Financial Controller Services
Financial control without the full-time hire — delivered by a chartered firm.
Most SMEs reach a point where spreadsheets and year-end accounts are no longer enough — but a full-time financial controller is not yet justifiable. OD Accountants provides that function on an outsourced basis: real-time reporting, KPI oversight and cash-flow management, on a fixed fee, from a chartered management accounting firm with same-day replies.
- Monthly management accounts with KPI dashboards, ready when you need them
- Cash-flow forecasting and scenario modelling so decisions rest on current numbers
- Finance function oversight without a full-time salary on the payroll
- Founder-level strategic input from a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants
No long-term contract. If the arrangement is not working after three months, you leave with clean, current books and nothing owed.
Get a free quote
Fixed pricing. Same-day reply.
What our clients say
★★★★★
A financial team that integrates seamlessly
"It's great to have access to a financial team who can guide us with such confidence and seamlessly integrate with our internal team."
★★★★★
Years in, still above and beyond
"I've been there for years and Niall and his team go above and beyond the duties to provide accounting services but also general advices."
★★★★★
Hands-on where previous accountants were not
"Unlike my previous Accountants, Niall is far more hands-on, available for advice and able to care for me as an individual, rather than a faceless client."
★★★★★
Always on the end of the phone
"They're always on the end of the phone to advise and assist and provide a top service for our accounting needs."
Sound familiar?
Growing fast enough to need financial control. Not quite big enough to justify hiring it.
There is a gap that most SMEs fall into: the management information is not good enough to run the business properly, but a full-time financial controller or FD feels premature. Month-end is late, cash-flow is guesswork, and the numbers your bank or investors want take longer to produce than they should. That gap is expensive — in missed decisions as much as in time.
- Management accounts produced weeks late, or not at all between year-ends
- No reliable cash-flow visibility — decisions made on bank-balance instinct
- KPI reporting built in spreadsheets nobody fully trusts or consistently updates
What a financial controller function actually looks like
Outsourced financial controller services from OD Accountants cover the reporting, oversight and strategic input that growing businesses need — delivered via cloud accounting software, so the numbers are current and accessible without a dedicated headcount.
- Management accounts delivered on a fixed monthly cycle, every month without chasing
- Rolling cash-flow forecasts and scenario models built on live data, not last month's bank statement
- KPI dashboards configured around your business, maintained and updated as standard
- Fixed monthly fee — no recruitment cost, no notice period, no employer NI
What SMEs say about working with the team
OD Accountants works with businesses that need genuine finance function support — not just compliance. These reviews reflect that in the clients' own words.
The service from OD has been excellent, as has their advice. It's great to have access to a financial team who can guide us with such confidence and seamlessly integrate with our internal team. We always feel well-informed and confident about our financial processes and data. Highly recommend.
My other-half introduced me to Niall at OD Accountants and I have to say my finances are so much the better for it. Unlike my previous Accountants, Niall is far more hands-on, available for advice and able to care for me as an individual, rather than a faceless client. His fees are very reasonable and the money he has saved me more than covers them. If you need an Accountant who cares, Niall and OD Chartered Management Accountants are the way to go.
Three components of the financial controller service
Each engagement is configured to what the business actually needs — from monthly reporting through to full finance function oversight and strategic input.
Management Accounts and KPI Reporting
Monthly management accounts produced to a fixed schedule, with KPI dashboards built around your business model. Numbers are current, formatted for management review, and ready to share with banks, investors or board members without further preparation. No year-end scramble to reconstruct what happened.
Core deliverableCash-Flow Forecasting and Oversight
Rolling cash-flow forecasts and scenario modelling so the business is not navigating on bank-balance instinct. Variance analysis sits alongside the forecast so management can see where actuals are diverging and why. Decisions about hiring, investment and debt get made on current numbers rather than last quarter's figures.
Advisory layerStrategic Finance and Commercial Input
Founder Niall O'Driscoll FCMA, CGMA spent more than a decade in freelance restructure and turnaround work before founding OD Accountants — including listed companies in the UK and overseas. That background sits behind every client engagement, available for commercial finance decisions, lender reporting, M&A preparation or business planning when the business needs it.
Available on requestRated 4.8 on Google by 18+ verified clients
Clients range from start-ups and internet retailers to hospitality businesses and established SMEs — many of them active for five or more years.
Years In, Still Going Above and Beyond
“I've been there for years and Niall and his team go above and beyond the duties to provide accounting services but also general advices. They are always available if you need anything while charging very competitive prices. I could not recommend them enough.”
Always Available, Every Query Resolved
“As a new start up and having never dealt with an accountant, Niall at OD Accountants has been very welcoming and supportive. All our prior queries and issues have been resolved, and he is always available to meet the needs of our team.”
Tricky Client, Brilliant Outcome
“Been with OD Accountants for over a year now. Niall and the team are brilliant. They helped me set up a company and get everything I needed in place to run my business. I'm a tricky client due to my 'digital nomad' status, but their advice…”
What makes this different from a standard accountant
Most accountants file what happened. A financial controller function is about knowing what is happening now and what is likely to happen next.
Chartered management accounting depth
OD Accountants is a chartered management accounting firm — not a compliance practice that does management accounts as a sideline. The FCMA qualification held by founder Niall O'Driscoll is the management accounting equivalent of a chartered accountancy, with commercial and strategic finance at its core. That distinction matters when the work is reporting, forecasting and financial control rather than statutory filing.
Real-time numbers via cloud accounting
The management information produced here is built on cloud accounting software and best-of-breed SaaS integrations — not assembled manually from a spreadsheet at month-end. That means reporting is faster, KPI dashboards stay current, and the business owner is looking at actual position rather than a two-week-old approximation. The workflow is built for the way modern businesses run.
Hands-on without big-firm distance
Google reviews going back over a decade consistently describe the team as 'always available', 'hands-on' and willing to 'go above and beyond'. That is the opposite of what most businesses experience from a large practice. The financial controller function here comes with direct access to the people doing the work — not a helpdesk queue or an annual review meeting.
Up and running in four straightforward steps
Most clients are fully onboarded within a few weeks. The heavy lifting is on our side — your job at the start is largely to say yes or no.
Book a discovery call
A 30-minute call to understand the business, what financial information is currently available, and what a financial controller function actually needs to do here. No preparation required on your side. You will leave knowing exactly what happens next and what it costs.
Agree scope and fixed fee
We propose a clear scope — management accounts cadence, KPI framework, forecasting model, any additional advisory — and a fixed monthly fee. No ambiguity about what is included. No hourly billing that runs over without warning.
Onboarding and data review
We access your existing accounting records, review the chart of accounts, set up or tidy the cloud accounting environment, and configure reporting to match your business. If the books are behind, we deal with that as part of onboarding. You do not need to sort it first.
Monthly reporting, on schedule
From the first month, management accounts arrive when they should, cash-flow is visible, and the business is running on current financial information rather than instinct. The finance function is handled. You can focus on the business.
“Niall and his team are supportive, clear and directional accountants who have supported our small business staff up. They're always on the end of the phone to advise and assist and provide a top service for our accounting needs. Plus they're just nice people which helps too!!”
Things people usually ask before getting started
Is this a financial controller service or just management accounts dressed up?
The distinction matters. Management accounts are a deliverable — a monthly report. A financial controller function covers the reporting, but also the oversight: variance analysis, cash-flow management, KPI framework design, lender reporting support and commercial input on decisions as they arise. OD Accountants provides the latter, not just the former. The exact scope is agreed at the outset and reflected in a fixed monthly fee.
What does it cost, and what is included in the fee?
Fees are fixed monthly and agreed upfront based on the scope — the size of the business, the reporting cadence required and the level of advisory input needed. Clients consistently describe the fees as very reasonable and note that the savings made through better financial visibility more than cover the cost. We do not publish a standard rate card because the scope varies, but you will have a clear figure before any engagement begins.
Our books are behind and our reporting is a mess. Does that rule us out?
It describes most new clients, frankly. Catch-up work and tidying an existing accounting environment is a normal part of onboarding. We review what exists, bring the records current, and set up a clean reporting framework from there. If the catch-up work is material, we will be clear about the one-off cost involved before starting. You do not need to resolve it before approaching us.
Is there a minimum term or a lock-in?
No long-term contract. The arrangement runs on a rolling monthly basis. If it is not working after three months, you leave with current books and nothing owed beyond the work completed. In practice, the clients in our Google reviews include several who have been with the firm for seven, ten and eleven years — but that is their choice, not a contractual obligation.
Can you work alongside our existing finance team or bookkeeper?
Yes. A number of clients have an internal resource — a bookkeeper, an office manager handling day-to-day transactions, or a part-time finance person — and OD Accountants sits above that layer, providing the controller and management reporting function. The arrangement is designed to integrate with what already exists rather than replace it. James Clark's review captures this directly: the team integrates seamlessly with the client's internal team.
How far in advance will I know my Corporation Tax position?
With monthly management accounts and a current set of books, Corporation Tax estimates are visible throughout the year — not just at year-end when there is no longer anything to do about them. Tax planning conversations happen when there is still time to act on them. That is one of the practical differences between a management accounting firm and a compliance-focused practice.
Related services and resources
Financial control without the full-time cost — get the numbers right.
OD Accountants provides outsourced financial controller services on a fixed monthly fee — management accounts, KPI reporting, cash-flow oversight and strategic finance input from a chartered management accounting firm.