Finance, explained in plain language.

Guides and insights for business owners who want to understand their numbers, written by the people who work with them every day.

Featured Guide

Do you need a bookkeeper, a finance manager or a CFO?

Most owners are asking the wrong question. It's rarely one or the other. Here's how to work out what mix of finance skills your business actually needs at its current stage, and what each level should be doing for you.

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Latest from the Hive

The five numbers every owner should know by the 10th of the month

If your monthly reporting arrives late, bloated or not at all, start here. These five figures tell you most of what you need to know.

Reporting · 6 min read

Why profitable businesses still run out of cash

Profit and cash are not the same thing, and the gap between them is where good businesses get into trouble. A plain-language walk through cash flow.

Cash Flow · 8 min read

What a CFO actually does, and when you're ready for one

Beyond the job title: the decisions a CFO owns, the value they create, and the signs your business has reached the point of needing that thinking.

Leadership · 7 min read

Setting budgets your team will actually use

A budget that lives in a drawer is a wasted exercise. How to build departmental budgets with your managers, not for them.

Planning · 6 min read

Pricing, write-offs and the quiet leaks in professional services firms

For firms that bill time: where margin really disappears, and the small disciplines that bring it back.

Professional Services · 9 min read

How to prepare your business for a finance function, not just a bookkeeper

The systems, rhythms and habits that make outsourced finance work brilliantly from day one.

Getting Started · 5 min read

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Tools from our own toolkit

Practical templates we use with clients, free for you to put to work in your own business.

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Monthly finance rhythm checklistWhat should happen in your finance function every week of the month.
13-week cash flow templateThe simple forecast every growing business should be running.
Finance function health checkTwenty questions to score how well your numbers are serving you.

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