Outsourced Finance Function: From Bookkeeping to CFO Level
An outsourced finance function replaces or supports your in-house team, covering bookkeeping, payroll, VAT, management accounts, forecasting and year-end compliance for one fixed monthly fee. You get a full finance department led by Chartered Certified Accountants and Chartered Tax Advisers, with one senior point of contact who knows your business, for much less than it would cost to employ that team yourself.
Growing a business is hard enough without also trying to manage a full finance team. Without proper financial oversight, owners make decisions blind. They miss tax-saving opportunities, run into cash flow problems and cannot present their figures in a way that attracts investment or bank funding.
Merit Accountants’ Complete Finance Function does everything an in-house finance department does, with specialists most businesses could not afford to employ full time. It is led by Hussein Bhaiji and Mukkarram Ali, and our partners have built their own businesses from nothing to over £1m in turnover, so the service is set up around what a growing company needs from its numbers.
What our outsourced accounting services include
Our Complete Finance Function is modular: you take what you need and add to it as you grow. The full service covers:
Accurate, timely recording of all financial transactions using cloud accounting software (Xero, QuickBooks, Sage or FreeAgent; Merit is a Xero Platinum partner). We reconcile your bank accounts and run the purchase ledger, sales ledger and expense claims, so your records are up to date every month.
Monthly or quarterly management accounts delivered to you in a clear, decision-ready format. Profit and loss account, balance sheet, cash flow statement, a comparison against budget where you set one, and a KPI dashboard, produced after a proper month-end close. You always know where your business stands financially. A margin that slips shows up in month two, while it can still be fixed, not after the year end.
Accurate VAT return preparation and submission through MTD-compliant software, and full handling of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, which has applied since 6 April 2026 to sole traders and landlords whose qualifying income for 2024/25 was over £50,000. The threshold falls to £30,000 from 6 April 2027, based on 2025/26 income, and to £20,000 from 6 April 2028. Our guide to Making Tax Digital for Income Tax explains what to do and when. We also advise on which VAT accounting method suits your business: standard accounting, or the Cash Accounting, Annual Accounting or Flat Rate schemes where your turnover allows (up to £1.35m for cash and annual accounting, and up to £150,000 excluding VAT for the Flat Rate Scheme) and review your VAT position regularly.
Full PAYE payroll processing, auto-enrolment pension management, benefits in kind reporting and year-end payroll reporting to HMRC. Payrolling of company cars, fuel, vans and medical benefits becomes compulsory from 6 April 2027, with most other benefits following in April 2028. We move your benefits onto the payroll before then and keep preparing P11Ds for anything that stays outside it, such as beneficial loans and accommodation.
Statutory accounts prepared under FRS 102 or FRS 105 and filed at Companies House and HMRC. For accounting periods beginning on or after 1 January 2026, the revised FRS 102 brings most leases onto the balance sheet and introduces a new five-step revenue model; we show you the effect on your profit, balance sheet and any bank covenants before the year end. We also prepare and file your corporation tax return and plan ahead to reduce the bill; see our corporation tax returns service.
Unlike a standard bookkeeping service, every element of our finance function is supervised by Chartered Tax Advisers. This means your financial data is continuously reviewed for tax-saving opportunities, not just for compliance purposes. Every VAT return and set of accounts is also reviewed by a second tax specialist who did not prepare it.
For growing businesses that need senior financial guidance without a full-time finance director, our fractional CFO and FD service adds forecasting, budgets, board reporting and support with raising finance, with regular performance meetings led by Hussein Bhaiji and Mukkarram Ali.
Built by business founders for business owners
Our Complete Finance Function is run by partners who have been exactly where you are. Hussein Bhaiji built Merit Accountants from a standing start and reviews the figures of every finance function client for tax efficiency. Mukkarram Ali, a former Group Financial Controller at one of the UK’s largest industrial property developers, built an online retail business past £1m in turnover, so he knows the point at which a spreadsheet stops being enough. He reviews each client’s figures for business performance. Richard Mahoney adds further CFO input where a client needs it. The reporting, review timetable and financial controls we set up are the ones we relied on in our own businesses.
You get more than accurate numbers. You get partners who have run businesses themselves, who explain what the figures mean and what to do about them before decisions are made, not after.
Who our outsourced finance function is for
Our Complete Finance Function is designed for owner-managed businesses turning over from around £250,000 upwards, with no upper limit; some of our clients turn over more than £15m. Businesses turning over £1m or more tend to get the most from the full service, because by then there is usually a payroll, a quarterly VAT return and more transactions than one bookkeeper can keep on top of. It suits companies that have outgrown their current accountant, businesses where the founder still runs the finances alongside everything else, companies preparing for investment or a sale, and any business that wants the reporting and controls of a larger company at a cost that fits its size.
We run outsourced finance functions for businesses across London, Manchester and Hertfordshire from our three offices, and for clients elsewhere in the UK remotely.
If a smaller, stable business only needs its year-end accounts, we will say so. Our advice depends on what the business needs, not on what we would rather sell.
An outsourced finance function in practice
Case study: one finance team for a building services company, from £1.2m to £14m
The business. A building services company turning over £1.2m, with one bookkeeper, an external payroll provider and a set of annual accounts each year.
What we took over. Bookkeeping, payroll and pensions, CIS returns for its subcontractors, VAT returns, monthly management accounts, and the year-end accounts and corporation tax return, all run by one team.
What changed. The directors went from seeing their numbers once a year to receiving management accounts by working day 10 every month. Because the same team ran payroll, CIS and VAT, the figures agreed with each other, and VAT returns were filed on time every quarter.
The result. Turnover has reached £14m and we still run the whole finance function. The work has grown with the business, but it has stayed far cheaper than employing an in-house team. One in-house accountant rarely knows VAT, CIS, payroll and management reporting equally well, so doing this in-house would have meant hiring several people. Instead the directors have a specialist for each area, for one fixed monthly fee.
Already have an in-house finance team?
If you employ a bookkeeper or finance assistant, you may not need an outsourced finance team to do the processing. Our outsourced financial controller service reviews their work each quarter or each month, produces your management reports and meets you to discuss them.
How we take over your finance function
- Free appointment. We find out how the business runs, which software you use, who does what today and where the gaps are. Afterwards we confirm a fixed monthly fee. We reply to every enquiry within two business days.
- Scope and timetable. We agree in writing which functions we take on (bookkeeping, payroll, VAT, management accounts, or all of them) and the monthly timetable for each.
- Handover. We set up access to your accounting software, bank feeds and payroll records, obtain professional clearance from your previous accountant and collect what we need from your team.
- Catch-up and first month-end. We bring any backlog up to date, tell you what we corrected, close the first month and take you through your first management pack.
- Ongoing. Every month we close the books and run payroll. VAT returns are filed on time each quarter, or monthly if you are on monthly returns, and your management accounts arrive on an agreed date each month or quarter, followed by a review meeting with the partners.
Transparent, fixed monthly pricing
Our Complete Finance Function is charged as a fixed monthly fee, agreed in writing before we start. The fee is set by the work you ask us to take on, and we review it with you when the business grows or the scope changes. Book a free appointment and we’ll give you a fixed quote before any work starts.
Talk to us about your finance function
Watch: why one accountant is rarely enough
Three of our partners explain why tax planning, management reporting and cash flow forecasting work better when one team handles all three: Hussein Bhaiji on tax, Mukkarram Ali on reporting and compliance, and Richard Mahoney on forecasting.
Outsourced finance function FAQs
What is included in an outsourced finance function?
It can include bookkeeping, VAT, payroll, management reporting, cash-flow support, forecasting, financial controls and CFO-level oversight, covering part or all of your finance work, and supervised throughout by Chartered Tax Advisers.
When should a business consider outsourcing its finance function?
Finance function outsourcing makes sense when you need better reporting, tighter controls or more support than bookkeeping and annual accounts can give. For most owner-managed businesses that point comes at around £1m of turnover, or sooner if growth has outpaced the time the founder has to manage the finances.
Is an outsourced finance function suitable for growing businesses?
Yes, it is built for them. A growing business usually needs regular figures and senior advice before it can justify employing a finance director and a team. We take on more of the work as the business grows, and review the fixed fee with you when the scope changes.
How can outsourcing the finance function save money?
By reducing the need for full-time salaries, employer National Insurance (15% on pay above £5,000 a year in 2026/27), pension contributions, recruitment, software duplication, training and management time, while giving you access to a wider range of finance and tax expertise than a single hire could provide. For a fuller comparison, see our guide to choosing an outsourced finance function or in-house team.
Do you only provide this service to large companies?
No. We start from around £250,000 of turnover and there is no upper limit, because the service scales: a £400,000 business needs different things from a £20m one, and both are better off with proper controls and reporting than without.
What clients say about Merit on Google
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