Case studies

Interim Finance Director, Perth Concert Hall and Theatre

In late November 2018 I was engaged as Interim Finance Director by the Horsecross Arts Group, who run and manage the Perth Concert Hall and Theatre.

Horsecross use Xero as its finance software.

The project was initially for 6 weeks but extended and within 3 months I had carried out the following:

produced a detailed revised year forecast
reformatted the Chart of Accounts
revised the budget tracking categories to help budget holders with their budgets
updated the monthly management accounts to be more easily understood
reduced the time it took to produce the management accounts by 10 working days
presented a budget to the Board for the next financial year and
identified systems improvements to enable more efficient and effective accounts production

With a March year end, the project was extended further to see through the year end audit. The audit was completed on time and the figures required no audit adjustments.

I also represented Horsecross at meetings with Perth & Kinross Council and attended PKC Scrutiny Committee meetings on behalf of the Board.

Horsecross Arts Group

Financial Strategy, Libero Sport & Education

Libero, a sports management and professional pre-season tour operator, engaged me to provide financial, strategic and corporate governance support.

As a privately-owned SME the company had for many years relied on its accountant to produce year end accounts but had no day to day management reporting.

The business had grown and been awarded Erasmus+ funding to take catering students and sports academy students to Italy and Hungary. I was asked to design and implement a finance system to manage the cashflow, income and expenditure and management reporting for the company.

I implemented Xero together with Xero Expenses. This enabled the business managers to see in real time the cash flow position, outstanding invoices and bills, capture expenses whilst on the road and track income and expenditure against individual tours and clients. In addition, by using Xero Projects the company can track all Erasmus+ income and expenditure against each funding award.

With Making Tax Digital implemented the company can also now use Xero to compile and submit its VAT returns in house, thus saving time and accountancy fees.

Libero Sports Agency

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