The situation
An international moving, relocation and storage business with two brands and a busy operation. It had an in-house finance team of three, handling around 500 supplier bills and 150 customer invoices a month.
On paper the function was active. In practice, the numbers it produced could not be trusted, and the Group CEO was making big decisions on them.
What we found
- No finance report had reached the Group CEO for three months.
- No second approval on payments: one person could start and send an international transfer alone.
- A twenty-day close, running behind. Two months were still open at the end of the third.
- Every invoice was keyed twice, once in operations and once in the accounts, with no link between them.
- Cash leaving the business every month with no receipts behind it.
What we did
Put the true position in front of the Group CEO first, including that the audit would not close on the date they had been given. Then we mapped the finance process end to end, with a separate billing map for each brand.
Company cards and a receipt rule in place of cash. A playbook written for the movers rather than the accountants: how to confirm a delivery so it can be billed, how to start and stop storage, how to flag a large cost before it lands. Monthly management packs.
Bills and invoices run through one flow, with a second person approving every payment and every invoice before it goes out.
The problem wasn't inside the accounts. Jobs were delivered and never confirmed, storage started and stopped without billing being told, and costs arrived late with no warning. No amount of accounting fixes data that never reaches finance.
The fix was upstream: a playbook the operations team actually uses, so finance gets what it needs on time.
Before and after
| Before | Now |
|---|---|
| No report for three months | A monthly pack that reconciles |
| One person could move money alone | Payments approved by a second person |
| Cash leaving with no receipts | Spend on controlled company cards |
| Invoices keyed twice | One flow, approved before it goes out |
| Operations data reaching finance late | A playbook the movers use every day |
What runs every month
The monthly close and management pack, bills and invoices with a person approving every one, and live numbers on FinPulse.
