so that you end up working long days. Everything is new and it takes a while to refine your systems so that you’re con constantly reinventing the wheel. You need to pay for expertise that you don’t already have or undergo training. And what happens if you go off sick or want to take a holiday?
Stage 2: Small team with bottlenecks. Now you have people in board to take care of most of the day to day stuff but anything new still involves you in making a decision, buying software, or recruiting. As a chartered accountant I review ALL the accounts that I sign off. Now the fear isn’t your own absence but recruiting and retaining the right people. Your team get paid first and you get what’s left over. If there is anything left over.
Stage 3: Managerled business. Now the day to day has moved away from you and so have many of the decisions and processes. You are removed from the business and managing remotely by the numbers. You dream (or have nightmares) about your KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
There are different financial challenges at each stage and, as accountants, we are used to helping are clients at all stages. But finance isn’t the only challenge and our coaching sessions help clients to move smoothly, or as smoothly as possible, from one stage to the next. This is that value of an accountant who is also a business coach.
The rules are different for sole traders and for companies.
Generally sole traders can NOT claim for eating out. Eating is not ‘wholly, exclusively and necessarily for the purposes of business’ because it fulfils the dual purpose of keeping you alive!
Employees of limited companies can claim if the meal is wholly and exclusively for business purposes. If business reasons require them to be away from home/office around meal times (so that they are unable to make their usual arrangements) then it is a reasonable business expense.
The amount they can claim for a meal will be agreed with their employer but should not be overly lavish and I would suggest limiting alcohol to one drink with the meal.
Entertaining is generally not allowed (see other Tax Tips on staff entertaining) for tax or VAT purposes.
Lack of cashflow is the number one cause of failure in small businesses. Even profitable businesses still run out of cash. This can because they’re not forecasting their cashflow requirements properly as they grow (See our webinar on How to Scale Without Cashflow Chaos https://youtu.be/hmPssYUINWY?si=8nRJW-KGaAQfZRQy )
But sometimes businesses are busy tracking the wrong thing. Your profit and loss is only one of the reports that you should be looking at regularly. This doe not show:
Timing differences between invoicing and payments
VAT and corporation tax due to HMRC are big lump sums that still seem to surprise some business owners
You might also have cash tied up in stock, work in progress and other uninvoiced work, and prepaid costs
Directors, loan accounts often accumulate an overdrawn balance when director/shareholders help themselves to cash and call it ‘dividends’ without carrying out the necessary solvency checks beforehand.
Ideally you should have a proper cashflow forecast and there is software that will connect to Xero (and other software) to help you to do this for yourself, or with our help.
There are so many ways to grow your business that it can feel like a nightmare knowing what to do first so here are the three most effective levers to pull to instantly improve your profitability.
1.Pricing
Most businesses are under-priced and it just becomes a race to the bottom as there is ALWAYS somebody who will do it cheaper. Many accountancy firms are as much as 20-40% under-priced.
This mini-course explains how to go about it and why you shouldn’t worry too much about losing your less profitable clients.
2.Productivity
Getting things right first time reduces rework, structuring your time to minimise interruptions, and minimising or eliminating other inefficiencies will improve your productivity,
3.Positioning
Establish yourself as an expert or quality service and you will attract clients who value that expertise. This is a case of BEING better and also SHOWING yourself off better.
Small tweaks can be more effective when time and other resources are limited.
And, as usual, we have a resource that can help you so just email us if you would like a copy of our 30 day Profitability Boost Checklist (free) or to subscribe to our 30 day online course and group to ensure that you actually get it done (£199). hello@minervaaccountants.co.uk
Scale up 4 Growth grants are back!
For businesses with 5-249 employees and where activity and outcomes are delivered within a 50 mile range of UWE Bristol. Find out more here.
Here at Minerva Accountants we are fortunate to have the best clients. This is a deliberate strategy on my part as I feel that we do our best work for people we like. I often put down the phone after a call and think ‘that’s my favourite client!’
The downside of dealing with such wonderful business owners is that we have to remind ourselves not to be too helpful.
Over-servicing and scope creep – while we include telephone support in most of our packages it’s easy to do too much. Much as I love my work I’m running a business and not a charity so it’s important to charge for extras. If it’s not a quick answer and requires either calculations or research then we book a paid call.
Constantly saying ‘yes’ can have an emotional cost when it becomes hard to set boundaries when you need to say ‘no’
Giving away too much begins to erode profitability so you need to work extra hours or take on more clients. More clients means not enough time to service the ones that you already have so it’s a lose-lose.
Setting expectations early is important. As in any good improv class the answer is ‘yes, and … ‘ In our case it is ‘yes, and … that will cost £x or £x per hour’
Clear boundaries improve client relationships. I’ve lost count of the number of times on online forums when accountants close to burnout are complaining about clients who expect them to answer the phone in the evenings or over the weekend. The simple answer is to turn off the phone (or send calls to voice mail) outside of office hours.
I hope you are setting the right boundaries in your business for your profitability and your health. Good clients won’t push these boundaries.
If you think you’re over-servicing then contact us for our Over-Servicing Assessment and reclaim your profitability
Scale up 4 Growth grants are back!
For businesses with 5-249 employees and where activity and outcomes are delivered within a 50 mile range of UWE Bristol
