fin-house fuels start-ups, scale ups and SMEs with awesome finance teams, providing an embedded solution tailored to business needs, with a value-adding, sustainable and scalable finance team on your side, helping to grow you business.#morehumanlessaccountant

At ValueLights our commitment is as clear today as it was the day we opened our doors back in 2009, to become the go-to people for lighting for homeowners, business owners and the lighting trade. Ambitious? Certainly. Doable? Without a doubt. We’re already well on the way. It’s something we’re achieving together - with our customers, with our ‘bend over backwards’ customer support teams, our trade partners, and with our suppliers. Warm and welcoming. Ambitious, reliable and love to help people. That’s us.

After 20 years experience as CFO of a number of e-commerce businesses; from start up, through high growth phase, flotation and exit, I understood that there was no affordable software package available for online retailers that provided the functionality needed to manage the unique requirements of a multi-channel, multi-currency, multi-warehouse online retail business. We were tired of systems that haven't kept up with the quick pace and ever changing requirements of the e-commerce world; tired of unreliable and expensive plug ins and adapters; tired of having to reconcile data in spreadsheets between different systems to get business critical information; and tired of not being able to afford full customisation of existing systems, so we decided to stop complaining about other systems out there, and write our own.

Providing the skills and expertise of a motivated, driven, commercially and operationally minded FD on a part-time or interim basis to SMEs, experienced in growth and turn-around situations, specialising in retailCommercially focussed with strong operational skillsSkilled in raising both debt and equity fundingManagement of cost reduction projectsCorporate governance and risk assessmentTax minimisation across a multi-national groupTalented team player with ability to create strong effective teams with continually-improving highly-motivated individuals, through performance development plans and KPIsImplementing world class systems on time and within budget for operations and financial reportingImprovements in operational effectiveness and efficiencies within manufacturing, warehousing, logistics (both outbound and reverse) and data management

As part time CFO I am responsible for working capital management and operational effectiveness and efficiencies within purchasing, logistics and warehousing. This has involved implementation of systems from scratch for stock management and logistics as well as finance.Over the last 2 years we have acheived over 200% revenue growth and reinvested profits back into the business to develop 4 new brands with multiple products in each.Key responsibilities and acheivements - creating stock forecasting systems to aid smoother ordering, tracking and stock replenishment - changing freight forwarders and location of import into Europe to reduce freight costs by 20% and import duties and taxes by 10%; whilst improving delivery time from supplier to Amazon by over 4 weeks. - instigating 3P warehouse in UK at a 50% reduced storage cost - securing trade loan financing to improve working capital and relationships with Far Eastern suppliers - recruiting virtual finance and operations managers to run the newly developed systems to maintain the business - implementation of full insurance cover including marine, stock in storage, product liability and directors and officers

This was a 6 month contract to review operations with a view to growing the business through other channels, achievements including• Process review to improve efficiency and effectiveness through the business, including - reorganisation of warehouse, logistics and systems to enable drop shipping facilities - development of reports and processes for purchasing to improve stock availability and reduce customer back orders by 15% - implementation of company and individual KPIs• Development of sales staff; through structured, targeted customer contact• Product range review

Starting my online cake business fulfilled a childhood dream, having grown up with a master baker for a nana, leading to a successful sale 3 years later.Delighted to have founded Quirkeee Cafe as a fabulous place to meet and make friends while enjoying our own-brand tea and coffee and homemade food. As I am a long term lover of cakes I decided to spread the Quirkeee love throughout the country and so we ship our amazing cakes UK wide! Many of the cakes we sell are made from recipes handed down to me - we also have updated these to be gluten free, free from added sugar and fat free and yet they still taste great - not sure what nana would have made of those! All our cakes are the best that we can make, they are not mass produced, they are hand made with loving care to order.

Montgomery is the leading UK retailer of curtains, manufacturing in the UK and working with leading retailers on a concession basis, with 130 stores and white label websites, including Debenhams, House of Fraser and Homebase.Responsibilities - manufacturing - factory based in Chester employing 75 staff, manufacturing over 1,100 made-to-measure items per week, maintaining the extremely high standards Montgomery's is well known for - warehousing - delivery of ready-made items in accordance with tight KPI reporting to host stores - IT, HR and financeAchievments - successful negotiation of new relationship with a major household name retailer, from an e-commerce and manufacturing perspective - overhaul of manufacturing to achieve 40% efficiency improvements - cost reduction in warehouse whilst still meeting demanding targets - outsourcing IT to enable wider skill base and improved service levels at 13% reduced cost - embedding new procedures required for asset backed lending to enable faster financial and stock reporting (25 working days reduced to 5) - detailed store by store financial reporting and forecasting - introduction of KPIs to strengthen ownership and responsibility within and across departments

British manufacturer of competitively priced and high quality fitted and free-standing furniture.

Tactical Solutions is an extremely fast-paced field marketing business working in partnership with manufacturers and retailers, with 40% growth to £20m revenue. Responsibilities• Ownership of core operational and support processes to ensure 300 field sales staff could work efficiently and effectively• Developing superior financial and management reporting standards to improve both Internal and external financial reporting, in line with all stakeholder requirementsAchievements• overhaul of finance reporting bringing a 20 working day close cycle down to 5, within 2 months• channel reporting to give each individual business unit director a detailed P&L as well as clear focus across the business on revenue growth with profit• 15% cost reduction through supplier negotiation and design and implementation of improved IT systems, in addition to outsourcing data entry • Restructure of operational teams to provide channel focus and improved performance, both within Head Office and service levels to the field teams• Implementation of personal development plans for all Head Office team members, alongside daily KPI reporting to drive motivation and awareness amongst individuals and teams within operations as well as consistent improvement in service to field and client teams• Development of software to be used in store for increased sales effectiveness, alongside swifter reporting to clients, improved professionalism and further cost reduction.

Responsibilities• Consultancy for 2 struggling businesses requiring immediate focus on working capital and review of existing systemsAchievements• Initial role was to review working capital requirements for a importer of lighting products from the Far East, and to advise management and Burdale. Unfortunately I was brought in too late and although the business could not be saved, Burdale recovered much of their investment and an online retailer was created saving some jobs.• My second role was at a jewellery manufacturer with gross margin issues and I implemented strong stock control systems and processes, enabling the business to be turned around.• I was then offered various roles with Burdale backed businesses, including Managing Director, Operations Director, Business Development Director, however these all required permanent relocation which wasn’t possible.

eXpansys sells leading consumer technology to end users and corporates on a global basis, online and through contact centresResponsibilities• Management and financial reporting for all companies (including UK, US, Hong Kong, China, France, Sweden, Australia)• Working capital management through supplier negotiation, cash management and tight credit control • Refinancing including equity issue, loans, overdraft and letters of credit• Negotiation of all operational contracts, including courier, insurance and credit card processing• Inbound and reverse logistics including 5 warehouses globally• Responsibility for human resources - 330 staff globally• Tax minimisation across the group• Professional services management, including Nomad, broker, financial PR, bank, lawyers, auditors, tax advisors, insurance brokers and credit reference agencies• project management of all corporate finance matters includingo flotation on AIM (London Stock Exchange) working with all advisors and presenting to investors o acquisitions of competitors (UK and overseas) including consideration negotiation, due diligence and post acquisition embedding into groupo disposal of a non core trading division including price and terms negotiationsAchievements• On-time under-budget design and implementation of new accounts and business information IT system • Development of daily reporting and forecasting model, within a highly complex business, with 50 websites operating 16 languages, 12 currencies and 8 payment methods, selling in over 130 different tax jurisdictions with multi-location and multi-timezone operations. • Restructuring program throughout the group to achieve 30% cost reductions• Efficiency and effectiveness improvement program for global reverse logistics, improving margins by 2%• Outsourcing of logistics and call centre operations • Implementation of customs and duty warehouse• Implementation of International Financial Reporting Standards

Responsibilities• Assurance Senior Manager focussing on middle market clients, managing a £700k portfolio of 20 business mainly owner managed within technology, manufacturing and construction with turnover ranging from £1m to £340m• Leading a cross line of service team targeting AIM listed companies• Advising clients regarding business strategy, changing group structure and implementing new IT systems amongst other issues• Due diligence and MBOs, review of projection for financial assistance of acquisition and preparation of statement of accounts and cash flow projections as part of corporate recovery work for clients• Assisting clients in changing systems and reporting to enable reporting under IFRS• Staff motivation, development and counselling involving co-development of personal targets, performance reviews and career counselling• Experienced trainer including writing and instructing courses to partner and all levels of staff• North Region Audit Efficiency and Effectiveness Coach, Methodology and Auditing Software Champion and Audit Knowledge ManagerAchievements• 100% success rate on proposals