Case studies

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Real journeys, real business growth

The most exciting thing about what we do is seeing the difference it makes to businesses in Bedfordshire, Essex, Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire. We also know that when you’re trying to choose an accountant, there’s an awful lot of people making big claims for themselves. The stories on this page are the antidote to that – proof that what we do, and how we do it, really works. For more examples of our approach in action, get in touch.

Driving decision making by harnessing cloud accounting software

We worked with an ambitious pizzeria as they expanded their business to a second site during COVID-19 and needed information to track its success.

The challenge

During COVID-19, a local pizzeria had managed to convert their operation into a takeaway delivery service. Doing this meant they managed to thrive during even the lockdown periods and provided a basis and rationale to expand, so they could cover more locations. However, as they expanded, the information available in QuickBooks simply wasn’t currently offering enough clarity around their margin, or the success of each site. They needed clarity on their stock, to understand their gross margin and to define sales per site.

Our approach

In working with this business, we identified and reconciled gaps in their sales, working with their payment systems to be able to itemise sales at a product level. This in turn drove cost of sales based on calculations around ingredients meaning there was a clear view on how profitable each product was.

We then analysed sales by site and was able to create an effective, simple import method to allow sales to be tracked by location.

Finally we worked with the restaurant to define policies around stock management, meaning they have visibility now on stock at any point in time. Using software such as ReceiptBank, we were able to itemise and automate the process of importing stock and goods into their system so they have effective tracking.

We developed and scheduled a weekly report so they could see how their trading performed each week.

The benefits

The business now has the basis of a franchise model and can discern sales from one location to another.

The profitability analysis has allowed the Company to appraise their products and see where goods are profitable or not, allowing them to adjust their menus and recipes to further improve their profitability.

The tracking of stock has also added extra safeguards around stock control, particularly around long-life goods.

The business continues to thrive in a COVID-19 environment and is looking at further expansion opportunities, bolstered by the financial processes we have put in place meaning should they expand, we can add the extra analysis effortlessly.

Helping an ambitious business grow

An ambitious business came to us having been neglected by their previous accountant; we worked closely with them to become their trusted partner and witnessed them grow, month-on-month.

The challenge

We were approached by a company fed up with their previous accountant. With hardly any dialogue and being blindly told to ‘not worry about it’ when they had queries, they sought a change, lacking knowledge and guidance on QuickBooks and having nowhere near enough clarity on their performance.

Their business was a mixture of endeavours, being involved in managing property lets, door-to-door sales and a domestic and commercial electrician.

Our approach

We listened, we talked, we advised and we demonstrated that there are accountants out there that want to listen, help and engage.

We provided face-to-face training on QuickBooks to help speed up their bookkeeping. We deployed ReceiptBank to further improve their processes.

We gave them clarity on their accounts, not just through detail and calls, but walkthrough videos describing how their accounts are made up and walking through their income statement and balance sheet.

With the stress of the financials taken care of, they took the decision to drop their property management and door-to-door sales work and focus on the electrician work.

The benefits

The business now has matched their level of sales (and is set to improve on that) purely through their work as a domestic and commercial electrician, no longer dependent on property management and door-to-door sales work.
They have now taken on their fifth staff member (when we were introduced they had three) and a new van, simply to meet the demand their business is experiencing now they can give it their full focus and with us by their side.

In fact, they were so busy that we actually took over their bookkeeping and have now introduced new weekly reporting to ensure their debtors are kept in check.

Ready to get going?

Get in touch today and so we can learn more about your business and work out what Mayflower can do to help you achieve your goals.